Page 48 of Her Loving Hero

Emily rushed toward the door to find a nurse and practically ran into Wyatt.

“Oh my God, you’re here,” she gasped. He pulled her into his arms, his hand coming up to cup her head while dropping a kiss into her hair.

“He’s awake. Thank God,” he breathed.

“You heard him talking?” she pulled back to look up at Wyatt.

He nodded. She saw the tears swimming in his green and gold eyes. “Wyatt, go to him. I’m going to get the nurse.” She hugged him close once again, breathing him in, then releasing him.

“Thank you, Em. Thank you so damned much.”

* * *

Wyatt staredat the man in the bed. Hell, he was as big as he was.

Unbelievable.

“Benny,” he whispered.

His brother’s eyes fluttered. Then his eyes opened, and it was like looking into a mirror.

“My God,” Ben croaked. “We look alike.” His grin was crooked.

Wyatt looked at the bandage over one of his eyebrows. “Not now, you’ll probably end up with a scar on your pretty face,” Wyatt joked. He had to, otherwise he might blubber. God, he was actually seeing his baby brother.

Ben’s eyes skittered away to look at the opposite wall, then came back to Wyatt’s. “They must have found your name in my wallet.”

“Huh?”

“I put you down as my emergency contact. After the blow up with Dad, I wasn’t going to put his name down as my E.C., and since you’re Navy too, I figured you’d be a good choice. Only, I meant to look you up, before literally crashing into your life.”

Wyatt choked out a laugh.

The kid was funny. He’d always been funny.

“What did that asshole do to you? Where are Luke and Kyle?”

“Luke’s turning eighteen in four months, I’ll have enough money so he can get the fuck out of there. In eleven months, Kyle will be sixteen, we’ll help him apply to be an emancipated minor. I was going to look you up and see if you could help. Luke didn’t think you would want to.”

“Of course, I would. Fuck man. I went to go look for you, but you’d ghosted by the time I got to South Bend. When I showed up, Leonard called the cops on me...again.”

“What do you mean again?”

“He did it when I was fourteen and had me forced into foster care, and then again when I came back to you when I turned eighteen. That time he slapped a restraining order on me. I still came back, and back. Finally, they sent me to county. The cops said if I tried to get to the three of you again, I would end up in prison.”

Ben tried to push up in the bed. “Wait a minute. What do you mean foster care? I don’t understand anything you’re saying. You ran away.”

“Your dad shunted me away to the foster care system. He never adopted me after marrying our Mom even after the three of you were born. I remember her asking him to do it after she got so sick, but he never did.”

Benny looked confused and upset. It was the last thing he needed.

“Let’s talk about this later,” Wyatt suggested. “You need to rest. I think Emily went to find a doctor.”

“No! Tell me what happened. According to our asshole of a father you ran away. You were sick of being the older brother and always having us hanging onto you. You mean to tell me he sent you away?” Ben’s voice trembled with outrage.

Wyatt nodded.

“You didn’t want to leave us?” Ben asked weakly. “He said you hated us.”