Page 56

FIFTY-FIVE

declan

My head is pounding, and my throat is so dry I could probably cough up dust. I try to move to grab the water bottle I always keep on my nightstand, but my whole body protests. Everything hurts. Peeling my eyelids open turns out to be impossible. Turning my head makes something in my neck pull. I groan, feeling helpless and confused. What the fuck happened to me?

“Here, Dec. Small sips.” A straw is pushed between my lips, and I suck down the cool water gratefully. “Slow, buddy. You’re going to get sick.” I take another sip, slowly.

“Ben?” I croak, finally able to peel my eyes open and place the voice with the face.

He nods. “I need to get Willa. She’s going to be pissed I talked her into going to get a coffee.” I watch him turn, shake Sinclair’s hand, and then turn back to me with his phone in his hand.

“Glad to see you made it,” Sinclair says. “I’ll help you.” Turning to Ben, he says, “I’ll be in touch.” Then he leaves.

“What the fuck is going on?” I ask.

“What do you remember?” Ben asks, typing quickly on his phone and then turning his full attention to me.

“We won the cup,” I say, squinting at the wall behind Ben’s head like it holds the answers. “I announced my retirement.”

“Right. Do you remember what happened after you left the press room?” Ben asks.

I can’t read anything on his face to give me a hint, so I close my eyes and concentrate. Then it hits me like a truck.

“That motherfucker!” I yell, or try to. My throat is still too dry, and it comes out closer to a gravelly squeak.

“Sinclair’s security cameras caught the whole thing.”

I look at Ben. He’s looking down at his hands in his lap and fidgeting.

“What? What aren’t you telling me?”

He sighs, but he doesn’t have a chance to speak.

“Declan!” Willa sobs, running into the room and straight into my arms.

“Hi, Princess,” I say softly into her hair. Inhaling her scent settles me in a way nothing else ever has.

“You were bleeding out between my fingers,” she says, sobs shaking her body.

“I’m so sorry, Willa.” Tears sting my eyes as I hold my wife tightly to me. Her words let me know she found me and must have tried to stop the bleeding. I want to strangle Patrick just for putting her through that. Never mind everything else he’s done.

“No. I’m the one who’s sorry. I’m the reason he was after you in the first place.”

“You’re not the reason, Willa,” Ben says. She turns to him and frowns. I watch her eyes widen, and her mouth drop open. I look over at Ben, but he’s just calmly looking at her. His blue eyes communicating something I don’t understand.

Wait.

Before my sluggish brain can connect the dots, Maverick barges in my room, his arms full of vending machine snacks.

“You’re awake,” he says, smiling at me. I watch that smile fall along with all the food in his arms when he looks at Ben.

Ben meets his eyes but remains silent. I’m about to demand to know what’s going on, but one word uttered from Maverick’s stunned lips has the world crumbling around me.

“Ezra.”