Keeping my eyes open was fucking hard. The pain meds they had me on were intense. I’d felt the bullet tear through my leg when the jackass went down with one last pull of his trigger. My mind hadn’t been on the fact that my leg was shot though. All I’d cared about was that I was going to live. I wasn’t leaving Addy and Franny.
It wasn’t the first time I’d been shot, but it was the first time I didn’t want to die. I had something to live for now. That changed everything. I had killed two men tonight. Cope had taken out the third when I’d gone down with my leg.
This was my end to it. I had a family now, and this life was not what I wanted for them or for me.
“Addy is on her way up,” Alexa said, rising from her chair. “I’m gonna go find Cope and help him get some coffees. He had to deal with the police questioning, but he’s handled it, and they’re gone now.”
I couldn’t nod, because my head felt like it weighed a million tons. “Thanks,” I whispered. I didn’t want Addy walking in here with Alexa sitting by my bedside. She didn’t understand this world or what I had done.
I was going to have to come clean, though. If I’d died tonight, she wouldn’t have known why. They would have never explained it to her. My secret would have died with me. Addy needed to know. She deserved to know.
I had to trust that she loved me enough to forgive me for all I’d done.
Alexa walked to the door, then stopped and looked back at me. “She got into a truck with Cope, a guy she’d never met, just because he told her you were in the hospital. She took a chance with her life because she was so worried about you. And we both know how Cope looks. She’ll forgive anything.” She headed out the door without another word.
They all knew my past with Addy now. I’d had to clue them in, but Cope had already researched her and knew everything. He’d even known Rose was Addy before I had. Bastard was a fucking genius.
The door had only been closed a few moments when it opened up again, and Addy came into the room, her eyes wide and her face flushed, like she’d been running.
“River,” she said breathlessly. Then her hand covered her mouth, and she let out a small sob as she walked over to me slowly.
I wanted to get up and pull her into my arms, but I couldn’t move.
“Come here,” I said, using all my strength to lift my arm for her to come lie on my chest.
She didn’t pause before doing exactly what I wanted.
I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I’m OK,” I assured her.
“You were shot,” she said on a choked sob.
This was why I had to tell her. She needed to know. I had to face it, but at least it was done. I was done. This would never happen again. Benedetto had promised me that. “Yeah, but I’m going to be fine. I promise.”
She sniffled. I hated that she had been crying. “What happened? Why weren’t you at work? Or were you?”
When I’d gotten the text, I’d known I had to deal with this shit before it touched her or Franny. “I didn’t go to work. At least, not the work you know. This was from before. The life I lived before I came to Rosemary Beach. The reason you couldn’t find me for the last ten years.”
She lifted her head off my chest and looked at me. Her eyes were full of concern. Telling her this was fucking terrifying. I didn’t want her to walk away. Fact was, I’d chase her and beg her to stay if I needed to. But she had to know.
“It’s a long story. Begins when I thought you were dead and I left my dad’s. I was lost and homeless for a while, until I met a man. He gave me a home and a way to fight the pain and horror that consumed me. I want to tell you everything, but I’m fighting to stay awake on this medicine . . .” I didn’t realize it until I said it, but suddenly, I was drowning in waves of drowsiness.
She reached up and ran her hand over my head, brushing my hair back gently. “Rest. I won’t leave. I’m not leaving you.”
My eyes drifted closed as she continued to play with my hair. “When I tell you . . . you might try. But I’ll follow you,” I said with a heavy tongue.
“Good,” she replied, her words close to my ear.
Knowing she was there and not leaving was all I needed in that moment, and I let sleep pull me under.
? ? ?
When I opened my eyes again, I didn’t have to look to find Addy. Her head was beside me, and her hand was tucked into mine as she slept. She was sitting on the chair she had pulled over next to the bed. I gazed down at her and enjoyed the view. She’d always been so peaceful when she slept. I loved watching her. Knowing she’d stayed close to me like this while I slept made me smile.
“She’s been asleep for about an hour now.” Blaire’s voice startled me, and I turned my head to see my sister sitting on the other side of the bed, looking at me closely. “Major called Mase, who called Rush. Glad I got to hear it through the grapevine that my brother had been shot and was in the hospital.” Now she looked annoyed.
“Guys I used to work with didn’t know to call you,” I told her.
She arched her eyebrows. “But they knew to call her?”