Page 103 of Pit Stop

“You should listen to him,” Skye says as he presses his face into my chest and inhales. “You should let go of me.”

Even as he says that, he holds on to me tighter.

“Fuck that,” I murmur. I let go of him once. I’m not doing it again. Or at least not until he tells me to and means it. Until he fights me for freedom.

“Mav,” he begins, but then starts coughing. That leads him into a wince of pain, and I start to jog. When we move through the automatic doors and into the emergency room, a nurse greets us.

“What are you here for?” she asks calmly, peering up at me.

“He broke a bone. Needs setting.”

“Right. Can’t have you waiting for that. Back this way,” she says, guiding me down a hallway. “You both his mates?”

“No,” Rob says, and when she turns her gaze to me, I swallow, not sure what to say. We aren’t mates. Not anymore.

Apparently, I grumble this, and she frowns. “Not anymore?”

“Yeah,” I rasp, and she shakes her head.

“No wonder he’s so frail. A broken bond is a dangerous thing. Think it should be illegal, if you ask me. But legislation hasn’t been passed to criminalize it.”

I don’t say anything. We did what we did. There’s no going back.

“Right. You stay out here,” she tells Rob. Then points to me. “You bring him back. You were mates once. You care about him.”

“So do I!” Rob chimes in, but neither of us responds. I want to be with Skye.Me. I want to watch him heal. I want to take care of him while he gets better.

The nurse opens a door and guides us inside, typing something on an iPad as she does.

“Set him right here on the table. Doctor will be in soon,” she says and then leans a little closer. “I know you broke the bond, but studies are underway that suggest even though you’re no longer mates, being close to one another will help the healing process.”

My heart thumps in my chest as she exits the room, leaving us alone.

He turns his head, his eyes closed.

“Skye,” I breathe, and he lets out a trembling breath.

“Please don’t say my name. Please.”

“I have to. I can’t help it.”

He lets out a choked sob.

“You should be with your man, your new toy.”

“He wasn’t a toy…gods. I gave him a ride to the shop. His car broke down. I don’t even know his fucking name. And I hope to never see him again.”

Skye’s eyes open, blinking at me from behind his smudged glasses.

I gingerly slide them off his face and clean them on the end of my shirt before helping him put them back on. There. Now he can really see me. He can make out how earnest I am about it.

“You haven’t moved on to someone new?” he asks, wetting his dry lips.

“No. Of course not.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.”

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