Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81845 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81845 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
“It won’t be but a few days, baby, then this shit will be done and we can move on with our lives,” I tell her, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.
“I’ll follow you anywhere,” she whispers after a long moment, and I hear the truth in her tone. I never knew love could be like this, never understood the depth of my dad’s devotion to my mother, but having Maggie, I now understand why he stood by my mother for years, even after she tried to take his life.
*
“Honey, do you really think you should you be doing that?” Maggie asks softly as she steps through the door of the spare bedroom, where I keep my workout equipment, and eyes the dumbbell in my hand as I curl it upward once more.
“You heard my physical therapist, Mags.” I set the weight on the rack with the rest of the weights then go to her, taking her face gently in my hands. “I know you’re worried, but you need to understand I have to get back into the swing of things, and that includes working out,” I tell her softly, and her eyes move to the weights behind me before coming back to meet mine with a look of worry and anxiousness in their golden depths.
“He also said to take it easy,” she whispers, resting her hands against my tee over my wound.
“I’m taking it easy.” I press a kiss to her forehead muttering, “Promise,” there before leaning back to catch her eyes. “How are you feeling?” Her eyes move away from mine. Using my fingers at her jaw, I nudge her cheek gently, gaining eyes once more.
“I’m okay,” she lies. I see it in her gaze, and know she’s trying to be okay, but she’s not. I know that the loss is still hurting her even if she hasn’t brought it up.
“We’ll try again, baby.” I run my thumb over her cheek. “And if it doesn’t happen, we’ll work at it until it does or we’ll adopt.”
“I feel like a piece of me is missing,” she murmurs, closing her eyes. “I had no clue I was pregnant, but still feel like a piece of me is gone.”
“Mags.”
She opens her eyes and my heart stutters when I see the pain she’s been hiding from me there, shining so bright that it takes everything in me not to pull my eyes from hers.
“How do I get it back?” she asks as her hands clutch the fabric of my shirt.
“You find out, you tell me,” I say, dropping my voice, watching her eyes search mine as I dip my face closer to hers. “I don’t know how you feel, but since the moment I found out, I know there’s a hole in my heart from the loss,” I tell her softly, honestly. “I’m not sure that hole will ever be filled, but I know when it does happen for us, Maggie, and it will happen for us; time will go a long way in healing that pain.”
Her eyes fill with tears and she leans in, whispering, “You…you never said anything,” as her bottom lip wobbles.
“I’ve been waiting for you to come to me. I don’t want to push you into talking about it. But I’m here baby—anytime you want to talk about it or cry about it, I’m here.”
Nodding, her forehead drops forward and lands against my chest as her arms wrap around my back, and mine do the same, wrapping around her, holding her close.
“What time are we leaving?” she asks against my shirt after a few minutes.
Looking at the clock over her head, I see it’s already after four. “We’ll leave in three hours. Are Zack and Lane still downstairs?” I ask, and her head moves against my chest before she mutters quietly, “Yeah, and Teo was coming in when I came up to check on you.”
Pulling her away from my chest, I run my eyes over her face. The tears are gone; the sadness is not, but that’s going to take time. “You wanna tell them what time we’re heading out while I finish working out?”
“They’re coming with?” she asks, looking slightly surprised by this news.
“They will help watch over you, Autumn, and Myla while me and the guys get stuff sorted.”
“Then who will be watching over you?” she asks quietly, and I smile.
“Kenton’s man, Justin, will be with us, along with one of Kai’s men.”
“The guy I met, what was his name? Frank?” she asks, looking more concerned at the idea of Frank taking our backs.
“No, Frank will be at the house with you and will probably think he’s got guard duty, but don’t worry. He absolutely does not.”
“Thank God,” she breathes, and I chuckle, running the back of my hand down her jaw.
“This will be over soon.”
“I believe you.”