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Chapter Twenty-Four

Addilyn

“You ready to get out of here, sweetie?” Emma asks as she shoves some of my clothes into a bag. After a little over a week in the hospital, I am more than ready to get out of here. I miss my apartment and my bed but more than anything I really miss the man in it. True to his word, Trey hasn’t been back since that morning, and being without him is killing me. I love him – that part is still clear to me. In fact, the one thing that I never wavered on was the fact that he’s my other half but I’m not sure if it’s the right thing to do.

If I could be selfish or there wasn’t this disease looming over my head, I would absolutely be with him – it’s not even a question in my mind. But I lived through this for the past eighteen months with Mama. I know the pain he’ll feel when he has to leave me in a home because I’m wandering away from the house and he’s terrified for my safety. And I know the complete agony he’ll feel when I start forgetting who he is and he’s all alone in the world.

How can I claim to love him and do that to him?

“Addy?” Emma asks, softly touching my elbow, and my gaze snaps to her.

“Huh?”

“I asked if you were ready to get out of here.”

I nod and look away again. “Oh, yeah. Definitely.”

Before she can say anything else, someone knocks on the door and calls my name. My heart jumps, thinking it might be Trey but when the curtain pulls back and Kyle walks in, I groan internally. Emma’s entire body tenses next to me, and Nix steps forward.

“Emma,” he warns, giving her a look that I’m sure is supposed to stop her but she just points a finger at him and glares.

“Oh no, you’ve been thwarting me for days. I’m ending this now.”

“Come on, I just need to talk to Addy,” Kyle complains, rolling his eyes as he slides his hand into his pocket, and it’s the wrong move. Steam practically shoots out of Emma’s ears as she takes a step toward him.

“Don’t you roll your eyes at me! She’s been trying to tell you for damn near a month that she doesn’t want you, and you just can’t take a goddamn hint.”

“Addy?” he asks, looking to me. My mouth falls open in shock as I stare back at him. How are we even having this conversation right now?

“Tell him, Addy,” Emma says, shooting me a glare only a little less intense than the one she gave Kyle.

“I have. Multiple times,” I whisper to her, and she shakes her head.

“Listen, I just need to talk to Addy for a second,” Kyle adds, taking another step into the room.

“Baby,” Emma interrupts him, flashing an adoring look at her husband, “will you please remove him so we can leave?”

Nix steps forward with a smirk on his face, never once taking his eyes off his wife as he moves closer to Kyle, and I have to turn away before I start laughing.

“Wait,” Kyle yells, and when I look back, he’s holding up his hands to stop Nix. “I just need to talk to you for a second. Alone, please.”

I look at him for a second before sighing. “You can say what you need to say but they are staying in the room.”

He looks back and forth between Emma and Nix before sighing again and reaching into his pocket. I don’t get a chance to see what he has in his hand before he’s dropping down to one knee in front of me.

“Is this guy serious?” Emma yells, and Nix starts laughing as I just stare on in shock, trying to figure out how we got to this point. I was clear, right? I told him that there was nothing between us, didn’t I?

Seemingly oblivious to everything going on around him, he holds a small black velvet box in front of him and opens it to reveal this gold monstrosity with three bands of diamonds leading up to diamonds formed in a heart in the center. It’s disgusting, and Emma gasps like even the ring itself has offended her. Hell, maybe it has.

“Addilyn, will you marry me?”

All I can do is stare at him, wondering if this is some kind of horrible nightmare that the pain meds they’re giving me caused. Nix has turned away, his body shaking with laughter, and Emma is cursing up a storm next to me. I’m actually surprised that security hasn’t run in yet with all the noise she’s making. As I’m looking down at him, I see Trey in my mind, and something snaps into place inside me. It’s like the sun has broken through the clouds, and I can see everything clearly now.

“No,” I say, my voice ringing out.

“Oh, thank God,” Emma says, sighing dramatically. “Baby?”

Nix nods at her and pulls a very dejected Kyle to his feet. I feel bad for just a moment before I remember that I tried to turn him down the nice way, and he wouldn’t listen. Shaking myself from those thoughts, I reach for my bag as Nix leads Kyle out of the room and turn to Emma.