Page 138 of Things We Burn

Catch both of us.

“I love you,” I whispered. He reached out to caress my hand.

He might’ve said something, might’ve even said it back, but I didn’t stay awake long enough to hear it. I’d been hanging on by a thread, running on pure adrenaline, gripping on to consciousness by my fingernails. Kane’s words, his promise had been what I’d needed to let go, to trust that he was there, watching over us.

Twenty-Two

KANE

Avery was finally sleeping.

I’d managed to get Mabel from her arms and into the hospital bassinet without waking either of them.

I’d wanted to hold Mabel in my own arms, settle there with that weight—seven pounds eleven ounces—in my arms and simply watch her chest rise and fall.

But I needed to sleep too. I was aware that this was only the beginning of a long road of broken nights and early mornings. And I was prepared for it. Fuck, was I.

Even me, with an inflated idea of myself understood that biologically, I needed at least a few hours to carry me through.

I had a big responsibility now. A fucking precious one.

Husband and father.

Not technically the former yet, but that was just a matter of paperwork.

Avery had done all the heavy lifting so far; it was time for me to step up, now that I could.

I’d never felt as powerless in my life as I did watching my woman weather the pain of the contractions. I’d never wished so hard that I could take it away, take it on myself. But I’d never been in awe of another human like I was watching my woman bring our daughter into the world. I might’ve been powerless, but I’d never seen a woman more powerful.

My hand rested on Mabel’s chest in the bassinet.

The foldout sofa in the corner of the hospital room called to me.

But…

I couldn’t find it in me to drag myself away from her. From them. My eyes drifted to where Avery was sleeping. Sometime during my transition, she’d moved so her body was facing us, her hand reaching toward the bassinet, as if even in her sleep she’d sensed me move Mabel.

It felt as though a clamp tightened around my heart as it grew bigger than the ribcage that contained it.

Though I might’ve been exhausted and just a little bit enchanted by my daughter and my woman, that didn’t mean I wasn’t on guard. So my hackles rose when I heard the thump of boots out in the hallway. Too heavy to be the nurse’s sensible sneakers.

I tensed, all too aware that we were around more people than we had been since I arrived in Jupiter. Though everyone had been fucking great, I knew that people were often looking to make a buck, for a way to make a name for themselves.

The price on my head was higher now as people speculated on where I went after I was released, after my conviction was overturned. All it took was one stressed-out hospital worker, overworked and underpaid, to see dollar signs in that.

And all it took was one motivated and sneaky journalist to find their way into a labor and delivery suite, to find my baby.

Defensives on high alert, I turned, ready to end whoever might have any thoughts of putting my baby in danger.

My brother entered the room.

He had a raised brow, communicating that he saw my stance, felt my aggression.

I relaxed instantaneously.

“It’s past visiting hours,” I greeted my brother, trying to slow my blood pressure. I’d gotten a taste of uncontrollable rage when DuBois put his hands on Avery, but now with Mabel, it felt like another well inside of me had just been opened. I feared it and welcomed it at the same time. I would take down fucking regimes if they threatened my daughter. Face armies with nothing but my bare hands to protect her.

“Those are just suggestions,” Knox replied.

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