Page 79 of Devil's Hour

Once they were alone, Royce pulled the chair closer to the bed and dropped down in it. “Hey, GB,” he whispered. “Maybe you listen to me next time. I don’t know what your punishment will be for not following orders, but you can believe it will be serious.” His stuttering breath turned into racking sobs as he recalled how close he’d come to losing Sawyer. He scrubbed his hands over his face, willing himself to calm down and breathe. They were okay.

“I love you, asshole. So fucking much.”

Sawyer spiked a fever during his first twelve hours in the hospital, giving everyone a scare. It took a few hours for it to come down, then another eight hours before Royce got to see the brown eyes he adored so much. He might’ve been as high as a kite, but he’d never looked more beautiful to Royce than he did right then—alive and happy to see him. Sawyer reached for him, then stared confusedly at his wrapped hand.

“What happened?” Sawyer asked, sounding much rougher than Royce did.

Before Royce answered him, he poured Sawyer a glass of water and held the straw to his lips. Sawyer made what would’ve been a happy hum in his throat but now sounded more like a rusty chainsaw.

“You had a lot of smoke inhalation, GB,” Royce soothed. “It’s not permanent. I promise it will get better.” Royce was noticing improvement in his voice already. “Do you remember anything at all about pursuing Avery Bradford?”

Sawyer squinted his eyes and scrunched his face as he tried to dig through his drugged brain. “He led us to a church, right?”

“Yes.”

“One of the arsonists had tied the priest up…” He sucked in a sharp breath, then started coughing.

“Easy now,” Royce said soothingly, holding the straw to his lips again. Once he was finished, he uncapped the lip balm and spread it on Sawyer’s severely chapped lips. They had to hurt like hell.

“Oh God. The fire. H-h-how bad?”

Royce knew he wasn’t asking about the damage to the historical church, and he’d decided he wouldn’t pull punches. “Most of the burns aren’t bad at all. They’ll hurt like a son of a bitch, but you’ll heal with very little to no scarring in most places.” Then he told him about the other burns.

“Skin grafts?” he repeated. He brought his hand up to his head. “How bad is my face?” Royce wouldn’t consider Sawyer a vain man, but he took great care with his health and appearance. He couldn’t name a single person who wouldn’t be worried about scarring on their face.

“I haven’t seen it unwrapped yet, but those are first-degree burns, so they’re considered minor.”

Sawyer swallowed hard. “Still going to love me if I’m battered and scarred?”

“Is that a legitimate question or is it your drugs talking?” Royce shook his head. “Don’t answer that. I want you to save your breath to say hello to your parents. I should probably save my breath too because you’ll drift off to sleep again and won’t remember what I said.”

“Guess you’ll have to keep saying it.”

“I’m not in love with your looks, your body, or even your sexy brain. I am in love with your heart. You are my home for as long as you’ll have me. I love you.”

“Love you too,” he said, sounding groggy as hell. “Is my dick okay?”

“It’s perfect.”

“Knew you looked. Perv.”

Royce laughed. “Let me go get your parents while you’re still awake. They’ve been worried sick about you.”

“Kay.”

Evangeline and Baron weren’t alone when he stepped into the waiting room. A handsome Hispanic couple had joined them. He knew they were Vic’s parents without the formal introductions Evangeline made because he’d seen them at the dedication for the ball diamond.

“Hey,” Royce said, smiling at everyone. “Sawyer’s awake but probably not for long. He’s good and stoned.”

“Sounds like it’s for the best,” Vic Sr. said.

“Definitely.”

The Ruizes decided to wait to see Sawyer another time so Evangeline and Baron could see him while he was still somewhat lucid. Evangeline squeezed Royce in excitement before hustling through the doors.

“We don’t want to overwhelm him,” Imelda said softly, reaching for his hand. “How are you holding up, honey?”

“As good as can be expected.” Royce couldn’t stomach the idea of Sawyer in pain.