Page 161 of Salvage Him
"I don't understand." Myarmhurt.
Harrison wiped the tears frommyface.
"We spent over ten million dollars on that house. Did we pay for it?" Mybrainhurt.
"All my checks cleared," he said and typed something on his phone. "I'll check withJustin."
"Let me see your phone. I want to call Paul's"—I winced—"businessmanager."
"Not today." Harrison touched my face. "Listen to me. Whatever it is he did or didn't do, we will take care of it, but you need to take care of yourselffirst.Okay?"
Inodded.
"You need a hit." Harrison held out the pain medicinebutton.
"Yeah." I inhaled as much as my ribs would allow and let it out slowly. "You're going to be here when Iwakeup?"
"Always."
I felt his lips on me, kissing me, coaxing them apart. His tongue, tentative, but satisfied with a tiny swipe against mine before my worldfaded.
* * *
Harrison
The shit keepscoming.
I waited two days before I allowed Brooklyn to call Paul's business manager. He knew about Paul's death and had planned to fly into town thenextday.
I couldn't believe we agreed to plan a memorial service for the prick who tried to take Brooklyn awayfromme.
As I suspected, the accident wasn’t exactly an accident. From what Brooklyn told me about the car wreak, Paul wanted out and wanted to take Brooklynwithhim.
Seth and Abbie handled the details on that project. We reserved the hospital chapel for the memorial. I asked them to plan the service for someone they liked forBrooklyn'ssake.
Itwashard.
Justin, with Piper's help, kept Alise in the loop, but we had no clue what to do with her once the funeralwasover.
I concentrated onBrooklyn.
"Don't push yourself," I said as I walked Brooklyn down the hospital corridor. She hid her pain well, but a short walk took a lot outofher.
"I thought you were supposed to push me . . . past my limits." Shegiggled.
"Don't push me, pup." I ran my hands downherback.
She frowned but looked upatme.
I leaned over and kissed her. We would address her ever-present sassy mouth and her iron grip on her emotionslater.
I understood it. What happened between her and Paul wasn't my business, but she wore the guilt on her likeacoat.
She felt responsible for Paul's sins. She thought it would change the way I felt about her somehow. I reassured her hourly that she wasn't going to get rid of me. She would nod and settle into a state of relief, but it wouldn'tlastlong.
What hurt me the most was I had the feeling she didn't think she was good enoughforme.
She had no idea. I wasn't good enoughforher.
