Page 118 of Blades of Obsession

“We’re currently only letting family in to see him.” The nurse smiles. A flutter of hope surges into me, at least that means he’s awake.

“Hey, look lady, my daughter Amelia deserves to be back there as much as anybody else! Screw family!” My mom jabs her finger at the nurse, her lips pressing into a thin, firm line.

My eyes widen at her raised voice and angry expression. She looks like her favorite book series has been turned into a terrible movie adaptation and she’s confronting the director. Just a second ago, she was smiling from ear to ear. “Mom, it’s okay.”

“Wait, your name is Amelia?” The nurse asks, checking through her clipboard.

I nod.

She smiles gently. “Why didn’t you just say you were his wife, come on back.” She gestures towards the emergency room doors.

Uh… okay? I’m sure as hell not gonna argue about it right now.

As I step into his hospital room, my heart skips a beat. He’s propped up in bed, a sling supporting his left shoulder and arm. He looks pale and sweaty, but he’s still as handsome as ever to me. There’s another nurse in the room who’s busy, checking his IVs and fiddling with his medicine. Blade catches my eye and smiles, patting the bed beside him.

“Come sit,” he says, his voice a husky whisper.

I shake my head. “I don’t wanna hurt you.”

“I could get up from my seat and carry you over here, but I’m sure that’d hurt me worse.”

Jesus, Lord. His voice is already every girl’s wet dream, but while it’s raspy and groggy like this, it’s even hotter.

I relent and sit on the edge of the hospital bed, careful not to get too close.

The nurse smiles, a bright, warm smile. “You guys are so cute,” she mentions before leaving.

As soon as she’s gone, I turn towards Blade. “How are you doing?”

“Good, now that you’re here. I asked them—” He starts counting on his fingers. “—thirty two times when you could come back here.”

Huh, so he must’ve lied about me being his wife for me to be able to come back.

I laugh at the serious expression on his face while counting, then cover my mouth. “Stop making me laugh. You have some serious questions to answer.”

“Like what?”

“I saw you making hand gestures to that guard. What was that about?”

He gives me a smug grin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I cross my arms. “No, we’re not playing that game anymore. You’re going to be open and honest about all this group stuff now. Remember?”

He sighs, his face growing serious. “Okay. He just… had to go.”

I gasp, a wave of shock hitting me. “What?! How could you do that? And Frankie! That’s her father.”

“Calm down, Frankie isn’t gonna care. She was raised by her mom, traveling the world. She just settled back in with John to come to college because her mom got sick. She barely even knew him, for what? Five months? He and her mom divorced before she even turned two. And even Frankie had regular complaints about him.”

I let out a breath, still grappling with the reality of him putting a hit out on John. He wasn’t the best man, but did he deserve to die? “I still can’t believe you did that. What about your mom?”

“If she stayed alive, she was only going to cause trouble. I mean, she came in and pointed a gun. I’m not going to be lookingover my shoulder every day, and putting everyone else in danger because she’s sad about her son dying. And she wasn’t my mom.”

I rest my head gently on his good shoulder. “If you say so. Why did you have to get yourself shot?”

He starts running his fingers through my hair. “Well, there are people in the group that are loyal to John. They would’ve investigated his death. If I got shot too, it just looks like a rogue security guard snapped and shot everyone. So I paid him handsomely, and he’s on his way to Costa Rica to live out his days.”

“So you planned everything to a tee, huh?”

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