Page 110 of Take My Name

I’m about to leave the hospital. Can you meet me at my house?

Maisie

Sure! Your family won’t mind if I’m there?

Warren

You being there is the only way my mom will leave.

Maisie

So you need me as a buffer?

Warren

No, I just need you.

I’ve never been more grateful to be in my own home again. Maisie was already inside waiting for me, which I appreciated. It gave my mom the hint to go home and hopefully rest since she was up most of the night too. She reassured my mother she’d make sure I took it easy and rested, but by the look my momgave me, you’d think Maisie told her we were going to fuck all night long.

“Whaddya wanna do first? Eat? Sleep?” she asks, following me into my bedroom.

“Shower,” I say, already unbuttoning my jeans and walking toward the bathroom. “Then eat and lie in bed.”

“Okay. I can put one of JoJo’s dinners in the oven.”

She goes to leave, but I stop her.

“You’re not gonna help me?”

“With what?”

I smirk, lowering my zipper. “Takin’ a shower.”

She crosses her arms, holding back a grin. “You can’t bathe yourself?”

“I won’t be able to stretch my arms to scrub my back…” I mimic trying to but wince when the stretch makes my ribs ache. “Not sure I can even pull off my shirt.”

“You’re pathetic.” She laughs, coming closer to help lift my shirt over my head.

Her wide smile drops when she looks at my chest. I assume she’s looking at the massive bruise forming, but then she touches my chain.

“Your wedding band?”

Glancing down to where she’s holding it between her fingers, I nod. The inscription inside is our wedding date and initials.

“Too dangerous to wear it at work, so I always kept it on a chain. I’d usually put it back on my finger once I got home, so you probably never realized.”

“I thought you took it off in your truck and put it back on after work. I didn’t know you wore it like this.”

“I wanted it close to my heart.”

“And you’ve been wearin’ it around your neck this whole time?”

I tilt her chin, meeting her teary-eyed gaze. “I rarely ever let it outta my sight. It means as much to me today as it did the day you gave it to me.”

The evening we went swimming, I took it off so it didn’t freak her out with it only being our second date. I also didn’t want to risk losing it in the water. The staff removed it at the hospital for my CT scan, but once I was allowed to change out of the gown and into my clothes this morning, I put it right back on.

“Warren,” she says softly, swallowing hard. “I’m gonna need you to gimme permission to kiss you.”