Page 30 of Buried

“I’m not a good man, darlin’,” River bluntly corrected me as he ran his calloused hands up and down my arms. “I just want to be decent enough for you because I love you, and I hate seeing you like this. I want you to have everything you need. That’s all.” He leaned down and brushed his lips to my forehead.

A knock sounded on the door, and River and I both looked up to see Tristan’s doctor stepping into the room. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but it’s time for Tristan’s CT scan,” he told us, a silent cue for us to leave the room.

I nodded in understanding and turned around to face Tristan. I grabbed his hand in mine, squeezing gently. “Please pull through. I need you here with me, no matter how much you hurt me,” I said so quietly that I wasn’t even sure if River could hear me.

Giving Tristan’s hand one last, gentle squeeze, I walked out of the hospital room.

Chapter Twenty-One

River

Ileaned against the doorjamb of Adelaide’s old room, my eyes on her sleeping figure. Axel was passed out in the pack ‘n’ play next to the bed, and Adelaide was sprawled out under the blankets, her lips slightly parted as she softly snored, the exhaustion of the past forty-eight hours easily knocking her out into a deep sleep.

“How is she holding up?” Sam asked as he came to a stop next to me, peering into the room.

I shrugged. “By a thread, I imagine,” I answered gruffly, not drawing my eyes away from her.

“Seeing her this torn up over another man doesn’t bother you, River?” Sam bluntly asked me.

I clenched my jaw. “Of course, it fucking bothers me, Sam,” I growled, keeping my voice down so I wouldn’t disturb Adelaide or Axel. “But at the end of the day, I know who Adelaide will choose. She’s known Tristan most of her life, so even if she had never been romantically involved with him, this shit would stilltear her up inside.” I shrugged, my eyes still never leaving her. “Besides, she knows the pain of losing someone. She lost her best friend, Tristan’s twin, to cancer, and about a year and a half ago, she thought that she had lost Joey, too. Not to mention the fact that she found out she was pregnant with his kid right after that, too.”

“Holy fuck,” Sam breathed, staring at Adelaide in an entirely different light. “Where’s that kid now?”

I grunted. “She miscarried it,” I said quietly. That night flashed in my mind. There had been so much blood, both from her stomach and from between her legs. A chill raced down my spine as I remembered how bloody she’d been. Adelaide would never know it, but that night, I had been absolutely terrified that she wasn’t going to make it.

Adelaide whimpered in her sleep, her eyebrows pulling together. I instantly walked toward the bed as she whimpered, “No”, her hands closing into fists on the bed beside her head. I pulled her into my arms, gently coaxing her awake from her nightmare.

When her eyes finally opened and she stared up at me, tears slowly trickled down her cheeks. Turning her head, she buried her face against my chest. I cradled the back of her head, my other arm wrapping tightly around her body.

I fucking hated that she was going through this shit.

“I’m here, darlin’,” I soothed. “I’m always here.”

A broad-shouldered figure appeared in the doorway, blocking the light from the hall. I looked up, arching an eyebrow at Jesup.

“River, the hospital just called. Tristan is fucking awake,” Jesup rushed out, making both Adelaide and I jerk our heads up tolook at him. “No one knows how, but he’s fucking awake, and he’s asking for Adelaide.”

Adelaide slid off my lap without another word, and she closed the room door in Jesup’s face. Not saying a word, she shrugged out of her plaid pajama pants and into a pair of her stretchy jeans and a tank top. I picked Axel up out of his pack ‘n’ play. “Tell Sam I said to head to the hospital with you,” I instructed her. “I’ll get Axel’s shit together and meet you guys there.”

Her wide, dark eyes met mine. “Are you sure?” she asked, nerves and uncertainty glimmering in her eyes at the thought of facing Tristan without me. But she would be fine. She was strong, and I’d be there before she even realized it.

I nodded, leaning down to press a hard kiss to her lips. “Go,” I ordered.

She needed to be with him. I may not like how much she seemed to lean on him, but I understood it.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Adelaide

Istepped into Tristan’s hospital room, my heart beating rapidly in my chest. I was so fucking happy that he was awake, yet at the same time, I was nervous as hell to face him without River by my side. The last time we’d seen each other, he’d gutted me, and I’d ripped him to shreds.

Tristan was sitting up when I walked into his room, texting on his phone. He looked up as I entered. “That was pretty fucking fast,” he noted, breaking the silence as I let the door fall shut behind me.

I shrugged at him and stuffed my hands into my back pockets. “River brought me to town as soon as Jesup called him and told him you had been shot.”

Tristan shook his head, a scowl on his features. I bristled. “I’ll never understand River,” he quietly admitted.

I shifted my hands into the pockets of my leather jacket, hating how unsure I felt around him. “River is secure in the knowledge that I’ll never leave him or cheat on him with another man,” Iinformed him. Tristan scoffed. That familiar guilt surged within me. “And he knows that despite our past, I do still care a lot about you, and I worry about you.”

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