Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 33887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 169(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 169(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
“It isn’t like breast cancer doesn’t have awareness, Hale,” she retorted.
“It also doesn’t have a cure.”
That got her. He could tell when her mouth screwed up in annoyance.
“I’m fine, sweetheart. Promise.”
Another lie.
Fuck him.
With that, she said to Hudson, “Double time on the step and repeat. Move us along fast, Hud, and get us inside, please.”
“Gotcha. I’ll text Rocco,” Hudson muttered.
Elsa turned away from him to look out her window, and he felt like a dick, because he was lying, and she knew it.
Christ, he had to talk to Tom.
Things didn’t get better as it became their turn to hit the red carpet.
Rocco was there to open the door, Hudson got out in a flash, and one lie he didn’t tell, he hated this shit. The lights flashing. The questions shouted. The press of people.
But this time, it wasn’t simply something he detested.
From the instant he alighted behind Elsa, it was torture.
As they moved along, he knew his fingers were crushing hers, he just couldn’t stop them.
Until he let her go, but he did this only to snake an arm around her waist and yank her so close to his side, they had to walk like they were in a three-legged race as they endured the step and repeat.
Hudson and Rocco moved them along quickly, but Hale didn’t hear a single question called to them. He got an instant headache trying to scan every face, his entire reason for being set on trying to feel if there was some threat. Every flash exploding felt like a bullet he had to protect her from, so remaining standing with Elsa tucked to his side like targets was agony.
He didn’t know if Elsa gave Hudson and Rocco a sign, or if they felt it, but the last stop on the carpet in front of the backdrop lasted approximately two seconds before the two men converged and practically shoved them inside.
The tightness in his chest immediately released.
Elsa immediately confronted him.
“You need to learn to open up to me,” she snapped, keeping her voice low as they were surrounded by a milling crowd.
“We’ll talk. Later,” he promised.
“Really?” she asked sarcastically. “Because whatever this is, Hale, started when I told you we were expecting, and it’s been getting worse since. And I gotta say, it doesn’t feel all that great, not only you trying to hide whatever is going on with you, but that whatever it is has to do with our baby.”
After delivering that, she glided away in a huff that stated clearly he was not to follow, Rocco trailing her.
“Fuck,” Hale said under his breath.
“It’s the kid,” Hudson said under his.
Hale turned to his man. “Sorry?”
“Dude, it’s bad enough when it’s just her. It got worse when we screwed the pooch and she got cut. But now, you got a kid coming, so it’s no surprise this shit went into overdrive for you. I get it. It would do the same to me too.”
Holy.
Fuck.
That was it.
How hadn’t he seen it?
“I got no advice,” Hudson went on. “But who you two are is never going to change, Hale. We fucked up, but that shit is not gonna happen again. I know that doesn’t make it better, and it doesn’t make you feel she’s safer in the now. You two making a family, like I said, I get it. It’s far worse. But, even though I know I don’t gotta tell you this, I’m gonna say it. You have no choice but to figure it out.”
“You’ve already helped, Hud.”
Hudson looked to the crowd and muttered, “Glad to hear it.”
Hale blew out a breath, and he couldn’t say he was over it.
But he could say that he was pleased as all hell to finally know what “it” was, because now he could tackle dealing with it.
Another reason Hale hated these things happened right then, when it took him half an hour to find Tom because so many people stopped him for a greeting, or a moment of ingratiation.
But finally, he made it to Tom, who was thankfully standing only with Ned.
“Son,” Tom greeted with a smile, giving him a hug.
He returned it, shook hands with Ned, and Tom spoke again.
“First, you don’t have a drink. And second, but more importantly, you don’t have your fiancée. Is Elsa here?”
“She’s here and she’s pissed at me,” Hale shared. And then, because it had been festering so long, he had to release it, he laid it out. “I’m not opening up about the abject terror that’s been building in me since she told me she was pregnant considering I am powerless to keep her and our child safe from all the whackjobs out there.”
Tom’s head ticked sharply at this quick sharing of honesty, as it would. Hale hadn’t even asked about his honeymoon, or Mika.
Ned cleared his throat and asked, “Would you like me to leave?”