In…
Wheezing…
Hissing…
I’m scaling the Mount Everest of finding air, finding oxygen to keep me awake. Things vignette. My fingertips reach for Landon. Things get darker. He catches my body before I topple to the floor.
“Call an ambulance!”
The pain hits me, every nerve standing on painful end. It burns, seers within me. I look down to the leather handle hanging from my chest. It’s alien, strange…
I’ve lost Landon again.
We were so close.
Darkness consumes me before I can even mouth our last goodbye.
Chapter 29
Blink, blink, blink.
“Oh my God,” says a whisper.
I feel numb all over. There’s a pressure, something weird in my the back of my throat. I open my eyes into a dimly lit room. Where am I? What happened? Where have I been?
My head flops over to my left and there’s a warm hand on the side of my face.
“Landon,” I croak. “Oh my God.”
He leans into me gently but I only hug him tighter. Then I wince at the sharp pain on my left breast. “Careful, Lucy… Careful. The stitches are new.”
Stitches…
The fight…
The knife…
“I—I’m not dead yet.”
Landon gives a warm laugh and strokes my hair. “Looks like we’re gonna have a bit more time together, if that’s okay.”
I half laugh, half cough as this thing…this…unfamiliarity washes over me. I touch Landon’s warm skill some more. I let the knowledge wash over me, the security of the hospital relax me. It’s soothing, cold, rippling through me as I come to a realization: I’m okay. I feel good, calm because I’m with him and there’s nothing in our way anymore.
I take his face in my hands and the tears fall again. I see his own eyes are glassy but Landon doesn’t dare cry in front of me. So he turns his head away for a moment and clears his throat. I grab at his hair, trying to drive it into me that this all real. Him, me, together, safe — It’s all real.
“I owe you my life, Luce…”
“I know,” I say casually.
He kisses me again all over my face. “It’s all over, Luce. It’s finished.”
“What happened? What happened to Mac?” I see it all over Landon’s face that he wants to hold it back from me. “Please tell me. I’ll feel better.”
“He’s in a hospital on the other side of town. Some of the boys are checkin’ in on him, making sure he’s gonna stay away from us.”
I nod. “He’s alive… Is he ever coming back?”
“Old Mac had warrants out for some of the shit he’s pulled. With good behavior he’ll be cooling his heels in jail for the next twenty years…”
We link hands tightly. “Who’s replacing him?”
“Rev, probably. He’s wanted that spot for years. We’re all just exhausted by all the bullshit. It’s time to start cleaning up the pieces Mac left behind. Besides, him and Mia are becoming a thing so maybe something good can come from that little shit show.”
“But that means the club is involved with the mafia and the cartels.”
“I know…”
Landon sees me struggling on the bed and he helps me sit up.
“When can I leave here?”
“Not for a few weeks. But I’ll be here with you…”
“I love you, Landon…”
He pulls me into him and we kiss deeply. I inhale his masculine scent and hold my hands to his face, running my hands over a thin line of stitches on his cheek. It’s just more evidence of how close I came to losing him…
“I love you too. And… I have a surprise for you.”
I spend the next few hours with Landon. I can’t speak without giggling and I also can’t stop smiling like an idiot. I’m too distracted by how handsome Landon looks, how happy I feel that the pain’s almost over. I want to cry more than anything, but it’s not tears of sadness welling up inside me.
There’s a knock on the door. I can make out a platinum blonde ponytail through the circular window. Billie’s face peeps in and she throws her hand over her mouth. She tiptoes inside like she’s trying to hide something but lets out a lowly squeal at me. I embrace her carefully and she lets my nose fill with her overwhelming vanilla perfume.
“My baby,” she whispers. “Jesus Christ.”
Landon climbs from the bed, out into the corridor and leaves us in private.
“W—What are you doing here?” I say, shocked to see her, and maybe a bit more shocked that she’s not already at Landon’s throat…
“Landon called me… But for now, don’t worry about any of that. I brought someone to say hello.”
From her large beach bag she pulls a fluffy feline, a much welcomed face today.
“Babeen, my beautiful boy.” I smush his fur and press my head to his.
Meoooow.
“Shh, Babeen, you have to keep quiet,” Billie whispers.
I laugh as I take the silly boy into my arms and inhale him while he nudges at my face. It’s a comfort I’ve missed. Then I take Billie back into my arms and start crying again.
“I’ve missed you guys.”
“We’ve missed you too, baby girl. My God. I’m so glad to see you safe.”
“Billie, I’m so so…”
“Hush. Hush your damn mouth. We’re here to get you better. The past is the past. You are alive. Love makes us do some damn foolish things and best be believing there’ll be some words. But for now, let’s celebrate breathing, shall we?”
I nod and laugh, pulling her into my arms again.
“I have so much to tell you…”
“Well, we’ll get to that. You just rest up first.”
She pulls away a
nd I notice something shiny on Billie’s hand.
“What is this?” I say, taking a modest ring between my fingers.
“Oh, don’t get too excited. Me and lazy-eye may have given each other promise rings.”
My eyes fill with more tears. I’ve missed so much since I’ve been gone. Of all the things I’d let go about Baddock, Billie was the very last.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Ugh, for the last time, less apologizing, more healing.”
“No… I owe it to you. I need to tell you everything.”
“In that case, you go ahead and start at the beginning… And no lies this time. I’ve been letting you get away with lying to me for too damn long…”
“You knew?” I asked quietly.
“Course I did… But I saw good in you, and I thought you might come around sooner or later…”
It’s a few hours of talking Billie and Babeen finally leave me and Landon alone. I cuddle into his shoulder again. He places a kiss on my forehead.
“Lucy,” he says quietly.
“Mm…”
“I’ve been thinking about our future lately, about where we go from here.”
“What about it?”
“Well, there’s something I’ve been holding in the last few days and I didn’t know the right time to tell you. I didn’t want you stressing out anymore than you have been.”
I don’t know if I want him to keep talking or let me live in this Limbo bubble a few days more. But curiosity gets the better of me. “Landon, what are you talking about?”
“Do you see a future with us?”
I shake my head in disbelief.
“Of course I do.”
“I just want to be sure you’re ready to live this life with me, all the good, all the bad…”
His fingertips move along my collarbone and I collapse deeper into his touch. “Landon, you’re scaring me.”
He lifts my chin up and kisses my mouth. “Do you want this future with me?”
“O—Of course. I want it to be you and me, forever…”
“If that’s what you want… I’m getting back out of the club.”