Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
“Good. Now give her something for the pain until we can go.”
He nods again and starts rifling through the drawers in the ambulance and comes back with a needle. “This might make you sleepy.”
When I nod my consent, he gives me the shot, and I lie back in Eros’s arms.
“Don’t worry, baby girl. I got you.” Eros’s voice helps soothe me, and the drugs are pulling me under when I hear a shout.
The last thing I see is two stretchers coming out of the building. One of them has two men. One lying prone and another sitting astride him performing CPR as they are being carried to the other ambulance.
My eyelids are heavy, and I can’t hold them open anymore. But I know one of my men is dead, and another may follow.
Chapter
Forty-Eight
Athena
3 days later
It’s been quiet at the estate since the cabin burned. Eros spends most of his time in the gym hitting the punching bag over and over or getting on the treadmill and pushing his body to exhaustion. He doesn’t talk to me, or anyone. He does come into my room late at night fresh from the shower, and just holds me as he sleeps. If what he does can even be called sleep. He tosses and turns and holds me tighter.
When I wake up, he is gone, and I know I can find him back in the gym punishing his body for what his mind can’t cope with. I know he is grieving the brother they lost and worried about the other still lying in the ICU in a coma. The paramedics and doctors have done what they could. Now it was up to him to live or die.
Perseus is handling it far worse. He has locked himself in his bedroom with bottles of whiskey. He drinks as he rages, trying to numb the feelings of loss and hopelessness. He only comes out for fresh bottles, and if he sees me, hobbling around in my cast, he turns and walks away with his head hung low.
I don’t blame him. I want to shut down, too. I want to crawl in my bed and never get out, but I can’t. Someone needs to make sure Ellen is okay. Someone needs to keep the house running, and someone needs to see to the funeral arrangements.
It’s weird planning a funeral for a man I feel like I barely know, but it’s not for me. It’s not even for him. It’s for Perseus and Eros. They deserve to say goodbye. The body was too burned for an open casket, but getting pinned under a burning beam will do that. I don’t think any of us could stand to see his face disfigured like that, anyway.
The funeral is being held here. The front room has already been set up. Mrs. Medea is doing a great job, even if she and the rest of the staff are also in mourning.
I just have to get through the next few hours, the funeral, then a meeting with the estate lawyer, and then I can take my pain meds and slip into oblivion.
The funeral is small, really just us, and a few other friends of the guys are there. My brothers come, not really to pay their respects, but to make sure I am okay. The way they keep eyeing Perseus and Eros, I worry they are planning to start something after the funeral. Lucky for everyone, my father is away on business.
Perseus should be the one leading the funeral, but he isn’t up for it. Neither is Eros, so I hobble to the small podium to welcome everyone when a shadow passes over the doorway, and I gasp.
Heph is standing there wearing scrubs that are clearly a size too small. He looks horrible, his skin is pale and he has dark circles around his eyes. He could keel over any minute.
Leaving the podium, I shuffle down the aisle as quickly as the cast will let me, tears streaming down my face. Perseus and Eros speak behind me, but I’m not listening to whatever they are saying. I wrap my arms around Heph and hug him tightly, he wraps his arms around me, and he sways a bit. I am pretty sure we are holding each other up at this point, and one stiff breeze and we will both go tumbling over.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t get there sooner.” He places a kiss on my forehead.
“You saved my life.” I hold him tighter. “You’re awake! How are you here? Shouldn’t you be in the hospital?”
“I had to come. I had to pay my respects. I’m going back right after, I promise.”
Eventually, someone pulls me away, guides me to a chair, and Perseus takes my place. He’s asking the same question and responding the same way I did. But there is a desperation mixed with relief in Perseus’s eyes I’ve never seen before.