Page 253 of Never Fall for an Angel

Fuck, maybe I did die.

Maybe this is my hell. Knowing she’s here but not being able to hold her.

“Shhh . . .” she soothes, and I hadn’t even realized I was speaking until her finger presses to my lips. Tears pool in her gaze, and she leans in, pressing a kiss to my forehead I can’t even feel.

Fuck, this must be some kind of sick joke.

“Go to sleep . . .” she whispers, and I try to fight it, shaking my head, but before I can tell her I love her, I slip into the inky blackness, fading off into unconsciousness once again.

The second time I wake up, it’s because I have to piss like fucking crazy.

I groan when pain erupts throughout my chest when I attempt to roll over, struggling against the hands that try to push me back to the bed.

“Stop fucking moving, dickhead,” a voice growls, and instantly, I know who it is.

When my eyesight focuses, Levi is staring down at me, his eye bruised and his mouth set in a grim line.

“You’ll pull something.”

Feels like I already did.

Looking around, I’m in the hospital with monitors and screens lining the wall, all offering an insight into the fact that I’m, somehow, still alive. An IV’s in my arm, and I tug it out, not even feeling the pull of the needle leaving my skin.

I fucking hate needles.

“Mila?” I know she was fucking here. Where the hell did she go?

“She’s asleep in the chair behind you, and I swear to God, if you wake her up, I’ll put athirdbullet in you,” Levi grumbles. “Poor thing’s been a nervous wreck.”

I grit my teeth, shoving his hand off my shoulder, and force my legs to stand from the bed. I’m shaky and weak, and my head’s spinning the moment I’m on my feet. I would never admit it to him, but I’m actually glad when Levi wraps his arms around me because, without him, I would have fallen on my fucking face.

“What the hell are you doing?” he growls, shuffling with me like we’re two elderly patients out for a stroll.

“Going to piss. Is that okay?” Why can’t he shut the fuck up? I don’t want Mila to wake up and see me like this.

“I’ll help you.”

I start to snap back and tell him I can do it myself, but I know I can’t, so I let him help me to the bathroom.

“I don’t need you to hold it for me,” I grit, and he holds up his hands, turning back to the room.

I’m supposed to be the older brother. The one always in control. I’m supposed to be stronger than this, but yet, here the fuck I am, pissing—with a lot of fucking difficulty—while my brother waits to walk me back to bed.

Pathetic. My only saving grace is that Mila isn’t awake to see me struggling. Weak.

“You’re a fucking dumbass,” Levi grits the moment I’m back in bed. He takes the chair beside me, his gaze softening when he looks to the corner chair behind me. I haven’t looked at her yet. Some part of me feels like if I do, I’ll realize she’s not real, and this was all some fucked-up dream.

“How is she?” I ask quietly. I can deal with it if she’s pissed off and hates me when she wakes up. We’re already married, which means it’ll be hell for her to get away from me.

I wasn’t lying when I told her I’m not a good man. She’s mine, and I’m hers. Now that I’ve got her, there’s not a fucking judge in the world that will take her from me.

If she’s broken, though . . . If I broke her again, sent her spiraling back down into that dark place she was in when I first found her almost three months ago . . . I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to forgive myself.?

“You don’t deserve her,” he says after a moment, his stare hard. “She is the best thing that fucking happened to you—”

“You’re right.”

“—and you throw it all the fuck away—” he pauses when he realizes what I’d said, cocking a brow at me. “What?”

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