Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
With that, I hung up. “We’re almost there, baby,” I soothed. The terms of endearment were slipping out without a second thought, but I didn’t care. All the boundaries I’d put in place for myself were now out the fucking window, fluttering down the highway.
“Don’t leave me, please,” she cried.
I pressed another kiss to her bruised knuckles. Looking at her battered hands, I could tell she had fought back, and for that, I was fucking proud of her. She hadn’t laid there and taken it. “I won’t,” I promised. “I will fight through hell and high water to stay by your side,” I swore.
When I pulled into the hospital parking garage, I grabbed the first spot I saw and got out, rushing around to her side. I gently lifted her into my arms, cradling her to my chest. A whimper of pain sounded from her throat. I pressed my lips to her cheeks, whispering soft words of apology as I strode toward the emergency room entrance as fast as I could without jostling her too much.
Everyone stared as I carried her inside, and it took everything in me not to tell them to turn the fuck around and mind their own goddamn business.
I barely made it to the receptionist when two nurses rushed over to me with a gurney. “We can fill out paperwork once she’s in a room,” a nurse told me. “Just set her on here. We’ll take care of her,” she promised.
“I’m not leaving her side,” I told them.
“Sir—” she started, but Ally gripped my shirt in her fist with surprising strength, though her arm shook.
“Please,” she begged the nurse, her tears running down her beautiful face, tearing at my soul.
“Okay,” the nurse gave in. I gently laid Ally on the bed, pressing my lips to her forehead. I grabbed her hand in mine, walking with the nurses as they pushed her through a set of steel, double doors to take her into a triage room.
“Her boyfriend, Christian, is on his way here,” I told them as they got her bed situated in the room. I stood to the side but kept her hand in mine as they shut the door, giving the four of us privacy. “And her brother is most likely on his way here as well.”
They nodded in understanding. One of the nurses held up a hospital gown from a closet. “Alright, sweetheart, can we put this on you?” she asked.
Ally shook her head, her hand tightening around mine as she grasped the sheet in her other hand. I rubbed my thumb over her bruised and swelling knuckles. “How about my shirt?” I asked her. “Will that be more comfortable?” Ally lifted her eyes to mine and slowly nodded.
The nurse began to protest, but I shot her a dark look, shutting her up. Ally had just gone through something extremely traumatic. She wanted familiarity. A hospital gown was foreign.
I pressed a kiss to her fingers before I gently placed her hand on the bed and began unbuttoning my shirt, leaving me in the plain, white t-shirt I had on under it. I sat down on the edge of her hospital bed and gave her a small, gentle smile. “Alright, darlin’, I need to unravel you from the sheet, okay? And then I need you to sit up so I can help you into the shirt.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
I gently pulled the sheet from around her, keeping my eyes on her face, not letting them stray to her body. She moaned in pain a few times, anguish darkening her normally beautiful, brown eyes. Her body trembled as I gripped her under her arms and helped her into a sitting position.
She didn’t look at her body. She kept her eyes on mine as I helped her into my shirt. It swallowed her, which worked perfectly. “Can we have a blanket?” I asked the nurses without turning to look at them as I buttoned the shirt for Ally. She was terrified to look down at herself. So, I swallowed down every rising feeling for this woman and focused on taking care of her.
I was handed a blanket a moment later, and after having them set her bed up into a more upright position, I situated her pillow behind her and draped the blanket over her, grabbing the now bloody sheet and handing it to one of the nurses to dispose of.
Christian burst into the room at that moment, his eyes wild with fear and worry, his hair a fucking mess on his head.
And Ally burst into tears, loud sobs wracking her chest. I grabbed her hands in mine as Christian quickly sat on the bed beside her and wrapped her up in his arms. His eyes met mine over her head, so many questions in his gaze, but I just shook my head at him.