Page 139

Every time I think I can’t love her more she proves me wrong and, if I have my way, she will be doing it for the rest of my life.

40.Laney

The room smellslike antiseptic and exhaustion. Everything’s too bright—the overhead lights, the white walls, the hard vinyl of the exam table I’m perched on.

Eddie hasn’t let go of my hand once. Not even when the doctor came in. Not when they made me lie back. Not when they pressed gently along my ribs and I flinched.

“Can we please get someone in here who actually gives a damn?” Eddie snaps for the third time. His voice is tight, raw with adrenaline. “She was beaten, for Christ’s sake, and you’re asking her if she wants a juice box?”

“Eddie,” I say softly, squeezing his hand. “I’m okay.”

“You’re not okay,” he bites out, pacing two feet then turning back. “You’ve got bruises down your ribs, cuts on your wrists, a gash on your lip—and God knows what we can’t see. You could have internal bleeding, a concussion—”

“I know,” the doctor cuts in, calm but firm. “We’ve done the x-rays and vitals. No fractures. No concussion symptoms. She’s bruised. She’s sore. But she’s strong.”

Eddie doesn’t look relieved.

He looks wrecked.

“I’m prescribing rest, fluids, ice, and pain meds. She’ll need someone with her for a few days. But she’ll be all right,” the doctor continues, offering me a warm smile.

“Thank you,” I murmur.

As he leaves to get the medication, I feel Eddie’s hand trembling in mine.

“I should’ve been there,” he whispers, his voice breaking. “I should’ve—”

The doors burst open.

“Move, move, move—a pregnant woman with attitude coming through,” Cherry announces, a whirlwind of pink hair and righteous fury, storming into the room with Lexi right on her heels.

Behind them—Hunter McKenzie and Jake Marshall.

All tall, terrifying male energy and clenched jaws. Silent protectors flanking two women who are anything but silent.

Cherry barrels over to the bed, her gaze sweeping me from head to toe. “Okay. Who do I have to kill?” she says, eyes gleaming.

“I already took care of him,” Eddie mutters darkly.

I glance at him wondering if his words are flippant or hold truth and then decide I don’t care. Randy made his choices and almost every single one of them was bad. Now he’ll face the consequences of those actions. If that makes me a bad person, then so be it.

Lexi comes to my other side, her presence a calming counterweight to Cherry’s firestorm. “Laney,” she says, her voice soft but steady. “You scared the hell out of us.”

“I’m okay,” I say again, and this time… I mean it. “I really am.”

Cherry crosses her arms, eyeing the bandage on my cheek. “You don’t look okay. You look like a woman who got draggedthrough hell and came out the other side. Which is fine, because you own hell now, babe.”

“Damn right she does,” Jake says from near the door, arms crossed, sharp-eyed, and clearly ready to commit crimes for me.

Hunter steps forward, laying a hand on Eddie’s shoulder. “You did good. You got her out.”

Eddie doesn’t answer. He just stares at me like I might disappear if he blinks.

I reach up, press my hand to his chest, right over the frantic beat of his heart. “I’m here,” I whisper. “You got me back. That’s all that matters.”

Lexi and Cherry hover nearby, now flanking me like bodyguards—one serene, the other full of snark and fight.

“Eddie,” Cherry says, voice surprisingly gentle now. “You need to sit. You look like your heart’s gonna punch out of your chest.”