Page 45 of Yours To Keep
Breaker pushes me into Rory’s Bronco, instructing her to follow the ambulance straight to the hospital. I know they’re gonna have a hell of a mess to clean up with Magnolia’s mother and explaining things to the police, but I can’t find it in me to give a shit right now. All of my training, every one of a hundred missions I’ve completed before now, didn’t prepare me for this. If I lose her, that will be the end of me.
“She’s gonna be fine, Dalton. We’re almost there.” Rory says, but I barely hear her over the sound of blood rushing in my ears.
I’m out of the car before Rory even parks, rushing into the emergency room behind the paramedics wheeling Magnoliain. There’s an IV in her wrist and defibrillator pads stuck to her chest. I try to follow them as they rush her behind an “Employee’s Only” door, but security stops me. Before I can rationalize what I’m doing, I swing, landing a hard punch against the officer’s jaw. He curses as I slam my body into the door, willing it to open.
“Fuck! Let me in! Magnolia!” I scream as more officers arrive, dragging me back outside the ambulance bay.
“Dalton, enough! You can’t help her like this!” Rory shouts as I struggle against the men holding me back.
“Easy now, son. You won’t come back inside until you calm down. Make another move and you’ll be banned from the building all together. Won’t do much good to your lady then.” The officer holding my shoulder back breaks through the fog, and some of the fight leaves my body. I want to get to her. Ineedto. But I won’t do it this way. She would be disappointed in me, and I know it.
“Take a few minutes and clear your head. Once you’ve calmed down enough to realize the doctors are doing all they can to help her, then you can come back inside to wait.” The man says, and I nod as they shove me back. I collapse onto the curb next to Rory’s truck, the adrenaline finally crashing and pure unadulterated fear seeping in. Tears sting my eyes as Rory sits next to me, wrapping one arm around my shoulders.
“Everyone is on the way. We’re all here for you, Dalton. She’s gonna make it out of this. If there’s anything I’ve learned since meeting this friend group, we don’t fear the reaper. She won’t give up that easily. Not when she’s got you waiting for her when she wakes up.” Rory’s words take the edge off, but nothing can take away the fear.
I think about all the things I’ve accomplished in my life, all the things I still want to do. I’d love to own Pop’s. I’d love to be so successful I can give Magnolia the life she deserves. But rightnow, I’d live the rest of my life in a box under a bridge just to see her gorgeous green eyes staring back at me again.
“I need her, Aurora. I can’t…I can’t imagine a future without her in it.” I say, letting the tears spill from my eyes.
“Luckily, you will never have to.” She says reassuringly.
“Princess,” Breaker’s gruff voice draws our attention across the parking lot. My friends all walk towards me, each one still in their formal wear, and I thank God I have these people in my corner. I wipe my eyes, meeting the group halfway to the door.
“Everything ok back at the beach house?” I ask.
“Not in the slightest. But I’d like to see my daughter,” Magnolia’s dad steps out from behind Elijah and for a moment I’m shocked.
“Mr. Monroe, I-I don’t…I’m so sorry. I was supposed to protect her, and I didn’t.” I apologize, but he holds up a hand to silence me.
“You aren’t responsible here, son. Patricia caused this. I should’ve seen it years ago, should’ve stopped her before she caused so much damage to my daughter’s lives, but I was blind. I didn’t want to see what was right in front of me.” I can tell he’s been crying. His eyes are red-rimmed and heavy as he battles with his own demons.
“She’s gonna be okay, sir. She’s gonna wake up and we will both have so much more time to make sure she knows just how truly loved she is,” I tell him, turning to walk back into the waiting room.
twenty-seven
Everything hurts.My bones ache to the very core and every twitch feels like I’m scraping against shards of glass. My mind feels completely blank, yet full of a thousand different thoughts all at once.
Where am I?
Where is Dalton?
Is he okay?
How the hell do I get out of this abyss of nothingness I’m trapped in?
Faintly, the sound of beeping echoes behind the fog. Am I in a hospital?
I was shot. By my own fuckingmother. I’ve always known she was a monster, but this? I couldn’t have ever imagined this.
I can hear voices surrounding me, but they aren’t loud enough to place. Dalton? I have no doubt he’s here. He probably hasn’t left since the moment I was brought in. Probably my friends, too. But another voice rings though. It sounds so familiar, but it’s not clear enough for me to really say.
Someone squeezes my hand, and Dalton’s scent assaults my senses. The familiar smell of cedar and leather, mixed with sweat and grief, surrounds me and I breathe deeply. A small groan escapes my lips, and I feel him squeeze my hand tighter.
“Angel? Magnolia, baby, come back to me.” He says, his voice ragged and tired.
I want to reach out to him, to collapse in his arms and never leave, but I can’t move. Something keeps me stuck in place, like I’m wading through cement.
“Magpie, we’re here. We’re all here” There it is. The voice I couldn’t quite place is my dad. I want to grab onto him, to hug him tighter than I ever have before, and tell him how glad I am to hear his voice. I try to force a smile and the exertion is completely exhausting. His hand wraps around my other hand and he swipes my hair across my face. “I’m right here, honey.”
