Page 41 of Final Temptation (Alpine Peak #2)

Sitting in the emergency room waiting area, I thought back to my childhood.

I’d never had a reason to be in a hospital before, but I’d been to the doctor’s office more times than I could count.

When Dad brought me in for the flu, a twisted ankle, or the times I ingested things I shouldn’t have, the doctor would always ask me to rate my pain based on a pain scale.

Zero, being no pain at all, was a bright blue happy face that looked like a sticker you’d grab on your way out for doing a good job.

Four, five, or six, meaning your pain was moderate, somewhere in the middle.

And ten, the worst possible pain imaginable.

The face was bright red and aching, almost like a balloon about to burst.

I may have been in the waiting room, not physically in any pain, but if anyone asked me to rate my pain right now, there wouldn’t be a scale big enough. There was no scale in the world in which you could rate a heart with a gaping hole in the center of it.

Looking around the cold, open space, not one person had a smile on their face.

I didn’t want to be the judge of someone else’s trauma.

I couldn’t say what I was going through was worse.

But by the despair written on each face, matching my own, only hours before the sunrise, I knew there wasn’t one person sitting in this room who had received good news tonight.

My gaze was laser-focused on the painting hanging on the wall ahead.

Zoning out, I imagined myself laying in the field of flowers, staring up at the clouds as they went by.

My focus was completely removed from what went on around me and fully focused on my own pain.

It wasn’t until Paige physically shook me out of my thoughts that I realized she was sitting right next to me, with Declan by her side.

She wrapped me up in her arms, a hug so tight, it pulled the tears I didn’t know I had left right out of me.

Paige didn’t talk; she only held me as I cried harder.

My best friend was strong. She was everything I wished I could be in this moment.

It wasn’t just me who was hurting; Declan was too, and she had to be there for both of us.

“Hey.” Declan’s hand grazed my back. “Are you up to tell us what’s going on?” Declan had a habit of being incredibly patient and kind. If it were me in his shoes, I’d be screaming, “What’s going on? Tell me what happened!”

Using my sleeve, I wiped my tears away and took a few deep breaths before trying to speak. My shirt was soaked from the water running down my face all night.

I cleared my throat, giving it my best effort to take this night back to the beginning.

“When I got home from your place, he wasn’t home.

Something felt so…off in the apartment. It almost looked like he escaped without a second thought.

It was a mess, and the TV was still on. He never left the apartment looking the way it did.

” Every hair sprinkled on my arms stood up.

The slideshow of memories in my brain made everything feel so out of the ordinary.

I dug my phone from my pocket, pulling up mine and Myles’ text thread.

Passing it over to Declan, I said, “And when I texted him, it only confirmed my worst fears.” His face paled only a few seconds later.

If I had to guess, it was in response to the message Myles sent about Declan—that all this would catch up to him at some point.

Declan ran his hand over his face in one long stroke while he tried to form his thoughts into words. When he handed my phone to Paige, so she could see the texts too, he muttered, “Where did you find him, Soph?”

My eyes shifted to Paige, “I-I found him at your dad’s crash site. He was already passed out when I got there. Unresponsive.” I thought back to what was only an hour ago, yet felt like days, the tears threatening to spill over with every second I replayed in my mind.

“Fuck!” Declan could only stay calm for so long.

Finally taking a seat next to Paige, he pulled on the back of his neck, resting his elbows on his knees.

Paige’s hand left my back and wrapped around her fiancé.

Their words were muffled as they spoke to each other in a quiet tone, but there were a few words I was able to make out clearly.

“We never should have believed him when he said he was okay. What the fuck were we thinking, drinking around him?” Declan mumbled in regret as Paige rubbed her hands over his back, chin resting on his shoulder.

It didn’t seem like the right time to tell them that Myles had been confiding in me, that his struggles were so much more than he had led on.

What was the point of doubling down when clearly, they had guilt of their own and the deed was done?

Myles had relapsed, and now we just needed to take it one day at a time, learning from our mistakes.

Unable to stay seated and do nothing, Declan shot out of his seat. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to ask for an update?—”

“Sophie Turner?” he was cut off by a doctor who appeared through the doors and scanned the waiting room.

We all stood in unison as the doctor approached us.

“Declan Cooper, brother of Myles Cooper.” He reached his hand out, introducing himself to the man in navy blue scrubs.

“Dr. Lincoln Gray.” He shook his hand in return. “Wish I had better news for you folks. First, I have to ask, are the three of you family?” My heart sank, knowing I technically wasn’t.

“Yes,” Paige answered, grabbing my hand in hers.

“Alright then. We are currently keeping an eye on Myles and monitoring him. He’s breathing, but he still hasn’t woken up.

We learned that his blood alcohol levels were incredibly high, which has caused us to believe he has some pretty severe alcohol poisoning.

We’ve pumped his stomach and done everything we can.

It seems all we can do is wait for Myles to wake up now. ”

“What are you saying, Doc?” Declan spoke through gritted teeth.

“I’m saying, he could be here for a while.

Unfortunately, he is showing signs of being in a comatose state.

This means he could wake up in a few hours, a few days, or maybe even weeks.

All we can do is keep our eye on him right now.

” My hand flew over my mouth, silencing myself from the sobs that so easily dared to slip out.

“Can we see him?” I whispered, a lone tear rolling down my cheek.

“Yes. Only one visitor can come back right now, but when visiting hours open in a few hours, I’ll allow more of you to come back.”

“Go,” Declan told me. “I need to call our parents.” My heart wasn’t done breaking, not in the slightest.

It broke for me, the crumbling inside my chest almost unbearable.

It broke for Declan, having to be the stronger older brother.

It broke for their parents, who were about to receive a phone call that every parent feared.

And most of all, my heart broke for the man I loved. This wasn’t his end goal; I knew that with everything inside me.

He made a mistake.

He had a weak moment.

He was going to wake up, and I would wait here every single day until then.