Marked By The Devil (Devil's Riders 5)

“Wicked!”

He didn’t answer. He just started whistling. In fact, he was whistling the whole rest of the day.

Chapter Fifteen

Molly

Three days.

My brother had been awake for three days.

It was unexpected. A miracle. A miracle I was terrified was about to end.

He’d only had minutes of consciousness in the years following the accident. Snatched moments of clarity, usually months and months apart. But now . . . he’d been with me for three days.

And I hadn’t so much as left his side for any of it.

Tommy smiled at me and waved, taking a sip from the juice box in his hands. He’d barely been a teen when all this happened to him. And now he was a young man, seventeen years old. But in his mind, he was still at thirteen-year-old boy.

My heart broke for all the things he’d missed.

Sports. School. Friends. Prom.

Come to think of it, we’d both missed prom.

But he was awake now, and I was determined to keep him awake. Even if it meant sitting by his side and poking him every time he dozed off.

Which the nurse had specifically told me not to do.

I was restraining myself, but it was hard. To say I was anxious was an understatement. He’d slept a few times since he woke up. Each time, I sat there, staring at him, sure he had slipped away again. But he hadn’t. He’d only been sleeping.

I dozed a bit in my chair by the window. I’d barely eaten and had gotten zero sleep. I’d only had what Callaway had brought me to eat, diner food from Mae’s. Lots of it. I’d shared with Tommy, who had been over the moon about the milkshake. Once Callaway found out that he liked strawberry, a shake had shown up each and every afternoon.

He never came inside though. He’d text me and we’d meet in the hallway. He didn’t want to intrude, but he wanted to be there for me. His support was more than I ever could have imagined. He was being amazing. Almost too good.

Which made what I had to do even harder.

He was coming now. We were going to talk. I paced back and forth while a nurse came to take Tommy to physical therapy. He had to learn to walk again. His body had been healthy since the accident, other than some bruises and cracked ribs. It had been his brain that took the biggest knock and caused the biggest worry. So I knew he would learn to walk again, even if it took him a long time. I closed my eyes, realizing he could never make it up the stairs to my tiny apartment. We would have to move. Again.

But it was worth it. I would do anything for my brother. Literally anything.

He was awake.

It was a miracle.

“Hey.”

I glanced at Callaway, standing in the open doorway. I was afraid to look at him. Afraid I’d change my mind when I saw his handsome face. He’d been a rock through this. And now I was going to hurt him.

I was about to hurt myself, too.

I forced myself to look at him. The soulful look in his eyes took my breath away. I wished for the hundredth time that I could make this work.

But Tommy was awake. He needed me. He had always needed me, but now he needed me hands-on. And I owed him all the time I had.

Because I knew, without being told, that there was a chance he might fall asleep again and not wake up.

So I was going to give him every single second I had.

I exhaled and straightened my spine.

“How are you doing, sweetheart?”

Callaway came close, pulling me into his arms. I felt his lips press against my hair and nearly cried. He felt so good. He smelled even better.

I shook my head and pushed away from him. I tried to gather my wits, get some semblance of control over myself and my runaway emotions, and get control over the situation. I finally looked at him, and I could tell he knew something was wrong when I looked into his beautiful green eyes. It was right there, raw and impossible to ignore.

“I’m really sorry, Callaway. But I can’t do this.”

“It’s a lot to handle. But you’ll get through it. I’ll help you.”

“No, I mean this. I can’t ask you to . . . to do what needs to be done. This is going to be a full-time job.”

The muscle in his jaw ticked.

“That’s okay. We can handle it.”

“I have to focus on my brother right now.”

“Of course. I’m here if you need me.” He squeezed my hand. “For whatever you need.”

I shook my head. It was asking too much.

“Callaway—”

“Don’t. I’m not going anywhere.” His big eyes were full of pain. “Just don’t push me away.”

I sighed and walked over to the window. I stared out, not even registering the beautiful sunny day.