Page 71 of Ly to Me (Devils of Alliston Springs #1)

Carver

The Promise

I almost wished he’d lived.

I wished he’d see my face when he woke up and I could watch the hope of his recovery flee from his eyes.

I wished I could have told him what a piece of shit he was, and that it was all for her. That I was her avenger.

I settled for watching several of the nurses run to his room while I acted like I was going to sue them for a faulty tube.

Just to be sure he didn’t have the gall to play dead for a minute only to be resuscitated, Grant and I waited by the front as if his death was too much for either of us to handle.

The nurses ate it right up, playing into our words even as they rolled him from the room with a sheet covering his unmoving body.

No one would think more of Chet Walker taking his last strained breaths in the early hours of the morning.

No one would think more of the woman he’d listed as his last living relative sending her husband to check on him, or that the husband was there to witness the tragic death when he was starting to show signs of hope.

No one in the building was aware of the horrible shit he’d done or know exactly why he needed to leave this place for good.

But the happiness and sheer peace that information would bring to my wife?

That was going to be fucking priceless.

That was the mental image I held onto as I waited for one of the nurses to tell me we’d be contacted by their social worker once they had everything in order. As I waited for them to apologize and give condolences like I wanted any of it.

The only thing I wanted was to go home to my wife.

It was almost noon by the time we got back to the bar, and with my thoughts on how Lyra would take the news, I almost forgot about Grant’s phone in my glovebox. His knuckles drummed on my window.

“Yeah yeah.” I passed his phone to him, and his brows shot up.

“Your wife called me.”

“What?” My finger shifted over the screen, revealing forty-eight missed call notifications, nearly ten of them with voicemails. The first one made my heart beat faster—

“Car, I—” Her voice broke. “I don’t know where you are but I’m sorry, okay? Please come home.”

The next one played out like the first.

The third was more aggressive—

“Did someone come after you? Did someone hurt you? I swear to god if you have my fucking husband, Jamie, I’m going to murder you in cold fucking blood and let Aubrey pick up the pieces.”

Grant’s phone played another—

“You ever take my husband out hunting again, I’ll sever your balls from your body. You got that?”

“You better go home,” Grant said, stepping back from the window.

I sped off as I played another, my heart tumbling as Ly reverted back to thinking it was all her fault. That she’d somehow done something wrong. That I’d left her like she’d left me.

Almost a month ago, that had been close to the plan. I’d wanted nothing more than to make her break like I had when she left. But that was far from what I wanted now.

I just wanted to hold her and tell her our lives could finally start.

We’d just gotten our clean slate, and she could finally be free.

No one was ever going to hurt her again and not suffer the same consequence.

If anyone so much as tried to touch her, I’d kill them.

I’d find any way I could, and come after every single last person who dared touch or hurt what was mine.

Brown hair shifted above bent knees on the steps of our front porch as I parked my truck. She didn’t even lift her head as I got out, or as I shouted her name. It was like she was so trapped by the idea that I’d left her that she became a shell.

And that was enough to make me run to her.

I got on my knees in front of her, pushing the hair from her face. “Hey, sweetheart. I got your calls.” My thumbs stroked over her damp cheeks as she slowly lifted her head. “I didn’t want to worry you when I left this morning, but it seems that’s not what happened.”

Her lashes batted, releasing more tears onto my awaiting hands. I peered into those same brown eyes that stole me so long ago. The ones that saw so much more in a life that gave her so little.

“Baby, I’m here. I’m not leavin’ you.”

I waited for movement. Something. Anything.

My palms slid down, resting over her neck, feeling the rapid pulse.

“Please, say somethin’, Ly.”

Shock, that’s what this was.

“I’ve got you.”

I lifted her in my arms and carried her to our bathroom, and just like the night I realized my plan to make her leave wasn’t possible with how much I still cared for her, I undressed her, then myself, then held Ly close to my chest as I stepped under the water.

She started blinking a few more times, more consistently than before. I wasn’t a doctor, but I believed that was better. Maybe it was enough to tell her again. “I’m here, Ly. I’m not leaving. I love you. I love you.”

More blinks, and a slight shuffle in the cradle of my arms, and I could finally breathe a little easier.

“Car?”

My heart soared.

“Yeah, sweetheart.” I chuckled, pushing my forehead to hers. “It’s me.”

“W-where were you? I…I thought”—she worried down on her lip—“I thought you were hurt or that Jamie—or, maybe—”

“I’m. Right. Here.” I squeezed her body to mine as I held her in my arms, my fingers digging into her thigh and ribs. “I’m never gonna leave you. How could you think that? Can’t you tell how lost I’d be without you?”

A soft smile tilted her swollen lips until they frowned. “You didn’t leave a note.”

“Fuck.” My mind raced. Yes, I’d silenced her phone, hoping she’d sleep in and wouldn’t hear it ring if hospice called again. Or the cops. I wanted to bring her nothing but peace, and yet, I’d only made it worse.

“You got me my car back early.”

I nodded. “You needed it.” And if I went to jail, I might not have been able to reach Hayes before the week was up. She’d need more gas to get around without me, though I tried my best to avoid that from happening.

Her hand cupped my cheek. “I searched the whole town for you.”

“You did?”

“Course.” Her thumb stroked over my chin. “May have threatened Hayes and Leo in the process.”

“And Grant,” I added, smiling at her.

Hers outshone mine, full of sunshine. “Yeah.” A beat of silence passed as water droplets fell over my shoulders. She trailed after the beads with her eyes, landing on the heart engraved on my chest. “You were comin’ back?” Her voice was so low, it could hardly be considered a whisper.

“I’d never leave you. They’d have to pry me from your body, limb by fucking limb, before that could happen.”

“Who’s ‘they?’”

“Anyone or anything that could ever come between us. I won’t let it happen again, Ly. I swear to you, I’m not goin’ anywhere. I’ll leave a note every time from now on.”

“You take me with you.”

I tipped my head down, kissing the tip of her thumb. “I’ll take you with me.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Her eyes searched mine. “Where’d you go?”

“His time was up, sweetheart.” I kissed her forehead. “No one is ever going to touch you and live to tell about it.”

“He’s—”

I nodded. “It’s all over.” She wrapped her arms around my neck, shaking with relief. “It’s all over.”