Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 104403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Saint returned the gesture.
Approval?
Maybe not, but it was a first step.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“SAINT, I’M FINE,” Beth said for the thousandth time.
“Shh, hold up. Don’t move,” Saint said as he patted her thigh while staring at the monitor above her hospital bed.
Beth rolled her eyes. Since Demo kicked her in the torso and she’d complained of difficulty breathing, the ER doctor ordered her to be placed on supplemental oxygen and a telemetry monitor. It kept constant tabs on her heart function and oxygen saturation, plus checked her blood pressure every thirty minutes, which it was currently doing.
Saint couldn’t tear his attention away from that damn monitor. Every time he heard the whir of the filling blood pressure cuff, he shushed her and demanded she lie still for an accurate reading. He focused on that screen as though it were the only thing keeping her alive.
“One ten over seventy. Oxygen is ninety-eight percent,” he said with a nod. “Good.”
God, she loved this man, even if she wanted to wrap the EKG leads around his neck and choke him.
“Saint.”
“Huh?” He made the noise without glancing away from the screen.
“Saint, look at me.”
He seemed reluctant to turn away from the screen but did as she asked. Worry etched lines into his forehead. Beth reached out and smoothed a finger over the grooves before cupping his cheek.
“Really look at me. I’m okay. They x-rayed my face and ribs. Nothing is broken. You know that. I don’t have any internal bleeding. I spat blood earlier because I have a pulmonary contusion and lots of deep bruising. And yes, it hurts like a son of a bitch, but it’s not serious. The only reason they haven’t discharged me yet is that they want to make sure I don’t have any more trouble breathing because of the lung contusion. But as you said, my oxygen level looks great.”
The intensity in his gaze would have made her uncomfortable if he were any other man. It felt as though he were trying to crack her open and see straight into her soul. To see every part of her, even those she’d never let anyone else have. But she wanted it with him. She wanted to grow so close to him that it felt like they were one.
“I’m okay,” she whispered, sweeping a thumb across his lower lip. “You can relax.”
He leaned in, resting their foreheads together. “Baby…” The agony in his voice slayed her.
“I know,” she whispered.
He shook his head against her. “You can’t. You can’t possibly know.”
She stroked his hair, sifting her fingers through the soft strands. “So tell me.”
He pulled back so they could see each other better. Then he took her hand, his big one swallowing hers like he was afraid she might vanish if he let go. He swallowed hard, jaw working. His eyes were red-rimmed, bloodshot, not from tears, but from hours of refusing to let them fall.
“When Screw called and told me you were missing…” His breath hitched, sharp and distressed. “It felt like someone took a crowbar to my chest and kept prying until they cracked it wide open. I couldn’t fucking breathe. The world tilted the wrong way, and I was suddenly facing the possibility of standing in it without you.”
His grip intensified. Protective. Desperate.
Beth’s throat closed completely. Her eyes burned. She couldn’t have spoken if her life depended on it, so she just held on tighter, letting him know she was here, she was listening, and she wasn’t going anywhere.
“I was terrified,” he admitted. The word dragged out of him as though it hurt to say. “Not scared. Not worried. Fucking terrified. I’ve only been that terrified one other time in my life. The night Makenna and I took our siblings and ran from the cult.”
Oh God.
“I know what kind of monsters lurk out there, and the thought of one of them putting a hand on you…” His voice broke. He looked away, jaw clenching so hard she could see the muscle jump. When he looked back, his eyes were wet. “It broke something in me, Beth. Something I didn’t know could break.”
He leaned in, dropping his forehead to her shoulder. She rubbed his back and kissed his temple, the only thing she could think to soothe him.
“I was so fucking, angry, Beth. I’ve been angry before, but this, this was different. This was clean, pure, and murderous. There wasn’t anything in me except the need to find you. To get to you. To end anyone who stood between you and me.”
His voice dropped to a whisper, thick with promise and pain.
“I didn’t care about the consequences. I didn’t care about blood. I didn’t care if I came back. The only thing that mattered was you, is you. I was ready to tear the world apart piece by piece if that’s what it took.”