Page 78 of Sunset

My eyes shoot to Lin.

“We already checked in; everything is fine. The town knows what happened, and they’re helping. Rich has The Sunset under control, and he’s helping watch Sunrise. Nate has been stopping in every few hours to check on things, and he’s also been by both your restaurants, Mrs. Adams. The kitchen is under control. Everyone is stepping up.” Lin says.

“Okay.” I nod, as Jasper’s mom stands up and leans over to place a kiss on Jasper’s forehead.

“I’ll be here,” I tell her. I have no plans of leaving this room, but they don’t need to worry about that right now.

Mrs. Adams walks out of the door, and I turn to Lin and Kade.

“I’d like a few minutes alone with him. Maybe, you guys can go find us some food?” I ask.

Kade nods. “Burgers sound good? I noticed a burger place down the road.”

Lin comes over and hugs me.

“Yes, a burger sounds great,” I say.

Kade takes Lin’s hand, and they leave to grab food.

When I’m finally alone, I turn to Jasper. His leg is propped up on a pillow and in a temporary cast from surgery. He has bruises everywhere on his arms, a big one on his forehead, where he hit his head, a black eye, and a few scrapes on his face.

Tears flood my eyes again. Mostly, because I hate seeing him like this, and part of it is also from anger. I try to latch on to the anger.

“I’m so mad at you. Instead of talking to me and pulling me in to help you, you pushed me away. You acted like I had no idea how it feels. Guess what? I do know what it feels like. Every year, it’s still hard to breathe, when I think of that day. More than that, I’m even madder at you for taking the boat out, after you knew how I felt about it. How dare you put me through this again?”

Stopping, I wipe the tears, falling down my face.

“Do you have any idea how scared I was, when the storm came in? I tried to reason it away, like I did with my parents that you just went home. But when I called your mom, you weren’t there.” I choke up.

“I can’t lose you too, Jasper. Not again. It would break me in a way I can’t come back from. I need you to fight. Fight, so I can properly be mad at you, when you wake up. But most of all fight because I love you.” I say and squeeze his hand.

I lay my head on the side of the bed and cry.

“I want to hear those words every day, Firefly.” His grainy voice fills the air.

I have to be imagining it, right? But when I look up, he’s staring right at me.

Chapter 34

Jasper

Fuck, these lights are bright as hell. They make my head hurt worse than it already does.

“Lights.” I croak. And a minute later, the lights dim, and the rattle of metal signals the curtains over the window have been closed.

I crack my eyes open again, and Brynn is standing next to the bed.

“Water,” I say and take a few sips, once she brings the straw to my lips.

“I need to get the nurse.” She says, putting the water down.

I reach for her hand, which makes every muscle I never knew I had hurt.

“Say it again,” I ask her. I need to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, because the last thing I remember, is fighting the storm in the boat, and now, I’m here and everything hurts.

Her eyes soften, and her face flushes with emotion. Her eyes glisten, like she’s on the verge of crying.

“I love you, Jasper.” She says, barely above a whisper.

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