Total pages in book: 217
Estimated words: 207224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1036(@200wpm)___ 829(@250wpm)___ 691(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 207224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1036(@200wpm)___ 829(@250wpm)___ 691(@300wpm)
Unlikely.
The moment he was ripped from my arms flashes through my mind.
Please!
You can’t take care of him, Rose.
Gone.
“No!” I yell, my hands grappling at the wood of the desk, searching for an anchor. Breathe. Just breathe.
The door flies open, and I see Danny vibrating on the threshold of his office. But he’s hazy. I can’t see his face. Can’t focus. Can’t see the man who won’t let the evil get me again. “You are not fucking going!” he bellows.
I can’t.
I can’t go back.
I can’t.
Air. I need air.
I stand.
I think.
And then there’s just . . .
Darkness.
“Rose? Jesus, Rose, can you hear me? Rose, answer me. Come on, baby, open your eyes. Please, please, open.” His voice is broken with emotion. Ragged and strained. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.”
“Rose, can you hear me?” Doc asks softly.
“What the hell happened?” James.
“Rose?” Beau’s here. “Oh my God, is she okay?”
I open my eyes and immediately slam them shut again, wincing at the harsh glare from the ceiling lights. “My head,” I murmur, my brain feeling like it’s bouncing around in my skull. I blindly reach up, but a hand claims my wrist and lowers it back down.
“Can you open your eyes, baby?” Danny asks, soft and begging. “Please, let me see you.”
I slowly peel them open and focus, finding his face above mine, upside down. He’s sitting on the floor, my shoulders in his lap, and his face is fraught, his damp hair falling in his face. “I’m not talking to you,” I croak, and he exhales, dipping and kissing my face anywhere he can reach.
“Are you in pain, Rose?” Doc asks. I shake my head, hearing him hum and feeling him pressing into various parts of me. “She fainted.”
“Why?” Danny demands.
“Distress, maybe,” Doc says, his tone knowing. “I heard you both yelling.”
Danny lifts his face, and I see Doc on his knees beside me, and James and Beau by my feet. Doc tilts his head, looking between us both with disapproval. “If the body can’t cope, it shuts down. Simple. I have told you both endless times, Rose needs to calm down. Chill out, as you young people say.”
I peek up at Danny and see the guilt take hold. I start to sit myself up slowly with Danny’s help. It was a panic attack. I blacked out because I couldn’t breathe. I look at Beau, and for the first time I can truly appreciate how debilitated she has been so many times. God, that was horrific. Struggling to reason with yourself, fighting for air, pushing back flashbacks.
Danny gets to his feet and lifts me into his arms, carrying me out of the office silently, up the stairs to our room. He lays me on the bed, removes my robe, and tucks me in. Then lies down beside me on top of the sheets, fully clothed. His hand goes on my tummy. His head on my chest. I slip my hand into his damp, dark waves and massage his scalp.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbles.
“I didn’t pass out because we fought.”
He lifts his head and looks at me. “What?”
“I found a picture of your pops in the drawer of your desk. And the ring . . .” I shake my head mildly, not wanting to go there again but needing Danny to be rid of the guilt grabbing him. I know the ring I was looking at was Carlo Black’s, not Ernie’s, his brother, the man who took Daniel away from me when he was only minutes old. But those evil, emerald eyes. They got me.
“Fuck,” he whispers. “They found the ring by Pops’s grave. I didn’t think—”
I put my hand over his mouth. “Stop it.” I wriggle, forcing Danny to move, and I shuffle up the bed, resting my back against the headboard. “Come.” I offer my hands, and he takes them, letting me pull him closer. He straddles my thighs, resting his ass on his calves, and I smile down at his suit pants stretching across his thick thighs. “I’m glad I saw it,” I say, looking up at him.
He balks at me. “Rose, baby, what the fuck?”
Okay, so my initial reaction wasn’t all too great, but now? “That green ring is a reminder of how far we’ve truly come. How many obstacles we’ve overcome. And have still to overcome. We are stronger together.” That’s a fact. “Sometimes, we both just need a little reminder of that.” I guide his hand to my stomach, and he looks down. “I hate you.”
He exhales on a quiet curse and wedges his fist into the mattress, leaning forward and kissing me. “I fucking hate you more.”
And the universe aligns again, the rollercoaster slowing to a more manageable pace. I hook my arms over his shoulders and fall into the slow, calm motions of his kiss. It’s the longest kiss, neither of us willing to break it. He slips one arm under my lower back, and then falls to the bed, bringing me to rest on top of him. “Your cuts.”