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“I love you too,” she sobs. “You’re going to be okay. They’re on their way.”

A coldness sweeps over my body, then visions of Gabriella jumping in our pool in LA, her dancing around my kitchen island, us tangled together within the white sheets of my bed, her amber eyes and her smile, that lit up my whole world, become the only thing I see as my last thought is, I hope she knows she was always more than enough.

And it’s then it hits me what’s happening.

“You’re going to be my seven minutes.”

Chapter Sixty One

Gabriella

I love you.

Stay with me.

You’re going to be my seven minutes.

Gabriella, Gabby, Gabby…

My eyes ping open.

“You’re okay. It was just a dream.” I look over to Ria sits beside the bed I’m in, holding my hand. Beside her is Jack and I glance around the white room and see Harry and Ali, the other side and Noah.

“Brad, he, he…” I choke out, fighting for my next breath.

Ali’s soothing hand sweeps across my forehead. “He’s in surgery. They’re fixing him, okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“They took him for surgery. He lost a lot of blood, but the doctors are hopeful. We are just waiting for news,” Ali says calmly, but when I look into her broken eyes, I close my own and let the tears tumble down my cheeks.

“I thought he…” I break into uncontrollable sobs. My hand covers my mouth to smother my cries. Ali climbs into the bed beside me and cradles me in her arms, rocking me as if I were a small child.

“He’s strong, Gabs,” Noah says, clearing his throat. “I know he’ll be in there fighting to get back to you.” His words bring me a small sense of comfort, but it doesn’t take away the gaping hole inside of me that only seeing Brad can fill.

“We called your parents. We thought they should know. They will be here soon. They were out of town, otherwise they would have been here sooner.” Ria says, stroking the back of my hand. I nod in understanding, wanting to see them for the first time in a long time.

“How long has he been in there.” I sniff.

“About an hour.” Jack says quietly, not sounding like the strong, confident man he usually is.

“Why don’t I remember getting here?” I ask.

“You were in a bad way when we got to you. They had to, erm, sedate you,” Harry says, his voice cracking.

“When you got to me?” I look round at my friends confused.

“Yeah, when Brad knew you were in trouble, he called us, we had already arrived at the lake house so it took us a little time to get back, when we got there you… he…” Jack tries to finish his sentence but his words falter. Ria takes his hand and leans into his chest.

“You were trying to save him. Jack had to lift you off his body so we…” Harry gestures to Noah, “could work on him until the ambulance came.”

The room falls silent and an uncertain feeling blankets the room. No one knows if he’s going to wake up, make it out of surgery, and even if he does, will he ever be the same after today’s events? The idea of losing the man I love in one way or another makes my heart splinter just a little more. The door to my room flies open and Mom rushes in.

“Gabriella,” she wails, throwing her body over mine as she begins sobbing.

I wrap an arm around her, realizing that this is the first time since I was a child that she’s held me or shown any real emotion. It feels nice.

“We’ll give you some time,” Ali says.