Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
The cool Nashville fall air hits me in the face once I make it outside, and I breathe in deeply. I’m so full of love, and for once, I feel good about my life. I feel like things are finally going the way I want them to.
But before I can think another thought, pain explodes throughout my body, and then I’m met with darkness.
CHAPTER 49
Ciaran
I fucking love her.
So damn much.
Never in my life have I thought of anything but hockey when I’m on the ice. Even when all the shit happened with Mikayla, I was able to separate my personal life from my game. I was able to leave it all behind once my skates crunched into the ice. A sheet of frozen water has always been my escape, but even with the need to prove myself and show off for the coaches, players, and staff of the Nashville Assassins, I can’t get Louisa out of my mind.
I try, boy do I, but I can’t shake her. She is the star of my thoughts and my heart. I can’t stop thinking about our morning and all the shit she went through. I remember how her face twisted in fear, hurt, and hatred when she was retelling her past. When she opened up for me, becoming the most vulnerable she has ever been with me, I knew for a fact that she was it for me. Her strength, her beauty, her wit, they’re all I’ll ever want. I have her forever, and I plan on making it the best future she could ever imagine.
I’m reminded of when I started to feel she was worth the risk to my heart. Even now, I know she is.
Louisa is everything.
There seems to be a lot of traffic at the front of the hotel, so I head to the back and park in the parking garage. With each step I take, my heart beats harder in anticipation of seeing her. I made reservations for us for dinner, and I want to take her to the Parthenon. I want to bring her back to the hotel and give her all the pleasure in the world. I will worship her and love her until neither of us is able to move and I chase away all her bad dreams.
Because only good should come to my love.
But when I get to the room, she isn’t there. Her stuff is still here, but there is no sign of my love. She said she’d be here. Did she change her mind? No. That’s not what’s happening. I know that for a fact. She wouldn’t do that. Maybe she went out with Austen? But wouldn’t she have told me that? Something isn’t right.
I dig my phone out of my pocket and hit her contact, but to my dismay, she doesn’t answer. I sit on the edge of the bed and dial her again. Still no answer. I send a text asking where she is, but I receive no response. My heart is in my throat as I dial her again. And again. Uncontrollable fear courses through me. Did I ruin this somehow? Was I not compassionate enough? Fuck me. I go to call her again, but then my phone rings with a number I don’t recognize.
My stomach clenches, and I hold my breath as I answer with a rough, “Hello?”
“Ciaran,” a voice cries. It takes me a second to register that it’s Austen. “Louisa was in an accident and is in surgery at Vanderbilt.” I’m up and out the door before she even finishes. She says more, but I don’t hear it. Not over the slamming of my heart. I can’t even answer her. All I can do is run.
To Louisa.
CHAPTER 50
Ciaran
I feel as if I’m not even in my body.
“Most of the injuries to her body are on her right side,” the doctor explains. “We successfully set her right leg and arm. She has pins in her ankle, femur, knee, wrist, and elbow. She has a slight fracture along her scapula from the impact of being hit by the truck, but we think it’ll heal with no issue. A few of her ribs are broken and two pierced her lung, but we got that under control.”
I feel like I’m gonna puke. So much damage has been inflicted on the love of my life—as if she hasn’t already been through enough. Austen sobs across from me, Dimitri’s arms around her as she holds Louisa’s hand. I hold Lou’s other hand, the injured one. I run my thumb in circles along her palm as I gaze up at her. She looks so peaceful, so beautiful, and I feel like I’m the one who was hit by the delivery truck.
“The saving grace was the backpack she wore. It had padding but also contained a hockey jersey. And when she was hit, the backpack cushioned her head from the fall. I don’t know how. Maybe she saw the truck coming and tried to move out of the way. I’m unsure. But honestly, how it happened doesn’t matter. She has no brain damage and no injuries to her face.”