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“I’m right here, witch,” he murmurs.
“I mean in my bed, my arms.”
There is a pause before he asks, “Fal? Is everything okay? You know you can talk to me.”
I feel the liquid of my tears against my lips before I even acknowledge I’m crying. Lifting my free hand, I dash them away. “Yeah. Just a long day yesterday.”
“Is your mama not feeling any better? Do you want me to call Paige to see if she can come shake up the medical personnel in that godforsaken town you inhabit?”
My sob is masked by my laughter. Wouldn’t that just be a pisser? My mother wants to hide her condition from Austyn’s family to avoid pity and here’s my lover offering to send his sister—a doctor. The grin he elicited allows the tears to leak into my mouth. “I can just see the doctors hiding when they hear Dr. Paige Kensington is back in town.”
Ethan sips what I know is his morning go-to—strong black coffee. “Whatever you need, witch.”
I whisper, “I need you right now more than I’ve needed you since we met.”
His voice drops. “As soon as I wrap up this new piece of work. I promise I’ll be there soon thereafter.”
“I know, it’s selfish…,” I begin.
His soft laughter warms my cold body. “It’s not selfish that you need me? Want me? Never that, Fallon.”
“Make me a promise we’ll talk later,” I plead. I don’t want the last voice I hear to be that of one from Devil’s Lair. “I need to hear your voice so you follow me into my dreams.”
“Done,” he agrees immediately. “I’ll call no matter how late it is.”
I glance at the clock and sigh. “Then I suppose I need to get going.”
“Think of me today, Fal.”
“I always do.” I want to say more, tell him how much I love him, but I’ll save that for later. Reluctantly, I end the call and throw my legs over the side of the bed to begin my routine of Biltmore, hospital, and phone sex before I get a chance to come home and have a few minutes of being responsible for exactly one thing.
My heart.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
SEVEN VIRTUES, NORTH CAROLINA
I heard if someone ghosts me, I’m supposed to treat them like they’re dead.
By using that logic, that would mean I should ignore Beckett Miller.
Nah…
—Sexy And Social, All the Scandal You Can Handle
Where can he be?
It’s been two days since we last spoke. With one hand, I slip my phone from my pocket so I can check to make certain I haven’t missed a call because the ringer is required to be off while I’m visiting my mother.
Nothing.
In fact, I open our text string and frown when I realize the last I heard from Ethan was after I stumbled into bed last night when I was done with my shift at Devil’s Lair.
“Where is he?” I mutter under my breath so I don’t disturb the hand I’m holding in her hospital bed, and then I send him a text.
Fallon:
Is everything okay, E?