THIRTY-EIGHT | Hang On | Mitt
THIRTY-EIGHT
Hang On
Mitt
I t’s been fifteen long minutes since Tinsley was late. I had only spoken with her thirty minutes ago, and she told me she was on her way. I had paced the floor since trying to reach her through text messages with no response. My mind wouldn’t rest until I knew where my wife was.
Past unpleasant memories wouldn’t screw off, and I remembered the last time this happened with Tinsley. Her stubborn attitude had landed her in harm’s way with her mother fucking ex-boyfriend, but there was no way she’d meet up with him. Not after I had shown her the type of man he was. She wouldn’t fall for that shit again, not even in a second desperate attempt at forcing my hand.
No. Tinsley wouldn’t do that. We were past acting childish after we slept together and gave into temptation. Those days of her getting on my nerves and being a pain in my ass were over.
Right?
I groaned out loud. “Fuck it.”
Call it selfish behavior or my insecurities coming into play. I didn’t give a shit. I needed to know she was safe, and I was a goddamn mess inside.
My hand raked through my hair when the phone rang a fourth time. “Damn it, Tinsley, pick up!”
“Hello?”
I froze on the spot.
A man’s voice answered.
“Who the hell are you? Where the fuck is my wife?” I grumbled in confusion.
I double-checked I had the right number. I did. This was Tinsley’s phone number, and it hadn’t magically changed within the past hour.
“I’m sorry there’s no easy way to say this...” the voice trailed off.
Heavy breathing mixed with commotion was in the background noise. There were sirens and people talking. My stomach crashed into my throat.
“Tell me what the fuck is going on. Please.” I held my breath for an entire two seconds and choked out. “Where’s my wife? Where is Tinsley Morgan?”
“There was an explosion,” he answered with dread in his voice.
“An explosion? Where? Is Tinsley okay?” I asked as I clenched my fist up against my mouth and tears bit at my eyes.
“I... I don’t know...” he answered with a stammer. “It... It happened at Morgan Estates. There was a limousine. At least, I think it was.”
Albert?
I never informed Albert to pick up Tinsley today. Albert drove me to work because she’d been wanting a break from him driving her around. She told me the convenience wasn’t necessary when she had her car to drive.
“The chauffeur. Is he okay?” I questioned.
He gulped. “No. He didn’t make it.”
I cursed and slammed my hand against the desk. Whoever was in that vehicle wasn’t Albert. Why the fuck was he there?
A thought hit me.
“My wife. Was she in the limousine?”
I held my breath.
“No.”
I exhaled a sigh of relief.
“The blast from the explosion must’ve hit her,” he added.
“Alive? Please tell me she’s alive?” I begged him with my forehead pressed into the palm of my hand and I leaned over my desk.
“Yes,” he responded.
The comfort that my wife was alive made my cheeks wet as I stood up and wiped the tears away. I heard voices coming closer in the background, and I knew where I needed to be. Immediately, I grabbed my jacket and sent Albert a text without a second thought.
“I’m on my way,” I informed him.
“No. Don’t come here. Paramedics are rushing her to the nearest hospital.”
I hung up.
I needed to get to Tinsley. Her injuries resulted from my faults, and I was the one to blame. I should never have left her alone or had bodyguards who followed her around the clock. These weren’t realistic options though, because I didn’t want her to get suspicious and know her life was in danger. But she had been at risk, and I damn well knew it.
My father had expressed the threat several times. I had been foolish enough to underestimate him, but my careless behavior was over. I wouldn’t make the same mistake a second time because my wife’s life depended on it.
I reached the elevator and punched the bottom button five times. The fucking thing never came, and I couldn’t wait a moment longer. I descended the stairs two steps at a time from the tenth floor and couldn’t stop as I rushed toward the main floor. Once I hit ground level, I hurried to the double doors, but the limousine wasn’t there yet.
I cursed out loud. Multiple people glanced at me, but I didn’t give a shit. I had to get to my wife. Now.
I dialed Albert and yelled into the phone. “Where the hell are you, Albert? I needed you here five seconds ago.”
“I’ll be there in two minutes, Mr. Morgan.”
I hung up.
Shit. For two whole minutes of agony, I had to wait as I paced the lobby and couldn’t stop peering out the window. I kept checking the time until I spotted a breaking news headline, and I made the grave mistake of opening the article.
Tinsley’s sweet smile peered back at me with her as radiant as ever. The picture was from the charity event, and the sight of her made my heart break with agony. An ambulance took the woman I cared about more than anything in this world to the hospital after a suspicious explosion the police were investigating, and Morgan Estates was closed off to the public. The extent of her injuries were unknown at this time, and more details would follow.
My angel, she was my heaven on earth. She was my world. I was nothing without my wife but a grumpy man full of bitterness until she came along and brought the sunshine in, but now those rays of light clouded over. They were dark and my stone-cold side was back in full force. Tinsley had to make it. She had to.
Albert arrived at my office in two minutes as he had promised, and he sped through the streets like I had ordered him to. A speeding ticket be damned, I’d cover the charges. Hell, if the police threw Albert behind bars for careless driving, I’d have him out in less than an hour and pay him triple his rate. I’d do anything to get to my wife faster and be by her side.
I was frantic, on the verge of going insane. Tinsley was my priority, my lifeline in this lonely world, and she held the key to my heart. The crucial piece I never knew was valuable until she unlocked me and came crashing through. Her with her stubborn attitude, defiant behavior, and independence. My wife made me a better man. She made me into a person I only wished I could be. A hopeless guy in love.
But Tinsley had no idea.
Albert arrived at the hospital where paramedics took Tinsley, and I exited the car before he came to a full stop. My feet stumbled on an icy patch, and I caught my footing before I fell face first on the ground. I couldn’t move fast enough to get to her in the emergency department and raced inside to the nurses’ station, demanding to know where she was.
“Mrs. Morgan is in the farthest room to your left, but...” I didn’t wait as I pushed off the desk and ran down the hallway.
As breathless as I was, the worry building up inside made my entire body shudder in distress. I was a mess by the time I made it to her room and stopped outside the doorframe. My breath heaved as I stared in shock at the sight of Tinsley with wires hooked up to her. Her beautiful face was all dirty. My angel had cuts on her perfect skin, and I wanted to heal her, to make all her suffering go away, but I couldn’t.
The reality of Tinsley’s dire situation made me collapse against the doorframe. The adrenaline surging through me had worn off, and I was in complete shock. She didn’t move. She had kept her eyes shut, and the heart monitor beeped steadily.
Thank fucking God.
My heart ached. The organ hurt so damn badly, and I couldn’t breathe. My hands clenched my tie, and I loosened the fabric, but that didn’t help fill my lungs with air. I ripped the damn tie from my neck and stumbled toward Tinsley, loosening the buttons on my shirt. I gasped for oxygen as I fell to my knees and my hands ended up grasping the hospital bed.
I broke down. I cried into the bed sheets and held my wife’s warm hand in mine. Her warmth made me wail louder because I was a man who almost lost everything. I nearly lost her .
“I’m sorry to intrude...” a soft voice called out behind me. “Mr. Morgan?”
My head shot up. “Yes.”
I didn’t turn around. My entire self pulsated with anguish, anger, and failure, making it impossible for me to. I was so damn ashamed of my inability to protect my wife. The one person who was mine.
“I’ll need you to sign some paperwork for your wife since she’s unable to do it herself.”
I whispered, barely able to form the words, “How bad is it?”
Silence. She cannot hear me from my inability to speak up.
I clear my throat. “When will she wake up?”
“Mrs. Morgan is lucky to be alive. She’s unconscious with a traumatic brain injury. We’ll know more in the next twenty-four hours,” she answered with a click of a pen and papers rustling. “I’ll leave the paperwork on the table for you to sign, but please take your time.”
She left the room with her footsteps fading into the distance, and Tinsley’s steady breathing was all I could hear. Her eyes didn’t even flutter, and I wanted so terribly for her to open those gorgeous fucking eyes. I wanted her to flash me her infectious smile and touch me with her electric spirit. I only wanted her or nothing at all.
“Tinsley? Can you hear me?” I whispered.
No answer. I’d give anything for her annoyance, her snappy remarks, or for her to utter any word at all.
“Please, angel...” I sniffled as I wiped my tears and squeezed her hand. “Please wake up.”
My pleas went unheard. Stillness was the only response Tinsley could accomplish. Her body was too frail and injured too much to bear anything more. She needed time to heal, time to rest, but I wouldn’t leave her side. Never again.
“I’m so sorry, Wife, this is all my fucking fault,” I admitted as I watched her chest rise and fall. “I’ll never take you for granted again. I love you, Tinsley Morgan, with all my damn heart and my grouchy soul.”
I laid my head against Tinsley’s chest and heard her strong heartbeat. The sound brought hope to me through the darkness as I closed my eyes and told her again how much I loved her. I didn’t care if she couldn’t hear me because I needed to hear the words out loud. I had to understand just how important my feelings were, so I’d never put her in jeopardy ever again.
“Pitiful.”
My eyes shot open.
I raised my head and hissed, “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Slowly, footsteps moved behind me, and I didn’t budge. I wouldn’t risk leaving Tinsley’s side and exposing her unconscious body to a threat. I’d shield her from the storm and protect her from all the danger the blizzard could bring. All the ice pellets, snow, and high winds, even the bitter cold.
“I heard about my daughter-in-law’s unfortunate accident and grew concerned about her well-being,” my father said.
“Bullshit,” I breathed in anger as my nostrils flared, and I let go of Tinsley’s hand.
“Such a dreadful thing to witness, and it’s too bad she has to live through the pain of recovery,” Cyprus added and lowered his voice to a bone chilling tone. “But what’s even more awful is the love you have for her.”
My blood ran cold. My father knew. He had heard my confession of affection for Tinsley, and there was no way to turn back time. I couldn’t rewind into the past, close the damn door and shut my father out. He had welcomed himself into our love story, and he’d destroy everything. I had to put a stop to him because my wife’s life depended on it.
I stood up and turned around. “Leave my wife alone.”
Cyprus walked further into the room with his head down and a hooded glare targeted directly at me. “I can’t. She’s made you weak, Son.”
“The only weakness is you .” I glared and grabbed him by the collar, forcing my father out into the hallway. “Stay away from Tinsley.”
Rage clouded my better judgment, and I pushed my dad up against the wall. The force only made Cyprus grin wider as he grabbed my fists holding his collar and wouldn’t let go. His evil eyes darted into the depths of my soul and wouldn’t let me loose.
“I thought you learned your lesson from all those burns I gave you?” Cyprus questioned as he glanced down at my chest and back up at my eyes. “Or do you need more, Son?”
“Hurt me, Dad,” I pleaded through clenched teeth. “Just don’t fucking hurt her. I want to be with her.”
“Cut your losses and divorce her while you still can.” Cyprus glared through heavy breaths and pushed against me, but I held him in place. “Or attend her funeral and bury her with the dead.”
“Ruthless bastard!” I spat in my dad’s face and shook him. “You fucking did this to her! Didn’t you?”
I was desperate to hear the words of his deadly intent. Cyprus Morgan wasn’t an alleged criminal to me. He was a fucking lunatic, and I wanted to make him pay for all his sins. He had messed with the wrong person, his flesh and blood.
A crowd formed around us with the commotion I had made. I was livid, and nothing would stop me from making my father wish he had never been born. Cyprus was dangerous, but I could be just as lethal, too.
I flung my fist back, ready to punch my dad square in the face, but someone said, “I’m going to call security!”
Alarms bells went off in my head as my father continued to grin as if he were a mother fucking maniac, and he provoked me to hit him. Locked up behind bars and unable to protect her, I wouldn’t be any good to Tinsley. I’d make the one mistake I had vowed to my wife not to do. I’d never leave her side.
“Son of a bitch!” I glared at him.
I punched the wall beside his head. Damn near close to beating in his sorry ass skull. Gasps sounded from the crowd, and I pushed my father away from me. The further away he was from Tinsley, the fucking better.
Cyprus fixed his suit jacket and grumbled, “There’s no need to call security. This was all a misunderstanding. Right, Son?”
I wanted to scream from the top of my lungs, to hit my father and never stop. He deserved all the pain before I ended his miserable life and threw him into the depths of hell, but his death wouldn’t justify all the destruction he had caused. A lifetime sentence would with his mother fucking ass behind bars for the rest of his miserable existence.
“Right,” I sighed, hoarsely.
I held my place in front of Tinsley’s door as the crowd murmured and departed. My eyes never wavered from the one person I should love, but I completely despised him with every icy fiber of my being. His love should build me up and not shut me down. Only there wasn’t love there, only the need for control. His need to abuse me and use me to his greedy, heartless benefit, but I was done.
I stared my father straight in the eyes and spat, “You’ll pay for this. I promise.”
“Not if I make you pay first,” Cyprus threatened and vanished from sight.
I turned my full attention back to Tinsley as I made my way back into the room and closed the door behind me. I’d hire round-the-clock bodyguards for her. I didn’t care how much it cost me. She was mine to protect, but I wouldn’t let my love destroy her.
I dialed my lawyer’s number with my mind made up, no matter how much my heart ached to be with Tinsley. I’d give her the one thing she had been wanting for weeks. Divorce papers.
I’d go back to my grumpy tendencies and push her away because Tinsley’s freedom was the key to keeping her safe. I made a vow to protect her, and I’d keep my word until the paperwork was done. My wife’s life was in danger because of me, and I’d set the love I had for her free.