“What the hell happened, Jaxon?” Sebastian sat down next to me and took in my haggard state. My pants were torn, blood and dirt mixed on my skin to form a paste, and I couldn’t stop shaking my leg. My anxiety was through the roof.
“You look like shit,” Owen grunted. “Is the pretty thing, okay?” Owen stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets and stared down at his scuffed boots. He had his mouth tilted to the side in a puckered frown, a face he made when he knew he had been in the wrong. “I’m sorry.” He didn’t say why, but men like us hardly did. If we said sorry, we knew what it was for, but we were too damn proud to say the words.
“Thanks,” I acknowledged, hung my head. “I don’t know what happened. We were standing there. She said ‘yes’ to marrying me, and then she was falling. She fell right out of my reach. I could have caught her. It was my job to keep her safe, and I failed.” I hit my chest. “Now, she’s probably fighting for her damn life.” I tried to straighten my back to stretch out the cramp, but I couldn’t move. It hurt too much.
“She’ll be alright. She’s a tough, cookie,” Ingrid said, trailing along with Louis.
“You told her?”
“She came out of the room when we were leaving, so I said something,” Heaven shrugged. “Did you know they are bumping uglies? Gross, right?” Heaven kept his voice low, but Ingrid still came around and smacked him on the back of the head. “Ouch.” He rubbed the spot, then sat down in the chair on the other side of me, crossing his arms.
I ignored Heaven and thought about Quinn. “She said she would marry me,” I repeated. It sounded like a faraway dream, a wish that would have burnt out with the shooting star flying across the sky. “And then she was gone.” I kept thinking about it over and over, obsessing about the exact moment she fell. Did I have time to catch her? Why did she fall? What else could I have done? We shouldn’t have been standing so close to the fucking ledge. It was blinded by happiness and everything that was Quinn, her eyes, her smile, her lips that were still swollen from the primal kiss we shared on Strawberry Rock.
My love for her was a weakness in that moment, or I would have protected her better.
“She is going to be fine, Jaxon,” Grayson stated and sat down in the chair across me. “That girl is a firecracker. She isn’t going to let a fall hurt her.”
“You didn’t see this fall,” I said, thinking about the moment Quinn knew she might die. It was going to give me nightmares. I pressed my palms against my eyes and leaned my elbows against my thighs. “You didn’t see it.” I felt like I couldn’t say the words enough. I couldn’t hammer home how terrible or scary it was. They had to be there.
Grayson patted me on the shoulder, and we all got comfortable as we waited.
Yes! I’ll marry you.
The words saved me from misery, but misery loved my company too much to let me save her.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Quinn
I didn’t do it.
You must believe me! Quinn! I didn’t do it.
I woke up with a gasp, my nightmare fleeting into the back of my mind. I couldn’t remember it now. The memory. It was right there. The voice. The one pleading out to me that he didn’t do it. I knew that voice.
Where was I?
What happened?
I winced when I moved my neck. Ow. I tilted my head back and saw a machine. It beeped, and a rush of oxygen flowed through my nose, I saw the plastic tube and my brows pinched together as my fingers lifted the tube up. Gently, I laid it back down. Then, I noticed the gown I wore. It was scratchy, light green, and extremely uncomfortable. I was cold too. The blanket was too thin, and the TV was on, but the sound was off. The blinds were drawn, but I could tell it was dark out from how black the room was.
There was a faint light coming from the corner from a cheap lamp with a yellow bulb. A man sat in a chair asleep. I couldn’t see his face, but his jaw was sharp. I groaned when I tried to sit up, and my left hand felt heavy. There was a cast on it, and my leg was elevated in another white cast.
I coughed, and when I reached for the pitcher of water, my casted hand hit the pink container, and it spilled everywhere.
“Quinn!” the man in the corner said my name and bolted to a standing position. He rushed over, and his boots slid against the floor through the water. He came to the side of the bed and flipped on the light, illuminating his face.
Wow. He was handsome. He had these chocolate eyes and inky black hair, tattoos running up and down his arms. Red scratches marred his cheek, and he looked tired, like a man who survived a thousand deaths.
Heck, or lives. Living could be just as exhausting.
“Quinn, baby, you’re awake.” His thumb rubbed over my cheek that was bandaged, but the warmth from his body seeped into the gauze and warmed my skin.
My heart rate monitor sped up from the proximity of this man. My heart told me I was connected to him. I had to be with how I was reacting. My body knew him.
“I’m going to get the doctor. I’ll be right back.”
“Wait,” I said, stopping him mid-step. I wanted to get another look at his face. He had to be the most handsome man on the face of the earth.
Crap, here I was lusting after another guy when I was engaged to Brian. “Who are you?” I played with the blanket, wringing it together with my fingers as I waited for his answer.
The hope in his face fell, and he ran back to the side of my bed and held my face with his rough palms. His eyes darted between mine, and I swear those black orbs shined with tears, but why? “You don’t know who I am?”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I don’t. Are we friends? It’s nice of you to wait to make sure I’m okay.”
“I’m your fiancé, baby. My name is Jaxon Steel. We are more than friends.”
Jaxon. That name sounded familiar.
“Are you friends with Brian? Where is he?”
“You remember him?” His voice deepened as sharp as a razor blade; I nearly felt it gliding over my skin, threatening to cut me.
“He is my fiancé. Is this a joke? Did he send you in here to play a prank on me?” I clenched my jaw in annoyance. “I hate pranks.”
“No, baby,” his words cracked. “Him and I are enemies. I’m going to go get the doctor. I’ll be back,” he kissed my forehead, and my eyes shut at the feel of his lips. They felt familiar; even the motion and placement against my forehead sparked something inside me. His lips were warm and cozy, like home. I settled, the annoyance gone, replaced with a feeling of love.
His lips were gone in the next second, and I watched as the shadow of his large body left the room. When he stopped in the hallway to talk to a nurse, I saw him in a better light. He was tall, broad, and muscular. He said I was his fiancé. How could that be? Why couldn’t I remember anything?
A few tears fell, and the scuff of feet coming inside the room had me looking from the ceiling to the two men. The doctor was young as he checked my chart, his lips pursed as he read, and the man that called himself Jaxon moved around the bed and took my left hand. That was when my eyes landed on the huge fucking rock on my finger.
Holy hell! That diamond had to be bigger than five carats.