Never show weakness
Brynn
There were one hundred and twenty-seven ceiling tiles in this hospital room.
I hated that I’d had enough time to count them all, but if I kept staring at Wyatt, silently begging him to wake up, I was sure his brother would pick up that I was more than just a grateful client whose life Wyatt had saved.
As it was, I hadn’t stopped holding Wyatt’s hand unless I had to use the restroom or the nurse needed to check him.
I was especially grateful that Travis hadn’t asked me to leave when they’d given updates about his injuries since I wasn’t family.
They’d been able to remove the bullet, but he’d lost a lot of blood and there’d been some minor damage they needed to repair. But overall, he’d gotten very lucky that it missed anything major.
With every second that passed with his eyes still closed, one thought kept permeating my mind on a painful endless loop. I could’ve lost him.
If Wyatt had died, he never would’ve known that I loved him, that being apart was killing me, that my resolve to keep him at a distance for his own sake was melting faster than an ice cube on cement on a hot summer day.
He needed to wake up. He needed to know I hadn’t meant a single word I’d said before we left Tahoe. He needed to know he wasn’t just my bodyguard.
He was so much more—he held my heart and my happiness in his hands.
My fingers twitched with the desire to brush the short strand of hair off his forehead.
He had dark purple bags under his eyes, and his cheeks looked more sallow than they should.
His mouth was slack, but he was breathing on his own.
The doctor had assured Travis that Wyatt would pull through.
It was just a waiting game at this point.
I’d never been a very patient person, but I found it even harder to be patient now. There were things that needed to be said. I needed to fix things between us.
“You’re the client.” It was the first time Travis had spoken to me since the doctor left.
I shifted my body to face him without letting go of Wyatt’s hand. “The client he saved, yeah.” I thought he already knew that. Why else would I be here by his bedside refusing to leave?
The corner of his lips tilted up slightly at the corner. “But not just the client he saved. You’re the woman he wanted to quit for.”
All the breath seized in my lungs. He told his brother?
I knew how much his brother meant to him.
He’d talked in depth about Travis and shared stories about them growing up.
He’d said Travis was his best friend. My heart clenched painfully as it hit me how stupid I’d been.
I should’ve talked to him about what he was signing up for before making an executive decision to end things. I should’ve done so much differently.
He sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “He came to my house after you guys got back from Tahoe.” His gaze shifted to Wyatt, the slight smile on his face falling before he refocused on me. “I’ve never seen my brother that wrecked over a woman.”
Pain hit me hard and intense like I’d just been hit by a semitruck on the freeway. I dropped my gaze to the ground as guilt ate away at me. Even after I ended things, he was considering quitting?
I glanced up at Wyatt, my heart aching in my chest.
“Are you in love with my brother?” I spun back around to find Travis scrutinizing me. “Because if you’re not, then I don’t think you should be here when he wakes up. Don’t give him hope when there isn’t any.”
Hope? Did that mean he though Wyatt would want me back?
I opened my mouth, but closed it and reconsidered what I wanted to say. “I’m not leaving.”
I refused to say those three words to him and confess my true feelings before I confessed them to Wyatt. Those words were for him alone.
Travis seemed to understand. He nodded and then sat back, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “Mind if I step out for a minute? I gotta call my wife.”
“Sure.” I had no intention of leaving this room unless it was with Wyatt once he was discharged. Travis had instilled new hope in me, and I held on to it tightly.
Now that we were alone, I gave in to the urge and leaned forward, reaching out to brush aside the hair on his forehead. I pressed a gentle kiss to his lips, then rested my forehead on his with my eyes closed. “Please wake up.”
He hummed and I sat back, holding my breath. His eyes opened slowly, and he blinked a few times before he spoke. “Am I dreaming?” His voice was rough and scratchy, but he was awake and he was alive and there was no way I could’ve stopped the tears if I’d tried.
He lifted his hand, cupping my cheek, his thumb brushing away an errant tear. “Don’t cry, baby.”
Another sob escaped at the pet name, and all the words I’d held in came tumbling out.
“I’m so sorry, Wyatt. I didn’t mean any of the things I said in Tahoe.
I miss you so much. I don’t want to be apart and I know that risks your job and being with me is most people’s literal nightmare because the press are vultures and you’ll never know a moment’s peace again and—”
He pressed a finger to my lips as his mouth split into a wide grin. “You’re worth it, Brynn. You’re worth all the crazy I’ll have to put up with. You’re worth everything.”
“I love you,” I whispered. It was probably too soon to say those words, but that didn’t make them any less true. His smile only broadened.
“Good, because I love you too.”
I was closing the distance between us to kiss him again when the door opened and Rafferty Carmichael walked through.
I recognized him instantly from the Carmichael Security website Stella had showed me when she hired them as my protection.
He was imposing with his height and that stern, hawk-like gaze.
Not many people intimidated me, but Rafferty Carmichael did.
His gaze dropped to where my fingers were intertwined with Wyatt’s, and his dark brow arched.
His gaze focused on Wyatt, and something passed silently between them.
Wyatt’s smile was nowhere to be found now.
He squeezed my hand once before breaking the stare off with Rafferty to look at me. “Can you give me and Raf a minute alone?”
I nodded and then quietly walked out, hoping I hadn’t just screwed things up for Wyatt already.