Page 158 of Please Save Me

Leona placed her hands on mine, and panic crept in as I realized I probably wouldn’t like what she had to say.

Chapter 48

Sebastian

A sharp, sterile smell assaulted my nose as I drifted toward consciousness. The rhythmic beeping of machines hit my ears but that wasn’t the sound that drug me out of my dark, dreamless sleep. That honor belonged to something completely foreign to me. I wasn’t entirely sure what it was, but it almost sounded like a kitten crying.

“Hey, shhh, he’s sleeping.” Was that Cameron?

My eyes snapped open, but I almost wished they didn’t. It felt like I’d gotten run over by a semi-truck. My body ached and a dull throbbing had taken residence in my skull. I tried to move, but it felt like my body was encased in lead.

I laid in silence, taking in the blurry view of the ceiling as I tried to gather my bearings. Obviously, I was in the hospital… But why? What happened–Mason.

Panic surged through me as the fragmented memories glued themselves together to create an awful picture. The icy roads, the flash of terror in Mason’s eyes, the way she screamed as the car skidded out of control, the crunch of metal against the tree.

I struggled to push myself out of bed, but a strong arm appeared on my chest.

“Easy now, don’t get up.” A voice I assumed belonged toCameron said.

I turned my face to look at him, but all I saw was a massive blob and a smaller pink one.

“Glasses,” I croaked, my voice far more hoarse than I’d expected.

The blob moved out of my line of sight before returning and slipping some glasses shaped onto my face, but they felt far too heavy to be my usual frames. Still, they did their job, leaving me to blink as the world came into focus.

Cameron stared down at me, in his arm was a pink bundle of… something I’m sure. Saying it looked like he hadn’t slept in a few days would be an understatement. His honey brown eyes were rimmed in red, and dark shadows hung from them. His normally well maintained beard looked unkempt.

My first thought was to tell him he could at least maintain his appearance if he wanted to be my boyfriend, but I had more important matters to attend to.

“Mason.” I rasped, my eyes starting to burn. “Where’s Mason?”

My question caused Cameron to visibly wince. After a beat of silence, his expression tensed as he took a deep breath, holding the pink bundle to his chest like a shield.

“She’s okay… She’s stable,” he said, the cracking of his voice betraying his calm facade.

The relief that flooded my system was overwhelming but all too short lived. Stable wasn’t okay. Stable wasn’t even healthy. Stable meant she was alive but barely.

“What happened?” I asked, struggling to process her not being okay.

She had worn her seatbelt. It made sense that I was hurt, but her?

“There was an accident.” He hesitated, looking down and bouncing the pink bundle. “The paramedics said something about Mason seeming okay at first. She delivered Rosie in the ambulance… but then something changed.”

A strange fuzzy feeling crept through my brain, everything we’d just been talking about slipped from my mind like sand through fingers. But, I managed to hang on to one bit.

“Rosie?” I repeated, completely unsure if I heard him right. “Our baby?”

Cameron nodded, looking down at the pink bundle with a small smile. “Yeah. She came a bit early, but she only had to be in the NICU for like an hour.Then they monitored her for a day or so to make sure she’s breathing and eating alright, and now she’s good to go home.”

A day or so? How long was I asleep?

It took every ounce of strength to reach up, my fingers grazing the edge of the blanket. “Is that her?”

“Mhm, and she’s been waitin’ to meet her Dada,” he cooed toward the blanket.

Rosie made some sort of strange grunt as Cameron lowered her enough for me to peer into the blanket cocoon. She let out the largest yawn I’d ever seen before smacking her little lips. Something about this moment felt surreal, and I just needed to touch her to make sure this wasn’t some strange dream.

So, I extended a trembling finger and gently poked her cheek.

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