Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 110549 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110549 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
He was gone.
The other half of me was fucking gone.
Jessie wrapped me tightly in his arms. “He’s not gone forever, baby. I’ll fucking fix this,” he swore. “You’re not losing him.”
Pain twisted through my lower abdomen. I wailed, fear knocking hard inside of my chest. Jessie jerked back from me, his face paling as I clutched at my stomach. “No. Fuck no,” he swore. He pressed his lips to mine in a hard kiss before he swept me up into his arms. “Stay with me, baby girl.”
I couldn’t. I was panicking. I couldn’t breathe.
Everything went dark.
Jessie
I held West’s hand in mine, unable to stop staring at her. She was still sleeping after passing out from having a panic attack. She’d begun having contractions, but thankfully, the doctor was able to administer a shot to stop them, though she was being admitted for the next three days to make sure she continued to remain stable.
I couldn’t fucking believe Lincoln.
He fucking walked away from her.
I didn’t give a fuck about how much he was hurting. He shouldn’t have taken his shit out on her. She didn’t fucking deserve this.
She had almost lost her baby last night—their baby.
I tried calling him numerous times, but he eventually shut his phone off, a clear message that he wasn’t fucking talking to me. I’d even tried calling him from West’s phone, but he had ignored all of those calls, too.
West released a soft groan and slowly opened her eyes. She moved them around the room, tears filling her eyes when she took notice of Lincoln’s lack of presence.
At that moment, I fucking hated him.
I hated him for doing this to her. And I’d never hated Lincoln for anything before in my life.
She opened her mouth to say something, and my heart broke for her when she couldn’t get her lips to form the words. She sobbed and rolled onto her side away from me, her shoulders shaking as she cried.
He was sending her backward, sending her spiraling again. All of that amazing, beautiful progress she had made was slipping. And I didn’t know how to stop it.
“West, baby,” I begged as I gently turned her back over. “Don’t shut me out, baby girl,” I begged her. “I’m still here,” I promised her.
She sobbed as she sat up and pressed herself against me, her hands fisting in my shirt.
She cried all day, and those tears always came harder whenever their baby kicked her or when she looked down at the ring Lincoln had placed on her finger.
But soon, her tears were drying, her eyes losing that beautiful light that had been in them since she had received treatment with Dr. Gresham.
He fucking destroyed her.
I had texted Meghan a couple of hours ago. She’d never responded, and I was now on the verge of getting ready to call Julian or Axel. I had no fucking idea what to do for West. She wouldn’t even look at me anymore, simply pretending that I was no longer in the room with her.
Someone knocked on the door, and suddenly, Meghan stepped into the room with Axel behind her. “Where’s Lincoln?” Meghan asked me as she moved toward West.
“Gone,” I said gruffly. West didn’t even budge, not a single sound came from her. “He walked away.” And the fact that West wasn’t responding to that at all was terrifying.
“West, sweetheart,” Meghan coaxed as she sat on the edge of the bed. “Come on—come out of your head, darlin’. Jessie is still here, hun.”
West only shrugged before she took the rings on her left ring finger and dropped them on the mattress. Meghan looked up at Axel, her eyes filling with tears, her expression as hopeless as mine.
“She shut it off,” Axel said quietly as he stepped toward Meghan. He brushed his lips with hers before he turned to look at me. “She needs to go back to Dr. Gresham. She’ll be fine here in the hospital. I’ll inform the staff that she’ll be getting transferred, and I’ll call Dr. Gresham,” he told me.
“I’m not leaving her,” Meghan choked out, her teary eyes running over her best friend’s features.
Axel gently cupped her face in his hands. My heart broke. I fucking wanted to do that for West, but every time she looked at me, she looked at me like I was a stranger.
“There’s nothing we can do for her, sweetheart,” he soothed. Meghan squeezed her eyes shut, tears sliding down her cheeks as pain crossed her face—pain for her best friend, pain for my woman. “Dr. Gresham will work with her.”
I slowly walked over to West and grabbed the rings from in front of her. She didn’t budge. Swallowing thickly, I pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. “I’m never fucking giving up on you,” I swore to her. “Never fucking walking away. When you want me, I will come,” I promised.