Monsters' Gift (Crude Hill High #2) - Sam Crescent Page 0,82
job in protecting her today.
“Let’s wait until she wakes up and deal with whatever she has to say when it happens,” Vadik said.
The voice of reason.
I sipped at my coffee and watched her. She looked so peaceful, but with each hour that passed, more of the bruising came out even worse than before. I couldn’t stand to see her in pain. I wanted to take it away.
There was nothing I could think of that would do that.
Seconds passed until Caleb finally arrived. “Everything has been handled.” He took the last seat. Two of us were on each side of her bed.
“What happened to the graveyard?” I asked. I had to talk or do something. I couldn’t handle this.
“I’ve arranged to have it torn down,” Caleb said. “Their bodies have already been taken care of, burned. The ashes will be left in an urn, along with Ace’s and Marshall’s.”
“We’re not keeping their ashes,” I said. “Throw them into the dirt where they belong.”
“Already plan to. I figured we could have a nice little ceremony.” Caleb smiled.
I didn’t feel like smiling. Our woman was hurt and for me, that was no matter to laugh at or rejoice. I hated it. We’d caused that.
“She’s going to wake up,” Caleb said.
“I know she’s going to wake up. What I care about is what she’s going to want to do when she does wake up. What if she doesn’t want us?” I asked. “What if she can’t stand to be around us?”
“Not going to happen,” Emily said.
At first, I didn’t even realize she’d spoken, then, along with the other three, I got to my feet and moved toward the bed. She was awake.
She offered me a smile but then winced. “My face.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I took her hand within mine, kneeling beside her bed. She turned her head toward me.
“Please don’t worry, Gael.”
“I can’t lose you.”
“You’re not going to.”
I didn’t want to put my fears into words in case they gave her an idea. That was the last thing I wanted to do. If she hadn’t thought about leaving, then I certainly didn’t want to give her the idea.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.” She gave my hand a squeeze. “Are they gone?”
“Yes,” Caleb said. “All you have to do is rest.”
“I can’t rest while you’re all worrying over me. I’m fine.”
“We know,” we all said in unison.
“No, I mean I’m not going to leave.” She turned her head back to me. “I heard you, and I’m not going to go anywhere. You think I don’t know the risks involved with belonging to you guys? You’re going to upset a lot of people, and I may be a target, but as I’ve told you so many times, I can’t walk away from you. What’s more, I don’t want to. This is a weird setup, but it’s our setup and I love it.”
I couldn’t help it, I got to my feet and I leaned down, kissing her lips. “Did I tell you I love you?”
“Not enough. You need to tell me every single hour of every day,” she said.
I laughed. “You can count on it. I promise you, you’ll never go a single day without knowing how I feel.”
“How we all feel,” Vadik said.
I agreed with them.
“I hate hospitals,” she said.
“Soon, you can leave,” Caleb said.
She nodded and sighed. “I’m starving. Do you know where Ashley is?”
I held her hand as Caleb filled in the blanks. He told her about Ashley’s upset and Drake’s beating. Like a true Monsters’ Queen, she handled it. From this day forward, I promised myself I was never going to underestimate her. She could handle whatever we threw at her.
Chapter Twenty-One
Emily
I’d been given the all-clear to go home, along with some interesting news, which I got to share with my guys. Vadik was cleaning my room and Gael waited outside while Caleb and River had gotten the car. They weren’t trusting anyone with my safety, and I stood in Drake’s room, which was why Gael was outside.
My men had seen fit to keep me in the hospital for a week. I didn’t need it, but they felt they had no choice but to keep me in for as long as possible. In that time, Drake had woken from his coma. The moment he did, he’d freaked out. My room had been right next to his, and the nurses had no choice but to sedate him.