“Y-You deserve someone b-better than me, Alex. This i-is all my fault. You died twice,” she croaks, her voice hoarse from all the tears.
Longingly, she looks at me, memorizing every nuance. When she opens her mouth to speak, the sound is so soft I have to strain my neck in an effort to hear her better.
“The first time you died in Sam’s arms on the way here.” Averting her gaze, she draws in a sharp inhale. “I couldn’t breathe the entire time I watched them administering CPR on your lifeless body. It was almost as if our lives were so intertwined that I could feel you slipping away. The farther and farther away you got, the more hysterical I became. I’m pretty sure I’ve broken some kind of Olympic record for hysterical breakdowns in the past several weeks.” With a nervous laugh, she shyly glances at me, her voice laden with heartache.
“But when he came out of that operating room and told me that you’d crashed on the table, I knew right then you were gone. Felt it all the way in my soul. I was so damn sure that I’d lost you too, I was ready to join you.” She breaks down, crying convulsively.
“Jesus, Kylee. Get your ass over here before I rip this IV out of my arm and shuffle my weak ass over there to get you.”
Her eyes blow wide, her mouth forming a perfect O. “Y-You can’t do that,” she stammers.
“You wanna bet?” Cocking a brow in challenge, I remain silent observing her closely.
Letting out a resigned sigh, she shuffles forward, her shoulders sagging. My heart beats furiously, threatening to shred its way out of my skin at her slow pace. Closing the distance, she stops beside the bed. Mustering all the strength I can, I wrap my fingers around her wrist, tugging her closer.
“Get your ass on this bed now.”
She stills, giving me a look as if to ask Are you stupid? at my command. Refusing to let go, I wait, scrutinizing her every move. Kylee shudders, shifting her gaze to the floor. Tugging at her wrist, I bring her attention back to me.
“Now,” I command again.
“Fine,” she mutters on a sigh.
Gingerly, she climbs on the bed, sitting next to me. Giving her wrist a light pull, I drag her back into my chest, encircling her in my embrace. Her scent envelops me, a soothing balm to ease some of the ache. Pulling in several drags of her scent, I hold her while she trembles, silent sobs rumbling darkly in her chest.
“Baby, stop blaming yourself,” I mutter into her hair.
“A smart little girl once told me wishing upon a star won’t change the past. We have to embrace who we are and make our own destiny. You are mine. The only woman who can make my heart beat out of my chest. And I won’t let you go.”
Dark irises peer up at me from beneath wet lashes. Her voice trembles with emotion. “You saw her?”
Biting my lip, I give my head a shake. Sadness latches onto me, clawing at the already bleeding pieces of my battered heart. Kylee turns, twisting her body so she can look at my face. When chocolate eyes raise to mine, a serene calmness descends, wiping away all of the aches and pain. God, how I missed this . . .missed her.
With trembling fingers, she reaches up, grazing my cheek, her unsure fingertips caressing the rough stubble on my jaw. Instinctively, I groan, leaning into her touch.
“What did you see, Alex?” she inquires, her voice breaking on my name.
“I . . .” The words turn to ash in my mouth, a fresh wave of pain enveloping me with the memories of Noah.
“You don’t have to tell me,” she murmurs in a hushed tone, pulling away.
“No, please don’t. I missed your touch,” I state, the words coming out in a rush. Immediately, she relaxes, her fingertips resuming their trek along my jaw.
“Noah.”
“Noah?” she questions.
“Noah.” His name is a raspy wisp of air.
Dainty fingers edge my chin down, my eyes falling toward her face. Our eyes clash, colliding in an emotional tornado of understanding. Warm brown irises smile up at me with the strength and love of a thousand lifetimes. My already weakened body grows weaker with her touch. Affection and understanding radiating from her in waves, Kylee bears a look that can only mean one thing.
He couldn’t have come to her as well, could he?
Still holding her bold gaze, I inquire, “Baby, I have to know. Did he visit you?”
She smiles through the tears now falling from her eyes and silently nods. My heart breaks a little with each tear. With gentle fingers and a sure hand, I wipe the tears from under her eyes. Kylee shudders, sighing at the contact. Caressing her beautiful skin, the most unlikely words just pop right out of my mouth.
“Well, he still knows how to get around doesn’t he?”
Peals of delightful laughter spring forth, tumbling from her breast. Burying her face in my hand, her body quakes as she rumbles merrily. Whimpers of mirth spew forth, grumbling deeply in my unused chest. My torso expands with each laugh, working out the small aches and pains. After an indiscernible amount of time, the laughter dries, only our panting breaths left to fill the small room. Kylee breaks the silence first.
“Oh, Alex. I have no right to ask this but do you think with time you could forgive me? Maybe even learn to love me again?”
Blinking rapidly, I stare at her in confusion. Maybe she fell or something. Has an injury I don’t know about? Shaking the errant thoughts away, I pin her with a withering glare. Cowering, she tries to move back but the hold I have on her nape doesn’t allow her to retreat. Hauling her up, I maneuver her closer to my lips, burning with the need to kiss her mouth like a thirsting man in the desert sun. Kylee’s eyes dart nervously from my eyes to my lips then back to my eyes again. Inwardly, I smile. Only when her beautiful brown eyes are securely in my gravitational pull do I speak.
“Pay attention to what I’m about to say because I am only going to say this once and then we are going to move on. Do you understand?” Nodding, she remains quiet, scrutinizing me with unsure curiosity.
“Let it go. I followed you willingly and did so because I love you. If given the opportunity to do it all over again, I would. Nothing would change. I would give my life for you a thousand times over. Never in a million years would I have imagined falling in love with a woman who could steal my breath, heat my blood, and infuriate me all in the same second. And there isn’t a thing in this life or the next that someone could offer me to make me walk away.” Gulping down a much-needed breath of air, I wipe away a few stray tears from her face.
“Kylee Ann Parker, you have taken my breath away from the very moment I laid eyes on you. I love you now and forever. And I promise you here and now that whenever the need arises, I will be your hero walking into the flames to kiss away the pain and replace it with love for the rest of our lives.” Closing her eyes, she leans forward, her head touching mine.
“Where do we go from here?” she asks between softly hiccupped sobs.
“Forward, baby. We build our life together. The one we were always meant to have.”
“Forever?” she asks, small traces of hesitation still clouding her tone.
“Damn straight, and the first thing we’re doing as soon as I get out of here is get married. You’re going to be tied to me every way possible.” Kylee laughs, the breathy sound soothing my battered soul.
“Emma has to come. She’d kill me . . . and you.” She shoots me a warning from the corner of her eye.
“Fine,” I concede, not really bothered in the least.
“Have you spoken to her?”
“Yes, I apologized. She’s talking to me again even though she’s still angry. I definitely have some groveling to do.” Her voice holds a tinge of sadness.
“Emma will come around, baby. You’ll see.”
“I know, but that doesn’t stop me from regretting my actions.”
“Enough. It’s in the past. We’re moving forward, remember?”
Kylee nods, giving me a timid smile. Dragging her the remaining distance, I seal our lips together, slanting my mouth over hers in a passionate kiss. Groan
ing, I relish in the contact. Our brief moment of rapture is interrupted as a knock sounds and the door bursts open.
“Good Lord get a room,” Brighton quips.
“We have a room. You just barged into it,” I grumble, wanting to go back to Kylee’s soft lips. Chuckling, she extracts herself. Laughing again, when I refuse to let her leave my side.
“At least they were clothed,” Cooper replies.
“Thank fuck, too. I’m not sure what I would do if I walked in on him in the buff with my little girl,” the Colonel grumbles.
“Technically, he is in the buff, Dad. I don’t really think a hospital gown qualifies as being clothed.”
“Kyleeee,” I whine.
When did it become acceptable for my woman to bust my balls? Oh yeah, the moment you accepted her as your own. Chuckling, she untangles herself to greet everyone filing into the room. My eyes rove over their faces one by one. First Brighton, then Cooper, the Colonel, Sam silently brooding in the back, and finally Taejo, Kylee’s uncle. Frozen in that moment of time, I can only blink.
Watching him enter, I wonder why on earth he would be here. Wait, wasn’t he always with her aunt? Scooting up on the bed, I scowl, leveling him with a menacing glower.
“Mind telling me what he’s doing here?” I demand.
Standing close to her, Taejo reaches out, a simple touch to her arm that sets my world ablaze. Gnashing my teeth, I growl, the fierce rumble echoing through the room. My expression contorts into a mask of fiery rage, my eyes and mouth pinching with anger. The heart rate monitor next to the bed goes berserk, chaos ensuing with the rapid beat thrashing away behind my rib cage.
“Alex,” Kylee warns.
Her eyes shine with worry as she glances from me to the raving machine beside the bed. The door to the room flies open as the petite nurse from earlier scurries toward me.
“Captain Grant, are you all right?” she questions, moving toward the infuriated monitor.
“Yes, just got a little excited to see my family.”
Trying to hide my enraged state, I smile, the action feeling brittle and fake on my own face. With nimble fingers, she presses a few buttons, turning off the alarms and narrowing her eyes, the sweet smile dropping as she warns, “Well then, I suggest you keep your . . . excitement to a minimum or I’m ordering everyone to leave. You just woke up and need time to rest and heal. Do you understand?”
Unwilling to speak for fear of telling her where to stick her command, I simply nod. I know she’s only doing her job, and I respect that, but I really just want to know what in the hell is going on.
Seeing my compliance, she smiles and asks, “Good, now do you need anything before I go?”
I remain silent, only offering her a solid shake of my head. Nodding in understanding, she replies, “Very well, please call if you need anything.”
With her final parting words, she pivots, leaving the room. Taking a deep breath to calm the seething anger turbulently chewing through my muscles, I say, “Don’t everyone talk at once.”
“You’re one to talk,” Sam huffs from the back of the room.
Some of the anger ebbs, draining as I focus my attention momentarily on my best friend. Fuck, this hurts, I need to explain, need to tell him. The Colonel’s smooth baritone interrupts my reverie.
“Trust me, son, it is not what you think.”
“Then tell me what it is because all I see is a man that was part of a violent family that did cruel things to your daughter standing here like it’s just another day at the park.”
“Maybe I should leave,” Taejo interjects.
“No, Uncle. You are not leaving. He needs to understand. He’s confused and being a stubborn ass at the moment, all things which I simultaneously love and hate right now.” Frowning, she turns her turbulent brown eyes upon me.
“You like it when I’m stubborn, huh?” Brighton and Sam chuckle in the back of the room.
“Stop changing the subject and let us explain. I need you to understand and accept what I’m about to say because he is going to be part of our lives from here on out, and if you can’t accept that, I need to know now.” The vulnerability in her voice gives me pause.
“I’m not going anywhere. You already know that,” I say with conviction.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she relaxes, her uncle running a soothing hand over her bicep. My heart spikes and I have to remind myself to calm. Taking pity on me, the Colonel lays it all out, explaining every tiny detail from the point they came in until now, all the way down to the nitty gritty details of Taejo selling his family out. He’d been working with Nari since that day at the Tenpro house.
In exchange for immunity, he gave her everything she needed to take down the entire syndicate plus more on several other crime families this side of the border and the other, which makes Taejo Sun-ye a very wanted man in the criminal world. Feeling astounded, I gaze at him with new eyes.
Unable to control it, I find myself asking, “Why? Why did you do it?” Sadness wells in his brown eyes—eyes so very much like the woman I love.
“Because I recognized myself in her. I may have been born into this life but it was never a life that I wanted. And while my niece may have waltzed in like she owned the place with a heart full of vengeance, it wasn’t what she wanted either. So, I made the decision to give her what she truly wished for even if she didn’t see it.” He stops, giving Kylee a loving look.
Smiling, she asks, “And what was that, Uncle?”
“A life filled with love and devotion. My niece deserves to be happy, and that is something you would have never found there. I should know.” Glassy eyes meet mine, a sad smile covering his lips.
“Thank you,” I whisper, still holding his gaze.
Nodding, he swallows and says, “Well, I really must be going. I will come by and visit again soon.”
“I’ll walk you out,” Kylee says, taking her uncle’s arm.
“Coop, why don’t you come help me grab some coffee for everyone?” The Colonel snags Cooper’s arm, dragging him from the room. Sam shrugs off the wall, bounding toward the exit.
“Sam, wait!” I yell, hoping to stop him. Ignoring me, he continues out the door into the hall.
“He will come around,” Brighton says, sauntering up to the chair by the bed and taking a seat.
“Yeah, I know, but I really just want to explain. Apologize.”
“Yeah, well, you were a dick to all of us. We would have gone with you.”
“I know.” A pregnant pause fills the air as we sit in silence.
“Brighton . . .” I begin, not knowing how to broach the subject.
“Yeah?”
“Do you believe in the afterlife?”
Sitting up straight, he peers deep into my eyes.
“I believe there is life after death, yes.”
“Shit, you’re going to think I’m crazy,” I admit.
“I already do.” He chuckles.
“Ass.”
“Yeah, but you like it.”
“Brit, I saw Noah.”
Unmoving, Brighton’s smooth expressionless features remain stoic. Tidal waves of anguish sluice through my frame as fathomless orbs of pain stare back at me. After a second, he clears his throat and leans forward, resting his chin on his hands.
“You know it’s often the voice that we don’t hear that we miss the most. Like one day you’ll be caught in the sun missing them and their memory will appear out of nowhere to comfort you.”
“It’s okay to miss him, Brit. We all do, but you have to know that he’s okay.”
“How can you know that?” he demands, turning his turbulent gaze on me.
“Because he told me.” Brighton’s head snaps up, his eyes focusing intently on me.
“What do you mean he told you?” He shakes his head, surveying me skeptically.
“Exactly what I said, and he gave me a message for you too.”
“A message?” Brighton pales, his eyes darting from me to the door.
/> “Relax, man. It’s not all that bad. He wanted you to know he was fine.” Brighton relaxes in his seat, his shoulders pulling in on themselves.
“Oh, there was one other thing,” I say, turning my head to the side to meet his gaze.
“What is it?” Brighton hedges.
“He wanted you to know he was sorry. He said he loves you but you need to swallow your pride. Stop being such an asshat. His words, not mine.” I throw up a hand in defense. Brighton smiles, light teasing his eyes for the first time since Noah’s death.
“Is that it? He wanted for you to call me an asshat?” He chuckles.
“No, there’s more.” The mood changes, my somber tone causing Brighton to straighten.
“Noah said that once you open the door, everything changes. The world will no longer be such a dismal place. He also said she can help you close the rift but only if you allow her to. But you have to be careful not to hurt her because everything isn’t always as it seems.”
Leaving out Noah’s warning to me on how special she is, I take in my friend. Brighton’s hands are tightly clasped, his face a mask of agony. Inhaling sharply, he blinks several times and clears his throat.
“A bit cryptic, isn’t it?” he muses.
“That is exactly what I said.” I chuckle.
Brighton stands, leaning over the bed to gently squeeze my shoulder.
“Thanks for that, but I need some time to process.” Releasing me, he steps away, walking to the door.
“Brighton,” I call.
Stopping, he cast a glance at me over his shoulder.
“Take care of Emma,” I call out to him.
Several different expressions cross his face all at once—fear, hope, anguish, and a myriad of others before he blanks it giving me a nod.
“Later, man,” he says just before striding out the door. The door closes with a soft snick, and I close my eyes, welcoming the soothing silence. A moment later, Sam’s deep voice grumbles close to the bed.
“I am so fucking pissed at you.” Cracking open my eyes, I chuckle.
“Yeah, well, it’s not the first time and it won’t be the last.” My vain attempt to make light of the situation fails as Sam thumps me on the shoulder.
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