Page 48 of Erik's Redemption
How long had he been sleeping like that? The last she remembered, he was holding her.
She reached for her phone on the bedside table. Six a.m. He was usually awake and up by now.
She frowned…her phone. Erik had told her he couldn’t find it. Maybe someone had delivered it to the house.
Because she wasn’t wearing her watch, she used her phone to check her sugar levels. They were good. She’d felt terrible when she passed out. Her sugars had been high, and she’d been so sick. Her head still hurt, but nothing like last night.
“Hannah.”
Erik was looking straight at her.
When Hannah looked at him,the air rushed from his chest in a long stream, and for the first time since he’d found her looking so sick, he could breathe again.
“How long have you been sleeping there?” she asked quietly.
He glanced at his watch. Fuck. It was six in the morning. He never slept this late. But then, he’d barely slept last night. “Two hours.”
“You were awake until four?”
“I’ve been keeping a close eye on your glucose levels.” He’d also been texting Andi all night, making sure that everything he was doing was right. He’d been so damn worried about screwing up. The only thing that stopped him from taking her to the hospital was the fact her sugars had steadily gone down and she’d been in a deep sleep.
Her brows flickered. “I remember you feeding me.”
“I managed to get some soup into you after your levels came down. Andi said it looked like a glucose spike from a quick-onset virus.” Thank God she was okay.
Slowly, he rose from the chair. He wanted to go to her. Touch her. Cup her cheek. But he had no fucking idea whatshewanted.
He shoved his hands into his pockets to keep from reaching out. “How are you feeling?”
“Okay. My head feels a bit heavy and foggy, but that’s normal after a high.” She ran her fingers over the sheet. “I’m sorry you didn’t get much sleep.”
He almost laughed. He’d barely slept in the last week—the difference tonight was he’d at least been close to her. “I’m okay, Angel.”
Emotion flickered in her ice-blue eyes. “How have you been?”
Did she want the truth? That it had been the hardest damn week of his life? That even keeping busy hadn’t distracted him from the pain? “I’m struggling to learn how to live without you.”
Her eyes widened. Maybe she’d been expecting him to lie. But he couldn’t. Not now. Not when his secret was out in the open.
“Erik…”
“You don’t have to say anything. I know you’re trying to come to terms with what I did.”
“My head’s a mess,” she said. “I miss you so much, but Nico meant everything to me, and I just…I can’t see him doing what you said he did. That just doesn’t make sense in my brain. And when I think about what you did tohim…”
At the pain in her voice, he forced himself to remain where he was. To not cross the room and catch the tear that fell down her cheek with the pad of his thumb.
“That was one of the reasons I didn’t want to tell you,” Erik said. “I didn’t want to take away the man he was to you. And I didn’t want to make you choose.”
Although a part of him, such a big part, had hoped she’d choosehim.
“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered.
He couldn’t stop himself any longer. He crossed the room and sat on the bed, then tugged her close, hoping like hell she didn’t push him away.
She grabbed at his sides and cried against his shirt, soaking the material. He hated her tears. Each one fell like a blade to his chest.
“Nico was all I had for so long,” she said, words muffled. “We grew up in the same foster home for so many years, and then when our foster mother died, he was still my family. I was put inawful homes, and he was always there to run to when I needed safety and comfort. Then that night…”
