Amanda Kaitlyn
Ashlee
DO YOU REMEMBER the accident?” Emberly’s voice was soft and unsure as she spoke from inside the hospital room and the sound of it stopped my approach, a sliver of hope breaking through the darkness that had filled my heart since hearing the news.
“He’s hurt, Ash. You should be here.” Trisha, Tristan’s mother said, the pain behind her voice evident and I whimpered as the meaning of her words infiltrated my soul.
Tristan…
My Tristan…
Nononono…
“I don’t know if I can. To see him like that…” A wretched sob broke my voice and I bit at my lower lip in a futile hope I’d be able to keep it together. A long, pregnant pause later, her voice merely whispered;
“He needs you, sweet girl. He needs you now, more than ever.”
“Yeah. How long, Em?” The voice that spoke next was one I would recognize anywhere. Deep, with a rasp of southern descent that affected me in ways that seemed impossible to me, even after the months spent getting to know the strong, kind, determined man that owned it.
“Two days.”
Two days since I’d received the phone call that broke me.
Two days since I realized just how much time I had wasted running from and doubting and ignoring the man that I now knew, I loved.
Two days since I’d last heard that voice I loved so much.
“And she’s been here?” He asked and closing my eyes, I imagined him dropping his head and digging his long, thick fingers through his hair like he always does when he’s nervous about something.
How would I know? Because I was the one that usually made him that way.
I had refused to let him into my heart for so long and because of that, he was constantly worried that I would walk away and never look back.
How could he have known that as soon I got that phone call, I was a mess? That I refused to leave his hospital room for the past two days, only leaving when Emberly swore to stay with him and call with any changes, no matter how small or miniscule. He meant that much to me.
The thought that Tristan hadn’t believed her, that I’d been here, waiting for him to wake up was like a knife, twisting in the very heart of me and the sting of it finally moved my feet in his direction, only stopping when I’d reached the partially open door of his room.
“Yes, of course. I’m sure she’s just grabbing some food…” Emberly’s voice trailed off as I opened the door and swallowed thickly before forcing the word of endearment I’d always used with Tristan past my dry lips.
“Babe?”
Ashlee
“BABE?” MY VOICE was merely a whisper against the shock and fearful hope that filled my veins and squeezed my tattered, unbelieving heart in a vice grip.
This wasn’t real, I told myself.
It couldn’t be.
The doctors… they hadn’t known if he would wake up from the coma he’d slipped into shortly after surgery. Logically, I knew that most coma patients often woke after their bodies had proper time to heal and that they went on to live happy, healthy lives. But my heart had told me something else from the moment I saw him, scarred and broken on that hospital bed. He was leaving me. Just like everyone else I had ever loved in my life.
Mom…
Dad…
They’d left me, too.
The sound of a harsh, muffled sob ripped through the otherwise still, silent room and as I struggled to breathe through the feelings that coursed through me, I realized that sound had been me.
“It’s okay, Ash. He’s okay.” My best friends voice placated me, one of her hands reached out to me but I just shook my head, unsure if it all was a dream, a mirage that would make me believe that good things could happen for me but one that- no matter how much I wanted it- wasn’t real. Never would be.
Not for me.
Breath We Take Playlist
Naked by James Arthur
Impossible by James Arthur
Blue Ain’t Your Color by Keith Urban
What Lovers Do by Maroon 5
Don’t Let Me Down- The Chainsmokers
Kiss Me Like A Stranger by Thomas Rhett
End Game by Taylor Swift
Bad At Love by Halsey
Perfect by Ed Sheeran
Thunder by Imagine Dragons
Break On Me by Keith Urban
Beautiful by Christina Aguilera
Body Like A Back Road by Sam Hunt
Never Alone by Lady Antebellum
First Love by Lost Kings, Sabrina Carpenter
Marry Me by Thomas Rhett
About The Author
Debut author of romantic suspense novel, Finding Beautiful, Amanda Kaitlyn is an incurable romantic. A lover of fairy tales, just a tad dirtier than the ones she used to read as a child. In her free time you can find her reading, writing or walking her 3 dogs, Sable, Bella and Princess. Amanda likes to keep her stories real and her characters relatable and in the pages of her books you can find angsty, emotionally driven romance and alpha men that will do anything for the women they love.
More From This Author
The Beautifully Broken: Contemporary Romance
Finding Beautiful
Breaking Lucas
This Beautiful Love
Dare To Love
Saving Tayla (December 2018)
Remembering Ben (Coming Soon!)
The Black Harts MC: Romantic Suspense
Until Us
Make Us Last
The Broken In Us (TBD)
The Redemption Of Us (TBD)
The Weight Of Us (TBD)
Protecting Us (TBD)
The Cuffed By Love Duet: Blue Collar
Breath We Take
Just Breathe
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[r1]Here’s the file, love. Please just pay attention to the details so there’s no discrepencies or confusion with the timeline, I’ve had trouble with that in other books. And tense should be past tense, you know I have trouble with keeping it consistent. Can you just make sure everything flows smoothly with combining both books? Any changes just let meknow. Thank you!
[r2]BREATH WE TAKE STARTS: NEW EDITS NEEDED
Breath We Take (Cuffed By Love Duet Book 1) Page 28