Page 168 of Please Save Me

“Help me understand your will and trust in your plan.”

A strange tingling sensation washed over me as I breathed in his words. “Help me understand your will and trust in your plan.”

“With your grace, may Mason be healed, and may I find the faith to follow you.”

“With your grace, may Mason be healed, and may I find the faith to follow you.”

Dale’s voice softened, the fire he had moments ago all but disappearing. “In your name, I pray.”

“In your name, I pray.”

“Amen.”

“Amen.”

With that out of the way, I opened my eyes and looked around the sanctuary. The world seemed brighter and the shadows less menacing.

Dale’s gaze remained eerily calm as he patted me on the back. “That wasn’t so bad,was it?”

I shook my head, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of verbally agreeing with him.

“Good,” Dale said before standing. “Faith can be apowerfulthing, and sometimes it may be all we have left.”

I swiped a tongue across my lips, still feeling a strange sensation prickling across my skin.

“You best be gettin’ over to your lady. Do you need help up?” Dale offered.

“No, I’ve got it… But could you hand me my crutches?” I could have probably reached them if I’d tried, but I’d had my fair share of falling on my face while learning to maneuver them.

Dale bowed just long enough to grab my crutches before handing them to me. His hands grazed mine as he refused to look away from me.

“Remember what we prayed for, and that miracles happen every day.”

Slowly, I forced myself to my feet, leaving me to tower over the strange man in front of me.

“Thank you, Dale,” I muttered, trying to keep the unease out of my voice.

He stepped back, giving me space to walk away but not breaking eye contact. “And,whenMason wakes up, reconsider my offer. The Sons of Christ stand together and I believe that under your reign, we could accomplish great things.”

I nodded, hoping that would be the end of this conversation. With a forced smile, I turned and hobbled out of the chapel. Dale’s words rattled in my skull, bouncing around the insides and echoing in my mind. As much as I wanted to ignore him, if this did work, and Mason really did wake up, I’d feel almostindebtedto Dale and the Sons of Christ.

Chapter 51

Cameron

Lucian warned us that when Mason took her dad off life support, he died within ten minutes. But here we were,nearlyhalf an hour later, standing in a room filled with dried flowers and letters from fans we’d hung on the walls but refused to open. And Mason’s heart wasstillbeating.

They’d removed the IV from her arm and taken all the tubes off her face. The only thing left was a heart rate monitor clipped to her finger. Lucian and Sophia sat on either side of her, holding one of her hands. I wanted to be right there, too, but it didn’t feel like my place. So I stood at the back of the room, holding Rosie while she tried to bite my face like some sort of cute, toothless zombie.

“Shh, I just fed you before we left the house,” I whispered, pulling her away from me.

Rosemary grunted in response, and I helped her pop her thumb into her mouth instead. Her tiny fingers found my shirt, bunching and releasing the fabric as she looked around the room with wide, curious eyes. Part of me wanted to put her on Mason’s chest. This might be the last chance Rosemary had to snuggle her mama, and that thought alone was my undoing.

I cleared my throat and looked at the monitors, blinking away the sadness blurring my vision. Sophia, Lucian, and I had all agreed that we wouldn’tcry—not here. That’s all we’d been doing for the last month, and it wasn’t how we wanted to spend our last moments with Mason.

Lucian leaned in, kissing Mason’s forehead before whispering something to her in Spanish. I wondered if he was begging her to hold on or if he was telling her it was okay to let go.

From what I knew of Mason, her entire life had been fighting. Fighting for love, fighting for acceptance, fighting to be herself. And while I hated that this was the fight she picked to lose, she deserved the peace of just giving in.

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