Page 182 of Devil Mine

I don’t know how many times I say it, only that my throat is raw and sandpapery as the words jumble into sounds instead of meaning.

“That’s…not fair.”

My voice cracks. “Youpromisedme you’d never leave me. You promised. Please just don’t go. What am I supposed to do without you?” My voice cracks, every syllable broken. “I can’t do it, I can’t live without you.”

The pain is crushing. It’s stifling. It strangles my lungs until I can’t breathe. The tears continue streaming down my face as I look down at her. I’m crying my entire heart into her. If she dies, it won’t be anything more than an empty shell anyway.

Her skin is ice cold. Beads of moisture dot her brow. Her lips turn blue, the life draining out of her with every passing moment.

“WHERE IS THE FUCKING AMBULANCE?” I roar.

Her eyes flutter shut a couple more times. She has to blink them open as if she’s fighting invisible weights. But there’s a haze over them now; they’ve lost focus and she looks through me, her stare unseeing and haunted.

“Stay with me,amor. Please,please, stay with me,” I cry, torment echoing freely in every word. I find myself praying to Gods I don’t believe in to grant me mercy I don’t deserve. “Stay with me,” I beg. “I love you. Iloveyou.”

“Thank you…”

Her voice is nothing more than a throaty rasp. Every word sounds like it hurts her. She blinks and another tear slips down the side of her face onto my arm.

“For what?”

“For making me your wife. I didn’t need to run away… or see the world to get… the adventure I wanted. Being your wife was…the greatest adventure of them all.”

She tries reaching for my face again, but her arm falls limply back down to her chest. I cup the back of her hand and carry it back up to my wet cheek. The warmth of my skin heats her cold fingers.

“Is,amor.Isthe greatest adventure of them all,” I correct, crying inconsolably into her palm.

Tess smiles, shifting her thumb to brush my cheek. “Falling in love with you is… was… the best thing to ever… happen to me. My final… bucket list item.”

“No,” I press my cheek into her hand and shake my head. “No, I know there’s plenty left on your bucket list. You want to skydive. You want to learn BSL. You want to be the very last person to leave a wedding. You have a million other dreams and we’re going to have all the time in the world together to make every single one of them a reality. We can start the second you’re out of the hospital. You have so much more to do and so many more people to impact. You. Are. Not.Done. Don’t give up,amor.”

“I’m so tired…I think I’ll close my eyes.”

“No!” I cry, startling her. “You said you’d fight. Do you remember? You promised me you’d fight until the end, sofight. Please. I won’t ever ask you for anything again.” Placing my forehead back on hers, I plead softly, “Please,amor, stay with me. We’ve… we’ve still got ice cream in the freezer we need to finish.”

Another tear slips down her cheek.

“Te quiero mucho, baby,” she whispers.

Distantly, I hear sirens.

Finally.

I lift my head, about to order Arturo to go meet them and guide them here, but he’s already running out the door.

“Do you hear that,amor? That’s the ambulance coming for you. You’re going to be okay. It’s all going to be okay.”

When I look back down at her, her eyes are closed.

And with a breath, my heart constricts then shatters into a million pieces.

“Tess?” I call. “Tess?” I say again, my tone more frantic. When she doesn’t answer, I pat her cheek gently, then harder, trying to get her to open her eyes. “Tess! Tess, wake up.” The hand I hold pinned against my face goes slack and lifeless. “I need you to wake up and open your eyes.TESS!” I roar.

No matter how hard I try, I can’t get her to wake up. Her head lolls to the side, her body goes limp, and her breathing comes to a painful, jagged end.

???

Chapter Sixty-Four

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