Chapter 12

FORD

The pain that radiating from every muscle, every orifice of my body ceased the minute the door to my room was flung open, and Bryce came rushing in. His eyes were wild as they sought me out, and once they found me, the wild was suddenly replaced with relief.

“Oh, Jesus, Ford baby, thank God,” Bryce rasped. A guttural cry left his throat as he dropped down to his knees beside my hospital bed, and his hands gripped onto the arm without the cast.

When I woke, it was to people I didn’t know poking and prodding me, but by their attire, I had to assume I was in a hospital and that the car that had been coming at me did actually hit me. Bryce’s quiet sobs shocked me. His head was now laying on my arm, and I could feel the wetness of his tears on my bare skin.

“Hey… Bry—” My mouth was so dry I couldn’t get the words to come out louder than a husky whisper. “Babe,” I tried again, this time, getting his attention.

His head lifted slowly, and his hands still held onto me with a death grip.

I licked my lips. “Water,” I croaked.

Bryce nodded, then quickly got up and poured me a cup from the plastic jug on the table beside me. Placing the bendy straw to my lips, I latched on and greedily drank the tepid liquid. It tasted like it was days old, but it was wet and doing its job.

“Take it easy, Ford. Not too much,” Bryce scolded, taking the straw from my mouth and ending my joy.

“More,” I growled with no heat at all. Seeing Bryce was something I didn’t think was going to happen again. See, after I was knocked off my bike, I died. I shit you not, I saw a light, and I saw myself lying on the ground with blood all over me and a stranger pounding away on my chest, trying to breathe life back into me. The vivid memory of watching it all go down was stuck in my head, and the only thing that hurt was that I wasn’t going to see or touch Bryce again and that he was going to be so sad. I came back by sheer will, urged on by my love and need for Bryce.

The second time it happened—me dying—I wasn’t that strong. The fight left me, and my body hurt like hell. I didn’t have it in me to do anything else other than go. That was when I felt like I was being pulled away from the light and yanked back to my body. That wasn’t the freaky part, though. That happened when I heard a familiar voice say something so fucking weird.

Don’t be such an arsehole, Poindexter. Think of Shiloh and your man. They need you, so get yourself back down there.

Whatever or whomever it was, I listened, so here I was.

“You ever think about leaving me again, I will kick your arse, then I will withhold sex and only jerk off in front of you,” Bryce threatened, but the gleam in his eyes told me a different story. He looked so worn out. His usual five o’clock shadow was scruffy, and his shirt was wrinkled as shit. He was still wearing the white dress shirt he’d worn to the benefit with his cut over it.

“Pfft, I can kick your arse any day of the week. As for the other? You can’t resist me, babe. My body is your weakness—well, maybe not right now—but you can’t go without me,” I said with a lot of effort. My chest hurt like a son of a bitch as did my side. I didn’t want to think about the pain my legs were giving me.

Suddenly, Bryce moved up and got right in my face, an intense look on his.

“You’re right there, mate. I can’t go without you, not in bed or in life. You are the only person I get weak over—you make my knees buckle with just a smile. My heart beats out of my chest every time you touch me. You are my light, Ford. I love you.” We just stared at each other, his fingers laced with mine. Second chances at life and love came about for some people all the time. It was the third and fourth opportunity to get it right that was rare, and for some reason, I was given exactly that. Be it from luck or from the intervention of a fallen mate, but whatever it was, I was taking it.

“The guys are in the waiting room. Everyone is really worried. Let me go tell them you are awake and send a couple of them in at a time.” Bryce made to move, but I stopped him.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” I asked with a grin that probably looked more like a grimace.

“Forgetting something?”

“Never leave without kissing me,” I reminded him.

Quick as lightning, Bryce was back in my face, only this time, the intense look was replaced with one of love.

“Never leaving you, babe. Never again.”

I nodded my head once before his mouth descended on mine. The kiss wasn’t heated, it wasn’t filled with hot lust before some even hotter sex, but that was okay because this kiss was one of love and promise, and that was just fine with me. I had the rest of my life with the only man for me.

My man.

 

THE END