Page 18

EMBER

“Come on, baby, it’s been two weeks since I’ve seen those beautiful eyes of yours. I need you to wake up. Come back to me. I need you.”

I hear his voice. It’s not the first time I’ve heard it, but it is the first time the words come in clearly. Along with the beeping sounds and the smells that go with a hospital, I can only guess as to where I am. The question that remains is what I’m doing here, and why does my body hurt so much?

“I need you to open those beautiful eyes for me, Em,” Cerberus says.

With my eyes closed, I know he’s close. Not just by his voice, but also with the way he lifts my hand and kisses my palm .

I try to open my eyes, but they feel heavy. It takes a few tries, but I manage to crack them open just a little. Enough to have to blink at the brightness of the room.

“Baby,” Cerberus calls, and I find him looking at me as my vision clears. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuckin’ finally. You’re awake.”

Blinking again, I open my eyes wider while staring at Cerberus. “What happened?” I manage to croak out.

“You were shot, Em. I can’t tell you how sorry I am that I didn’t protect you.

Keep you from taking the bullet,” Cerberus says while reaching over with the hand not holding mine in order to cup the side of my face.

His expression is one filled with such regret.

“I promised you and still I failed you, baby.”

He failed me?

I was shot.

Images flicker in my head of the last thing I remember. Being outside the clubhouse. Jon Coleman being there. Him leaving. Cerberus and I joking. The man who holds all of me and doesn’t even know it.

“You’re not responsible for what happened to me.” My throat feels dry and croaky. I want something to drink, but I also want him to know that I’d never, not in my life, blame him for me being shot.

“I didn’t protect you . . . ”

“Did you know there was a shooter?”

“What?” Cerberus’s brows furrow.

“Did you know there was a shooter ?” I repeat, emphasizing the question.

“No,” he grinds out, lowering his head and shaking it.

“Then stop being sorry, Jase. Please,” I murmur, closing my eyes. Exhausted from the little bit of talking.

“I’ve got to let the nurses know you’re awake,” Cerberus remarks, drops his hand from my cheek, and releases my other one.

I crack my eyes open in time to see him stand and lean over me. Panic starts to seep in, realizing he’s going to leave the room. I don’t want him to. I don’t want to be left alone.

“Don’t go,” I whisper, reach for his hand and latch on to it tightly. “Please don’t leave.”

Cerberus’s hands come back to my face, and he curls them on either side. “Not gonna go far, baby. Just gotta let them know you’re awake.”

“I don’t want you to leave me. Please, Jase, don’t go.”

Watching me carefully, Cerberus nods. “Okay, Em, I won’t go anywhere. I’m gonna hit the call button though and let them know you’re awake. They’ve got to make sure you’re good. Hospital just moved you out of the ICU yesterday.”

Holding my gaze, Cerberus reaches over me and presses a button on the side of the bed. Moments later, a pretty nurse comes in, smiling at Cerberus.

“Everything okay in here?” she asks, not looking at me, but focused on Cerberus.

I look to him to see his eyes are filled with annoyance now with the attention she’s paying him.

“Yeah, you can help by going to get the doctor and another nurse,” he states.

The nurse blinks at his words. “Pardon?”

“I said get another nurse and the doctor,” he snaps and looks back at me, dismissing the nurse.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the woman look between the two of us, turn on her heels, and leave the room.

“You didn’t have to send her away,” I finally say, giving him my full attention. Or at least what I can. All I want to do is go back to sleep.

“Baby, she came in here and didn’t once look at you until I told her to get someone else. That ain’t the nurse I want in here looking after you.” His words surprise me. They were sweet, and I like what he said.

Moments later, the doctor comes in, not only with a nurse but also Stella .

Stella meets my eyes and visibly releases a breath. “Ember, swear you can’t scare us all like that again.”

“Like what?” I frown, unsure of what she means.

Moving toward me, she comes to the side opposite of Cerberus and takes my hand. “You coded on us. Thought you weren’t gonna make it. Then you decided to take your time waking up. Drove your uncles crazy just as you always do.”

I try to give her a smile, but it’s small. Very small.

She gives my hand a squeeze and smiles back.

The doctor then speaks up and explains what happened to me and that I was going to be in the hospital for a little while longer.

I didn’t want to be in the hospital, but rather than expressing this opinion, I kept my mouth shut.

I did just nearly die. I did die technically.

After the doctor finishes, the nurse gives me something more for pain. Stella leaves with them, and I’m left alone with Cerberus again. I try to stay awake to talk to him some more. Only the medicine is quick to kick in, and I find myself falling back to sleep.

The last thing I hear though is him promising not to leave me and that he’d be right there when I woke again.

“I want to go home,” I snap, glaring at the man smirking at me.

Smirking.

Cerberus has the nerve to smirk at me. “You might want to, but you aren’t. Not ‘til the doc gives you the go ahead.”

This is the same thing he’s told me the past two days since I woke up the second time. He’s refusing to listen to me. He also seems to find me amusing.

“I can lie in bed at home.”

“Yeah, and there are people here that are trained to help you. I know, Em, but something happens you’re here for them to help you immediately.”

“Stella could monitor me there.”

“You’re not goin’ home yet.” Cerberus shakes his head, “Quit tryin’. Told you soon as they give the green light, I’ll take you to the clubhouse. Not any sooner.”

Huffing, I roll my head on the pillow and look away from him. He’s insufferable. I don’t want to go to the clubhouse either. I want to go to my apartment. I haven’t been since before I was taken by Dead Eyes.

Cerberus hasn’t even told me what’s going on with the whole situation with him either. I knew the timeline had come and gone. He’s keeping me in the dark, and I don’t like it. I was the one shot. I have the right to know if it was him who did it. Or if it was someone else.

“Look at me, baby,” Cerberus orders, his fingers coming to grip my chin and forcing me to look back in his direction.

I meet his gaze without saying a word. All amusement and annoyance gone completely from his expression.

He’s simply looking at me. “Don’t get all pissy because I’m thinking of your health and safety.

I want you back at the clubhouse in my bed just as much as you want out of here.

Still, I won’t take the chance of something happening to you before I know you’re healed enough. ”

Blinking is all I manage to do because, as much as I want to be mad, what he said is still super sweet. I just don’t plan on telling him that. I’m thinking of not saying a word to him and giving him the silent treatment for the time being.

Cerberus’s eyes look deep into mine, almost like he was reading my mind. The smirk comes back to toy with the edges of his lips. Slowly, he dips his head down and plants a kiss on my lips.

“How about I call into the restaurant and see if I can’t get us some takeout from there?”

Takeout from Mad Pigs? That would be heavenly. I nod to give him an answer rather than speaking. I’m totally going to give him the silent treatment even if he’s getting me Mad Pigs.

Cerberus chuckles, shakes his head, and steps away, pulling his fingers away from my face.

I close my eyes rather than look away from him and listen as he places an order.

They don’t typically do deliveries, but considering he owns the joint, they’ll do what the boss wants.

Plus, his mom was back, and she’s been working there.

I’m thankful to hear him order me the loaded potato and BBQ chicken along with chicken noodle soup.

That soup is to die for. It’s not like getting it from the can or even from other places.

It’s just way, way better. Considering it’s his mom’s recipe that alone speaks for itself. I honestly wish I could cook like her.

She’d shown me a few things years ago, but that’s it. Living in the clubhouse, I didn’t really get to learn. I knew how to bake cookies and cakes. My mom had taught me to do that. The rest wasn’t something I could do, though, not well, that is.

Hearing him finish on the phone and settle back into the chair that he’s camped out in the entire time I’ve been here, I’m hit with the thought that he’s not slept well.

He’s taken showers here, had food brought in for both of us.

Mostly mine was soups and broths until the doc gave the go-ahead for me to eat something else. He’s not left me once.

The thought causes my heart to speed up marginally and butterflies to flutter in my stomach.

I remember the first day I woke up and how I begged him not to leave me. He’s kept his word. Not leaving me. For that alone, I know without a doubt I could easily fall deeper in love with him than I already am.