Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 64910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Too bad I didn’t have a choice, because I passed out from blood loss.
• • •
My brothers, who I hadn’t realized had arrived, stared on with amusement written all over their faces.
“Damn,” Shine said. “Didn’t think ol’ nice guy Bram had it in him.”
“He’s not a nice guy,” Price snorted. “You remember when he punched you a couple of weeks ago when you made that comment about his wife?”
“I remember that I deserved it.” Shine shrugged. “He was being nice by only punching me. He could’ve taken away my ability to have any more children. See? Very nice.”
I rolled my eyes, which fuckin’ hurt.
My chest pinched.
Pain swirled.
And I passed out again.
CHAPTER 28
My ‘I don’t fuck with you’ list is getting quite long.
-Shine to Bram
SHINE
“You need to push through,” I said to the unrecognizable woman lying, unmoving and yet breathing on her own, on the hospital bed. “Because he’s not going to make it if you don’t.”
We’d all known our entire lives that Bram had depression issues.
Since very early on, he’d been on medication that leveled out his depression to a point where he could deal.
The only problem was certain things set him off into a downward spiral.
And I knew damn well and good his wife, the woman he loved with all of his heart, the woman that he would give up his family for, dying would be the trigger. He wouldn’t get past this, even if he had a baby to live for.
“Harker needs you,” I said, my eyes studying Dory’s face. “He needs you. Bram needs you. I need you. Come on, doll. Wake up. Fight.”
They’d weened her off of the medicine that was keeping her in a coma two days ago. She’d been extubated this morning.
“He’s there, but he’s not there, if you know what I mean,” I said to Dory. “He’s right now getting your son out of the NICU. Taking him ‘home’ so to speak. But his heart just isn’t in it. Come on, doll. Wake up. Let me see your eyes. Please?”
Dory didn’t move.
Didn’t so much as react.
“Come on,” I whispered. “Fight.”
• • •
DORY
I fought.
I fought hard.
Because Shine was right.
Bram would give up without me.
I knew it just as well as I knew that the sun would rise every morning.
“Shit,” I heard Shine whisper. “Bram, what the fuck are you doing up? You were stabbed in the fuckin’ chest for Christ’s sake. Give me that baby so you don’t drop him.”
What? Stabbed in the chest? My Bram? And he had our baby?
“Police cornered me for the third fuckin’ time, that stupid, incompetent sheriff thinks that I did this on purpose. That I’m guilty. That I stabbed myself in the chest,” Bram growled. “Which he knows damn well that I did not. But he looks like a dumbass, and he’s up for reelection, and thinks that if he makes me look like I was the one in the wrong, he’ll be rehired. I was tired of him coming to my room. And I missed her.”
He missed me?
That made my heart melt a little bit.
The last remaining crack was filled in, and my wall stood reconstructed with Bram’s love, whole and strongly new.
With Bram at my side, I would always be able to stay strong.
“I’ll handle it,” Shine said. “Sit down before you fall on your fuckin’ face.”
I heard the chair at my side squeak.
Then a quiet, more delicious squeak that sounded a whole lot like a baby.
A short, unsatisfied cry filled the air, then Bram’s deep, soothing voice said, “Shh. I know you know your mama’s close. You can smell her, can’t you?”
Then I felt a soft, warm weight press against my leg.
A wiggly body.
Then the wiggly body went still.
“Damn, I’ve never seen a kid go to sleep that fast in my life,” Shine said softly. “And look. Her heartbeat’s faster.”
It was?
“She knows we’re here,” Bram said. “Told you.”
“You didn’t ‘tell’ me anything,” Shine grumbled. “I was the one who agreed with you. In fact, I was in here complaining about you before you arrived. She knows that you’re being a dumbass.”
“Fuck you,” Bram said.
“Don’t swear in front of my baby,” a whispered croak sounded from the bed.
“Holy shit, Dory?” Bram was all but pressed against my face as I felt his warm breath whisper across my lips.
“Yes,” I said.
God, it hurt to talk.
It hurt to breathe, actually. But it really hurt to talk.
My vocal cords hurt, and even worse, every time I moved my jaw, it caused something in my scalp to ache.
“Hurts,” I whispered, barely moving my lips.
“I’ll call the nurse,” Shine said.
Then I felt a drop of liquid hit my lip, and the taste of salt on my tongue.
I couldn’t open my eyes, but I could tell without looking that Bram was crying.
“I’m. Okay,” I whispered, moving as little as possible.
“I know,” he rasped. “I know.”