Unbreakable Thread

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Max

I’ve spent years fighting to return to Rainey. Searching, wondering if I’d ever see her again—and if I did, whether she’d want me back. Whether she’d still love me. We’ve overcome everything thrown at us. She has to wake up. She has to come back to me.

It’s been a few weeks now. Every day I sit beside her and talk to her, tell her how much I love her, how sorry I am. It feels like it’s my fault. I know it isn’t. Still, I sit here, all day, every day, with one fear coiled at the bottom of me that she’ll open her eyes and not know my face.

I’ve thought about it. What would I do if she didn’t recognize me? As much as it would break my heart, I’d take her home with me and do everything to get her to fall in love with me once again. I’m not one to give up, especially not with her.

I won’t accept the thought of her not making it. Fuck no. She has to pull through; she’s strong and relentless.

“Baby, come back to me… Please,” I beg. I’ve prayed to God, to her parents, to my mom, and to anyone who will listen and help me. “I need you.” My voice cracks. I run my fingers through my hair. “I can’t live a life where you’re not in it. I can barely breathe.”

Still nothing.

“Move a finger for me. Tell me you can hear me.” I wait for any movement. Nothing. She broke her left arm, but it's healing well. The cut on her head has closed up, and the swelling on her brain scan has gone down.

“Come on, tesoro, open those pretty eyes.”

I kiss her cheek, then the other, then brush my lips against hers. “Do you feel that? Show me you feel that, please. I love you.”

Her chest falls and rises, shallower each time, and then she’s gasping, her mouth working open and shut like something pulled from water. Her whole body begins to shake. I hit the emergency button.

“Help!” I shout, already out the door, my voice cracking down the corridor. “She needs help in here!”

Rainey

There is sound first. A steady beeping. Then cold.

Something on my face. I try to open my eyes.

My eyelids flutter under the weight, as if heavy pebbles are being pressed against them with significant force.

An icy hand drives an eye open, blinding me with the flashlight.

Then the other one. The echo in the room fills the space. The voice sounds so distant.

“She’s stable,” a man says.

“Will she be okay?” another voice asks.

“There is no telling, but I believe she will be just fine.” A cold object is placed on my chest. “Her heavy breathing is normal. Rainey, this is Dr. Wallace. Can you try to open your eyes, honey?”

I try again. The effort is enormous. My vision is blurry.

“Rainey.” A familiar soft husky voice is nearby.

The voice. The scent. The weight of his hand near mine. Max. My Max.

My vision sharpens with each blink until I can make out his face.

His eyes are red, glassy. The beard is longer than I remember it.

His fingers graze my cheek, warm, like sun through a window.

A tear breaks loose and travels down the line of his jaw.

I try to lift my arm toward his face, but my body won’t follow.

I have never seen Max Cano cry—not once, not even in the flashbacks.

My mind is still catching up, still sorting the new memories from the old ones.

“You’re awake.” Max strokes my cheek, his thumb moving like he’s making sure I’m real. “I never thought I’d see those brown eyes again, tesoro. You came back to me.” His throat works. He wipes his face without looking away from mine. “How are you feeling?”

My body cries in pain, compounded by the weight of my arm wrapped, but more than anything, my heart screams with echoes of a past life. The memories of my biological parents are a stab to the chest. It may have happened decades ago, but to me, it feels as if I just lost them. The pain is so raw.

Max waits for my reply patiently. The thing is, words don’t spill from my lips. They simply can’t. I don’t know what to say to him now that I remember him. Us. My best friend. The boy who saved me. The boy who took the belt whips to protect me.

Oh, Max.

With everything I have, I lift my good arm to reach for his face.

Gently, I run my fingers through his long, dark hair.

He closes his eyes, and a small sigh leaves his chest. Then, I run my fingers down his full beard.

Max’s now-wide eyes gaze into mine. His warm hands clasp mine, and soft kisses brush my knuckles.

A chill runs up my spine at the slightest fraction of his touch.

“Can you hear me…or do you not remember me?” His eyebrows drop, and he takes another hard swallow.

I try to speak. What comes out is something between a breath and a sound.

No words. I try again. Not yet. I swallow hard.

I want to tell the innocent boy…man…now that I remember everything.

Those green eyes staring back at me are the eyes of the small boy who was faultless, brave, and who needed love.

At the same time, it feels as if I escaped the pain of my past to live a luxurious lifestyle and have parents who loved me.

They cheated me out of a life that meant so much to me.

Memories of my biological parents and Max. How could I forget them?

“Water?” I ask, my voice hoarse.

Max stumbles to stand, reaching for a cup.

A man in scrubs stands on the opposite side of the bed. “Hello, I’m Doctor Wallace. Can you tell me your name?”

I nod. “R…Rainey Collins.” Rainey Collins? Is that even my name anymore?

“Good. How are you feeling, honey?”

Max takes the straw and slips it between my lips. The cool water slides down my throat.

“My head feels like a war zone.”

Doctor Wallace jots the information on his notepad. “Do you remember why you’re here?”

I take a couple more sips and nod. Those memories flood me with my adoptive father’s betrayal, and Max had to fight to save me.

To get me back. Then one of Daniel’s men pushed me.

How much does the doctor know? “I fell back and hit my head. That’s as far as I can remember,” I say instead and peer at Max, who nods at me.

“Okay, I’m going to get you medicine for your headaches, and I’ll have the nurse hand it to you and recheck your vitals.” Dr. Wallace walks off, leaving Max and me alone.

I fiddle with the sheets, my free hand clammy against the fabric. The other arm sits heavy in its cast. I keep my gaze on both of them, anywhere but him.

“Rainey.” His thumb brushes under my chin, turning me to face him. “Why are you avoiding me?” His voice cracks, and his shoulders slump.

“I’m not,” I whisper.

“Do you not remember me? Is that why? Am I making you nervous…uncomfortable?”

I reach for his hand under my chin and kiss it. “I remember you, Max.” I shake my head. “I never want to forget you. You’re the most important person in my life.”

“As you are mine.” Max moves the oxygen tubes and other electrical cords aside, then sits his muscular frame on the bed. “Are you mad at me? God, I’m so sorry for getting you involved in all this.” He squeezes my hand. “I almost lost you, baby.”

A sharp groan comes from me, trying to shift my body to peer up at his bright eyes. “Max,” I groan again, trying to shift and comfort the man beside me.

“Rainey, careful, don’t move. Should I get the doctor?”

“No, I’m fine. I’m probably just sore.”

“You have a broken arm and stitches on your head. You have been in and out of a coma for two weeks. Your body has been healing.” He reaches for the water. “You have been through so much. Take it easy, okay?” He hands it to me.

I take another sip.

“I was trying to move to look you in the eyes,” I tell him, my hand going to my head, feeling where the stitches are.

Max shuffles onto his side with one hand on my face and the other elbow propped on the pillow, elevating himself upward. Now I can see his beautiful face. “Is this okay? I need to be close to you.”

My breath catches painfully as I inhale his scent.

It’s calm, just as I always remember. “It’s not your fault, Max.

I heard what my father did. He’s the one to blame, not you.

If anything, you saved me.” You always save me.

Maybe it’s time I saved you, I want to say.

Instead, I stare at those familiar eyes. “I’m not mad at you.”

“No?”

“No, handsome. I love you too much. You’re my special person.

You’ll always have my heart…” My voice breaks with each word.

I swallow, and a tear runs down my cheek.

“I always thought you were a cheater at checkers and chess. I guess you were just that good. Your bed always felt more comfortable than mine.”

His brows rise, like he’s confused about what I’m rambling about. The memory surfaces the way they all did—suddenly, with the force of something that had been waiting.

“Your heart always raced when I’d lay my head on your chest. Although we were kids.

It was innocent. I loved it. You made me feel safe.

” Max’s heart beats faster than normal, just like it always does when I’m next to him.

“You gave me a butterfly ring.” Max goes still.

“You bought it from those machines. You were upset the action figure you wanted didn’t pop out, so you gave me the ring.

” I smile at the memory. “I wore it all the time. I used to pretend in my head that it was a wedding ring. I wore it on the day of the accident. I don’t know why, Max, but I kept that ring.

I didn’t know where it came from. But I kept it. ”

Max’s eyes widen with a tear threatening to fall before it does. He turns and wipes it. “I never told you…about the ring.” He wipes my tears. “You remember?” he breathes. It sounds like a breath he’s been wanting to release for years.