The hospital coffee tastes like piss, and my back is starting to cramp up from sleeping in this chair for four straight days. They offered me a cot, but I couldn’t touch him if I slept there, and I can’t bear to release his hand.
I thought I felt him squeeze it earlier, but when I looked up at his face, it was still frozen in the same position it has been since the moment they brought him out from surgery and into the ICU. They finally removed him from the ventilator this morning and stopped the Propofol. Now, it’s just a matter of waiting for him to wake up.
Storm has stopped in two more times, and Mom promised she would be coming in person today since the roads are finally mostly cleared. The widespread flooding and downed power lines were causing a lot of problems moving around the city, and she has never been comfortable driving in these post-storm conditions. Stone has called three more times for updates.
But still no word from Savage.
I’ve spoken with Dani five times, but it’s clear from my conversations with her that Savage doesn’t know she’s been talking to me. I feel for her, I really do. She’s stuck in the middle of Gabe and Savage—the man who saved her life and the man who is the love of her life.
Regardless of how angry Savage might be about what happened between me and Gabe, I know Dani could never harbor any bad feelings for Gabe, no matter what he did.
But the fact that Savage still hasn’t made an appearance makes my blood boil, especially after Gabe spent so much time by his side after the accident.
I close my eyes and rest my head on the bed next to Gabe, his hand still clutched in mine.
The door opening doesn’t even faze me. Nurses come and go and have come to expect me here.
“How’s he doing?”
Savage’s voice breaks through the constant beep and whirring of the machines in the room. I pause for a moment before I do or say anything. This isn’t the time to fly off the handle and say something I’ll regret later.
Really, I’m not ready for this.
Things are still too raw. I can’t worry about Gabe and also worry about not pissing off Savage.
I pull my head up to find Dani standing just behind him, holding the door open for him as he enters the room. She gives me a sympathetic smile and mouths, “I’m sorry,” before she ducks back into the hall, leaving me alone with two of the three men I love more than anything in this world.
“Like you fucking care.”
So much for not flying off the handle.
Savage’s body tenses and his eyes narrow on Gabe’s sleeping form. “Of course I care, Skye.”
“If you really cared, you would have at least called to check on him days ago.”
His cool blue eyes whip over to mine, and his mouth presses into a hard line. “I’ve been getting updates from Mom. She said he’s going to be okay?”
Wow. He must really be pissed if he wouldn’t even talk to me.
“Well, he’s alive. His vitals are steady. The surgery went well, but he developed an infection and some complications with his lungs. He’s been on antibiotics. So now, we just wait.”
Savage moves up next to the bed and examines Gabe’s prone figure. I can only imagine what’s running through his head right now. No doubt he’s remembering when their positions were reversed after the accident not so long ago.
It’s probably better to just get it over with quickly. Prolonging the confrontation with him will do none of us any good.
“I know you’re mad…”
He scoffs, and his eyes flit from me to Gabe before his hard stare returns to me. “Mad doesn’t even begin to cover it, Skye. What were you two thinking?”
“Well—”
I’m silenced with a shake of his head and a held up hand. “No, don’t bother. I know. Gabe thinks with his dick, and you haven’t thought straight at all since the accident.”
My temper flares, and I clench my fists to keep from clambering across the bed to smack him.
“Wow. Is that what you really think?”
Asshole.
Savage has always been protective of me, and all the Hawke siblings, but this goes beyond being protective and straight to judgmental dickcheese.
His eyes narrow on me. “What else am I supposed to think?”
“How about you give us some fucking credit, Savage? Do you really think Gabe or I would jump into bed with each other without knowing what a fucked up situation we would be creating? What we would be risking? And you think we did it just because we wanted to get laid?”
I shoot from the chair, unable to remain seated while I’m so fuming mad. Plus, as awful as this sounds, being physically taller than Savage always makes me feel like I have some power, the illusion of the upper hand. I never had it with him growing up, but in this instance, I deserve to use it.
“Skye, you are my goddamn baby sister, and he’s my best friend…I mean, fuck, he’s practically family. It’s just…wrong.”
“Why is it wrong? You, of all people, should understand that when you find something good, you have to hang onto it.”
He barks out a sardonic laugh. “Don’t compare my relationship with Dani to you and Gabe fucking.”
Whoa. Knife to my heart, much?
“That’s what you think this is? That we’re just fucking?”
Savage glances to Gabe before answering. “You tell me differently, Skye. I know Gabe, probably as well as I know myself. He’s not a relationship guy, and you have been vulnerable since Star’s death, don’t try to deny that.”
“Holy shit!”
Now, I get it.
“You think he took advantage of me?” I charge around the end of the bed until I’m directly in front of Savage. “How the hell can you possibly think that of your best friend…of me?”
My blood isn’t boiling, it’s ready to burst out of my veins. How the hell can Savage think Gabe would take advantage of me or that I would ever let anyone, let alone Gabe, do that in the first place? Doesn’t he know us at all?
Savage doesn’t respond. He just stares at me with the eyes so similar to mine—filled with fear and pain. I know he feels betrayed. I get it, I really, really do, but what happens between me and Gabe is none of his business.
I run my hands back through my snarly, dirty, matted hair and sigh. “I don’t even know what to say to you, Savage. If you really believe that, then you never knew Gabe or me at all.”
“He’s my best friend, Skye.”
“Then fucking act like it, Savage.”
I’ve never heard Skye so angry before, and that’s really saying something. That woman is like a cobra—coiled and ready to strike at any time.
I feel sorry for whoever the sucker is she’s tearing into.
The visual I bring up in my mind of her angry—blue eyes flashing, skin flush, body tense—is so fucking hot, I smile.
Fuck, that hurts.
Her last words ring in my ears along with the constant noise of the machines near my head and the synapses finally fire and connect.
Shit…Savage.
“Why don’t you back off a little, Skye?” The voice that comes out isn’t mine—it’s harsh, and scratchy, and sounds like it comes from someone who smokes four packs a day. I never smoked more than two at my worst.
“Oh, my God…Gabe!”
Pain shoots through my abdomen and arm as something warm, firm, and curvy falls against me.
A gasp slips from my lips, and I clench my eyes and grit my teeth against the fire burning through my body.
“Oh, shit, I’m sorry.”
Skye. Fuck, I love this woman. How did I not tell her before?
I force my eyes open against the harsh lights of the hospital room and see her standing back from the bed, concern and guilt etched on her beautiful face. “Don’t be sorry, just get back here, and be gentle this time.”
She smiles and moves toward me, taking my hand in hers and leaning in to press her trembling lips to mine gently. “You’re going to be okay.” Her whispered words soothe me, and I relax back into the bed.
“You wanna tell me what happened?”
The joy in her eyes and her smile vanish, quickly replaced by tears and a quivering lip. “I’m so sorry, Gabe. It’s all my fault. I never thought Lucas would go this far.”
Neither did I.
“How did you get away? Where was he keeping you?” Every word I speak is like dragging razorblades down my throat.
Confusion flits across her face, and she backs away slightly. “You don’t remember what I told you in the car?”
Broken memories of the ride from the cabin to the hospital flit through my head. Most involve pain and screaming. But nothing about how Skye escaped.
I shake my head but immediately regret it when pain stabs at my temples. “Shit.” My eyes close again, and I try to breathe through the pain, but the tightness and sharp stabs against my rib cage prevent me from taking more than a shallow gasp of air.
“Crap, I need to let them know you’re awake.” A voice crackles from somewhere off to my right and Skye tells whoever it is that I’m finally awake. I don’t bother listening for the reply. I’m more interested in what Skye has to tell me.
When she’s done and retakes her place next to me, I open my eyes again and look up at her. “So?”
She chews on her bottom lip.
Fuck, that’s hot.
“Um, shit…” Fear flashes in her eyes.
Why is she afraid to talk to me about this?
“Gabe…Lucas never had me.”
“What?” I jerk up in the bed but immediately fall back and clutch at my abdomen. “Fuck…” It feels like I’ve been ripped open from my ribs to my belly button. What the hell did they do to me?
“Shh.” A soothing hand finds my forehead. “Just lay back. Don’t try to move. The nurse will bring more pain meds for you.”
I grit my teeth and turn my face to hers. “I must have heard you wrong. Tell me.”
She hesitates and curses under her breath, examining the ceiling briefly before returning her gaze to me. “Lucas dropped me off at my mom’s, after I sent you that text. I didn’t even know the message went through to you, or that you had been looking for me. I did try to call you, several times, but the calls wouldn’t go through. Fuck, I’m so sorry.”
She was never there.
You have got to be fucking kidding me.
I know better than to go off half-cocked. Yet, I did. In a big fucking way. And now, Lucas is dead. He was a fucking psycho and deserved it, but still.
“But, how did you find me at the cabin, then?”
The corner of her mouth twitches up and her eyes twinkle with affection. “Because I didn’t want to leave things the way we did. I was at Mom’s and her electricity went out. We couldn’t get the generator going. It was cold and miserable, and I wanted to be anywhere but there. I was thinking about that time you came to get me and Star from that party sophomore year. And I just couldn’t imagine not being with you just because of Savage. So, I went to tell him and brought Mom with me. I thought you would be at your place. Dani told me you went looking for me and that you thought I was with Lucas before I even had a chance to talk to Savage. I went to Lucas’ apartment and found it…let’s just say…in some disarray and realized what you must have thought after you got my text. I’ve been to the cabin with Lucas before, and he told me he had to go out there to do some prep for the storm. I knew you must have gone there when I saw the ripped open mail and letter.”
She takes a shaky breath and closes her eyes briefly. “Thank God I had my gun in my purse…I’m just so sorry I didn’t get there sooner.”
Sorry?
There is absolutely nothing for her to be sorry for.
“But you still shot Lucas and managed to get me here in the middle of a fucking hurricane.”
She smiles and nods as tears roll down her cheeks.
It shouldn’t surprise me she turned out to be a total badass.
It’s kind of a Hawke quality.