Page 73 of Desired By you (Always & Forever #3)

Chapter Sixty Two

Brad

I always wondered what it felt like when you were dying. After I watched the life leave Scotty’s body, I wondered what he felt, what he saw, what he experienced, and, well, now I know. Maybe it isn’t the same for everyone, but for me, all I saw was her.

But someone, maybe Scotty himself, was watching over me when I flat-lined twice. Once in Gabriella’s apartment and the second time on the operating table. When I came round, the nurse asked who Gabriella was because I asked for her when I was drifting in and out of consciousness.

“Your vitals look good. You’re a lucky man.

Your friends helped save your life,” the nurse says as she hangs up the bag of fluid on the stand beside my bed.

The clear liquid feels like ice water as it enters my vein through the back of my hand.

I’m hooked up to an IV for liquids, and I’m told I had a transfusion after I bled out on the table when they removed my gall bladder.

“Yeah, I am feeling damn lucky,” I rasp, my throat feeling dry and sore from the tubes.

“Your sister, Alessia, keeps calling the ward. I’ve told her you’re out of surgery and she’s on her way but, there’s someone else here to see you. Can I let them in?”

I nod.

She leaves the room, and it’s only a few moments until Gabriella stands in the doorway. A white hospital gown drowns her tiny frame, her hair a wavy mess, hanging over one shoulder, and a bandage wrapped around her head like a band.

She worries her bottom lip with her teeth, and I smile.

“Hey, baby girl.” Her hands cover her face as she lets out a cry and then runs towards me, throwing her body over mine. I wince from the pain, but I don’t care. I hold on to her like it will be the last time and inhale the last remnants of her cherry scent.

“You have no idea how good it is to hear you say that,” she says, her face nuzzling into my neck.

“I think I do because it feels just as good to say it,” I croak out.

She lifts her head to look at me, her amber eyes look dim and hollow, but when I smile, I see a flicker of the light that once shone in them. “I thought you’d left me forever.”

“No chance. I’m never leaving you, okay?” She nods before she presses her lips to mine; her touch brings a little part of me back to life.

“I’m sorry. I should have called the cops first. You shouldn’t have been there. Then maybe you wouldn’t have...”

“Hey, listen to me. You call, I come running. It’s as simple as that.”

She climbs on the bed, curling her body into mine and we don’t say anything, no words are needed.

The bleeping of my machine letting me know my heart is still beating is the only noise in the room, reminding me that I am here, that I get a second chance.

I’m not wasting another day restricting myself, obsessing over the what if’s, punishing myself for the things I didn’t do or could have done differently.

“Knock, knock.” My eyes open and watch as our friends fill my hospital room. One by one they enter, giving me sympathetic smiles and unshed tears.

The doctor told me I was lucky to be alive. If it hadn’t been for Jack, Harry and Noah, and their medical knowledge, I’d have bled out on that apartment floor. They each bump my fist, my body too weak for much else.

“How are you feeling?” Noah asks. “A few pounds lighter thanks to my gall bladder being ripped out,” I joke.

Ria and Ali look between them and take Gabriella by the hand. “Why don’t we go get some snacks and coffees?” Ria suggests.

Gabriella looks at me with fear in her eyes and I stroke her cheek. “I’ll be fine. Bring me back a strong coffee, yeah?”

She presses a kiss to my cheek and leaves with Ali and Ria, their arms around her, holding her together.

The door closes and the four of us look between us. How do I put into words how grateful I am for them?

I look at them all and Jack clears his throat. “You’re welcome.”

I choke out a laugh. “I didn’t say anything.”

“I know, but we know, and you’re welcome. Semper Fidelis, remember?”

My tongue feels thick and heavy with emotion, and I bite it to prevent the cry that wants to escape.

There are not many people who get to say they have people in their lives who would go to battle for them, defend them, fight for them and save them, no questions asked, but that’s what these men do for me and I for them.

It’s a bond you can’t explain, it’s just silently there, no matter what we have going on in our lives.

If one of us needs the other, we drop and run and I count myself as being one of the luckiest mother fuckers on the planet to have these guys in my corner, along with the women in their lives and the one girl that made me want to start living again.

“Good, because I have another thing I need you to help me with…”