Page 130 of The Bodyguard

Just like everyone else.

“Savannah,” Marshall says as he steps into the living room. I glance up. “Your mom is at the gate.”

My brows lift. “My mom?”

They hadn’t visited me in the hospital, but I had received a text saying they were glad to hear I was alive and recovering.

From the news.

From the fucking news media.

My own family.

“Want me to send them away?” he asks.

“Them?”

“Your sister is also with her. Ivy.”

Shit.

“Um,” I stare at the blanket laying over my legs, with Max curled up on top of it.

That’s right.

Ryder had him delivered to me the next day. Aidan pulled him out of the cat carrier when he arrived.

“Apparently this guy is going to look after you,” he said, shaking his head.

I let Max out of the carrier, thinking it might mean Ryder would be visiting.

I was wrong.

It appears he’s replaced himself with Max.

Ryder, where are you?

I know I have no right wanting him and needing him this much, but I thought he cared. I thought...I thought there was something between us.

Lust, yes.

Possibly love.

How we dealt with that, I thought we would work out together. I was shot. I needed time to heal and come to terms with those final thoughts before the world turned dark.

But he shut down.

And now he’s gone.

I don’t want to face my family after what Gina told me. Who knows how much is true, but one thing I do know is they don’t love me.

Are they capable of it? Are they broken themselves?

Maybe.

But that doesn’t mean that I should let them keep treating me like this.

“Okay. Yes, let them in,” I tell Marshall.

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