Page 16 of With You Forever

Her lithe frame cradled tight against him, Seth carries Lacey down the hall to their bedroom. “Shh,” he says, kissing her brow. Her entire body shakes with sobs. “Hold on, princess. I got you.”

He’s been expecting this. A breakdown. It’s about damn time. After years of being friends, and now in love and living together, Seth knows she’s taking this hard. Lacey, his Lacey, needed comfort, and now she needs to break.

Still holding her, Seth silently climbs into bed, curling her up in his arms. Tremors ripple through her body as she weeps. Raw, broken sobs fill the room, breaking Seth’s heart.

Seth waits, letting her have her worry, her pain. All he can do right now is just be here. Thankful that she’s letting him in. That she’s not pushing him away.

Seth kisses her, tightening his hold on her waist. Lacey trembles as she buries her face into his neck. She smells like sex and hospital. Seth’s eyes flicker. The small bandage on her breast churns his gut, brings him back to reality. That’s when he sees them. Imprints, bruises on her thighs from his fingers where he gripped hard.

Fuck.

He’s an asshole being so goddamn rough with her after what she went through today. He was incapable of working his mind over what just happened, of having the power to resist. He had a cock as stiff as a tire iron and she was begging him in that pleading voice and he couldn’t say no. Never ever can he keep his hands, his heart, off this woman. Still, he knows what she needed—comfort—and it was a way to calm her. To help her.

There are worse bad habits she could have.

Seth will never let her go back there.

Soon, Lacey’s trembling body stills. Her breathing goes back to normal. Her sobs ebb. Silence fills the bedroom. Seth holds her, thinking she’s asleep when her soft voice says, “This is all my fault. I skipped my appointment. I should’ve—”

“Shhh. It ain’t your fault,” he says, adjusting her in his arms to meet her tearstained face. “You did nothin’ to cause this, Lace.”

“But I did.” She wipes her nose with the back of her wrist. Once again, her green eyes fill with silver. “I waited too long, and now it’s going to be bad news. Awful.”

He strokes her damp cheek. “Princess, you’re worryin’. I know you; you’re thinkin’ the worst. And we ain’t doin’ that. Not until we get answers.”

Easier said than done. Seth’s scared shitless. But he’s trying. Digging deep for strength for Lacey. Falling apart isn’t an option. At least not in front of her.

“Give it to me,” Seth whispers softly into her hair. “I can take it, princess.”

All her fear, her pain. It’s his. She can’t do this alone.

He won’t let her.

A sniffle. “I’m scared, Seth. What if the results are bad? What if I—”

“Don’t,” he says, his chest straining.

He closes his eyes, absolutely refusing the rest of her sentence. He thought he could handle it. But he can’t.

Not this. Never this.

A heavy silence. Then in the smallest voice he’s ever heard, Lacey asks, “What if I die?”

“You ain’t gonna die.” He clears his throat, trying not to acknowledge how jagged his breathing’s become. How his heart is slowly disintegrating in his chest. “I almost lost you once. It ain’t happenin’ again.”

Lacey lies there, still, not speaking.

“We’re in this together, you hear me?” He tries to catch her gaze, but her face lolls in his hand. “Lace. Baby.” He’s desperate for her to look at him; he needs the green of her eyes on his, needs her to understand. Finally, she looks at him wearily, and he cups her cheek in his hand. “If you ain’t okay, I ain’t okay. And you’re gonna be okay, okay?”

Her eyes, dazed from pain and exhaustion, clear. The relief he feels at seeing some of Lacey’s old stubbornness, her strength, return is endless.

“Okay,” she says, giving a small nod. Looking like she’s decided to believe him.

Christ.Let him be right.

Leaning back down, Lacey rests her golden head on his chest, strands of her hair tickling his skin. “What do we do now?”

“You sleep,” he says, curling her close.

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