Page 88 of Cross To Bear

Don’t let her get off the line, I tried to communicate silently. Just keep talking to her.

“When a fated mate isn’t right for a sleuth, sometimes they find someone else,” Mum said finally, then smiled. “Someone better.”

She believed this bullshit absolutely, just like she always did everything. Mum manipulated reality like it was silly putty, stretching it to fit the way she wanted things to go. Right now, I was done being played.

“There is no one else that’s right for us, Mum.” My voice broke now, just like Jesse’s had. “No one and you of all people should know that. Maddie is the only woman for us and you tried to fuck with that? What did you do, Mum?” She sucked in a gasp, no doubt to spout yet more bullshit. “Mum, what did you fucking do?”

But she didn’t get a chance to answer, Razor’s voice cutting through everything.

“Maddie! Maddie!” He stared at his phone in disbelief, the sounds that came through the speaker horrific. Right now I didn’t give a flying fuck about my mother, brother, anything but her.

“What the fuck has happened?” Hawk snarled. “Razor, what—?”

“I think she’s been in a fucking accident.”

Chapter 51

Beep… beep… beep…

Those were the sounds that alerted me to the fact that I wasn’t doing so good, the pain in my leg the next thing. I hissed in response then coughed, my mouth dry as a bone. But as I blinked, I saw why. I had an oxygen mask blasting cool air into my nose and mouth, and I was in hospital. I made a small sound of pain and that had her appearing.

“Shit, Maddie…”

Cress. My mind identified the woman staring at me in concern who then grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

“She’s awake?” Another woman, Jack, I realised, jerked to her feet and looked down, forcing herself to smile. “Hey, Maddie. You’re in hospital. You had an accident.”

“Acci… dent?”

Another coughing bout, but this time I felt every bit of it, muscles that had never protested before screaming at me in complaint. Cress dived for a cup of ice chips and then handed it to me, then realised that was no use when I had the oxygen mask on, so she stabbed her finger into the call nurse button.

“She’s awake?”

The sleuth came skidding around the corner of the room, food and drinks spilling all over the floor as they rushed over.

“Maddie? Maddie, baby?” Razor sank down beside the bed, his hands touching my face until Hawk’s hand snapped out to stop him.

“Don’t fucking touch her!” he growled. “She’s bruised all over.”

I watched all of this like it was happening to someone else, the feeling of unreality pushing back the pain. I took in Razor’s destroyed expression and Hawk’s growly one, right before the others stepped forward.

“You scared the fucking shit out of us.” Crash looked so pale, his skin was almost as white as his hair. He tried to smile and failed utterly. “You were in a car accident.”

“But you’re OK now.” Bjorn was going for a stiff upper lip, though the molten gold of his eyes betrayed him. “The other guy is OK. Bike’s fucked and so is the hire car, but…” His hands shook as he drew closer, then he dropped down to the other side of my bed. “You’re here, in one piece.” His hand slid across the sheets, feeling like it took days to get to mine, so I reached out and gripped his with all my might.

“Two pieces.” Crash snorted, looked at the ceiling, and I saw his eyes get suspiciously shiny. He smiled but there was so much pain in his expression. “You fractured your leg.”

And that’s when I looked down. My leg was bound up tight in a plaster cast, lying on top of the blankets swathed around me.

“You… came?”

“Of course, we fucking did.” Razor’s eyes jerked up to lock with mine. “Every time, Maddie, every time.” He rose and so did the others. “I don’t give a shit what’s going on in your life and in what capacity you let us in, we’ll always be there. Always.”

When his voice broke on that word, when his eyes filled with tears, mine did too. I had to suck in breaths harder and faster, the beep of the machine starting to pick up in time with my heartbeat. I tried to smile, tried to reassure him, but I couldn’t, and I guess getting in a car crash takes it out of a girl.

Destroying all of her carefully constructed walls.

It was more than just the car that had been crushed. Every single objection to the bond had been smashed apart, leaving just me, raw, aching and fighting to take a full breath, when Hawk shouldered forward.

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