Chapter 29
“Don’t you leave me, Sprinkles. Not for one damn second are you allowed to leave me again, you understand?” He placed his hand carefully under hers, praying that the love he had in his heart would flow through his touch and help her wake up. “You use all that sass and strength that you’ve got to come back to me. Because there is no going on without you. You’ve completely stolen my heart, and it will not beat if you’re not here. I love you, Emma. Please, come back to me so I can say it to you every day for the rest of my life.” Tears filled his eyes and his voice choked.
A throat cleared in the doorway. He turned away to wipe his eyes and stood, shocked to see his brothers standing in the hall.
“We didn’t mean to interrupt.” Sebastian took in the sight of his four brothers, each with worry in their eyes.
“W-what are you guys doing here?”
“After you called Dec, we knew we needed to come. Sorry to just spring it on you,” his younger brother, Cooper, said.
“It’s fine, Coop.” Sebastian scrubbed his hands down his face and pushed back his hair. “Why don’t we go down the hall to the waiting room. I could use some air, and she’s only allowed one visitor at a time right now.”
Sebastian waited for them to turn into the hallway, but his brothers just stared at him.
Taking two steps into the room, Declan wrapped his arms around Sebastian. Then each brother took a second to follow with hugs.
There was Wyatt, four years older than Seb but still a kid at heart. Cooper, just ten months younger than him and the brother he was closest to. And the last hug came from Sawyer, the baby of the family. He might only be twenty-eight, but the kid had been instrumental in taking his family’s business world-wide and they owed a lot of their success to him.
“When was the last time you had something to eat? Or even closed your eyes for a few? You look like shit,” Sawyer said.
“Hey!” Dec slapped their younger brother on the backside of his head. “He’s kind of been preoccupied. You know, with the woman he loves being assaulted and in the hospital.”
“Thanks, Dec, but I’m sure Sawyer’s right. I probably do look like shit. I feel like shit, too.” Sebastian sank into the plastic chair closest to the door in the waiting area. It was nearing the end of visiting hours, so they were the only people in that particular waiting room. Seb knew Daisy, Hank, and half of Bell Ridge were cycling through the other waiting room just a little ways further down the hall.
“So, you love her, huh?” Wyatt asked, a shit eating grin forming across his face. “Who ever thought Seb would be the first Montgomery to fall?”
“Yeah, I love her. And when she wakes up, I’m going to make sure every cell in her body knows it.”
“She’s lucky to have you, bro.” Sawyer clasped his hand onto Seb’s shoulder, but Sebastian could only shake his head.
“No, she’s not. I’m the lucky one. She’s so damn strong. I don’t deserve her.”
“Stop throwing yourself a pity party, asshole.” Cooper’s words dug into his chest. “It’s time to step up. If Emma is as amazing as you say she is, maybe I’ll throw my hat into the running once she’s awake. Everyone knows I’m the most charming, and easily the best looking, Montgomery.”
Sebastian stood up so fast the world around him blurred. Before he knew what was happening, he was in Cooper’s face, pushing him backwards.
“You won’t go anywhere near her, Coop, or so help me, I’ll only have three living brothers.”
“Jesus, Seb. It was shitty of me to say, but I was just trying to ease some of the tension.”
Sebastian rubbed his hand over his face, groaning with regret at his reaction.
“I know man, I’m sorry. I’m not thinking straight right now.”
“You need to eat, take a shower, and get some sleep,” Declan grumbled.
“I can’t leave her.”
“You need to, Seb. Just for a few hours. Tonight. You can have the nurses call you if something changes with her condition. But there’s no sense putting yourself in the hospital, too.”
Declan had a point. He needed sleep. He needed food. He needed to be able to think about finding Marco and ending that asshole’s life.
“Where are you guys staying?”
“Hadn’t gotten that far in our plans. Figured maybe you’d know a place we could crash,” Wyatt admitted.
“Yeah, come on. You guys can stay with me. But someone is going to have to sleep on the couch.”
Sebastian found Emma’s night nurse and gave her detailed instructions about contacting him. Then he turned and walked out of the hospital for the first time since Emma was brought in.
It felt wrong to be leaving without her in his arms, but he knew in his heart she was going to make it through, and the next time he left, they’d be leaving together.
His feet dragged as he walked towards his car. A strong hand landed on his arm. Declan.
“No way, Seb. You’re not driving like this. Give me the keys.”
“Yeah, okay, you’re right.”
Seb watch his other brothers walk further into the hospital parking lot.
“Where are those assholes going?”
Declan shook his head. “Cooper rented some souped-up fancy ass car when we got here. They’ll follow us to your place in it.”
“God, that idiot and his cars.”
“Tell me about it. I had to talk him out of ordering another truck last week. He needs a wife and kids to spend his money on.”
“Mom and dad probably think he isn’t the only one.”
“Yeah, well, with Emma coming into the family, I’m sure mom and dad will get off of my back for a little bit, so I guess I have to say thank you for that.”
Sliding into the passenger seat, Sebastian turned to his oldest brother. “I need your help with something.”
“Name it. You know I want to help.”
“The asshole who did this to her, I’m going to kill him.”
Declan raised his eyebrows but kept his focus on the road.
“So, what? You need me to be your alibi? You know where he is and want me to join you?”
“No. I’ve got things in the works for taking care of him once he’s found. But when I took Emma to Colorado a few weeks ago, the fucker burned down her bakery and her apartment. I want to rebuild it all for her.”
Declan stayed silent as Sebastian continued. “Look, I know you were the one who oversaw all the building and renovations with the distillery. I trust you to oversee this now. I don’t care the cost. I want it finished by the time Emma is out of the hospital.”
“You’ve already got the plans in place?”
“Yeah. I’ve been working on it since we got word of the fire.”
“Good. I’ll take care of it.”
Aside from giving the occasional direction, the brothers rode in silence the rest of the way to Sebastian’s building.
* * *
Sebastian stood in front of his office, the breath stuck in his lungs. He wanted to look anywhere other than where Gage had found her laying, dying, earlier that day. But he couldn’t. Sebastian’s eyes were glued to the sidewalk, his brain unable to comprehend why it looked as though nothing had even happened there.
“Seb?” Coop’s hand landed on his shoulder.
“I don’t understand.”
“Don’t understand what?”
“It happened right there,” he pointed to the sidewalk. “She didn’t have a heartbeat. Right. There. Her blood was running in streams all down this concrete and now it looks like nothing even happened here. Like she was never right there, fighting for her life.”
“Seb. Someone from the city probably came and cleaned it up after the police finished processing the scene.”
“The sheriff’s department.”
“Huh?”
“We don’t have a police department here, the county has a sheriff’s department.”
“Okay. The sheriff’s department. Look man, there’s no sense standing out here staring at the clean sidewalk. Let’s go inside and if you need to talk about it, we can talk.” Declan wrapped his arm around Sebastian’s shoulders and pulled him towards the entrance of the building.
They rode up to his apartment in silence. The sound of his breaths where echoing off the walls and for the first time in his life, he felt claustrophobic. Sawyer’s hand landed on his shoulder, but he couldn’t form the words to thank him. All he could think about was running out onto the street that morning to the worst thing he’d ever experienced in his life.
He stood in the living room while his brothers all milled around, looking over the space and figuring out where they would all sleep. Seb didn’t care. He just wanted to go through the motions as quickly as possible so he could get back to the hospital.
“You’ve done good for yourself here, Sebastian. I’m proud of you.” Declan placed his duffle bag down on the sofa.
“Thanks man. How’d you end up with the couch?”
“Eh, I figured those guys would only be staying a few days. I’ll swap with them when they have to get back to the distillery.”
“And how long are you going to stay?”
“As long as you need me, Seb. I’ll stay for as long as you need me to.”
“So, was Emma crashing here, or what? Because this place screams bachelor pad.” Sawyer walked over to the fridge and frowned. “Where do you keep your beer? I think we could all use something right now, especially you, Seb.”
“Fridge in the island,” Seb mumbled.
“Oh, this place is fucking fancy. Okay.” Sawyer collected five bottles from the fridge and handed them out. Cooper and Wyatt had joined Seb and Declan in the living room. They sat in silence for several minutes, all just nursing their drinks.
“Well, I guess I’ll go first,” Coop said, breaking through the silence. “How come you didn’t tell any of us about her? You worried we wouldn’t approve?”
“It’s not like that. Things were developing between us, but just got put in the pressure cooker when I found out about her past.”
“Ahh, never could stop Seb from a damsel in distress.”
“It’s not like that. Sure, she needed someone to protect her, and look where trusting me to do that got her.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “There’s something about Emma that just called to me. Her hazel eyes were like magnets the first time I saw her. I couldn’t stop myself from trying to start something with her, even if I wanted to.”
“And she just let you in, because of course, what woman wouldn’t when they know you’ve got billions in the bank?”
Sebastian squeezed his bottle so tight he thought it might shatter in his hand. Better that than smashing the bottle into his dumb brother’s face.
“Wy, I swear, if you insult her again, you’ll be headed back to Tennessee with your jaw wired shut,” he growled through his clenched teeth. Jesus, he just wanted his brothers to say whatever they needed to say so he could get some sleep and get back to Emma, but the fact that Wyatt had insulted her made his blood boil. “She’s not interested in my money. In fact she’s told me where to shove it all more than once.”
His brothers laughed.
“Good,” Wyatt smiled. “That’s all I wanted to know, Seb. She sounds like someone who will keep you on your toes, and you need that, man.”
“Look, go get some sleep. Then tomorrow, you go back to the hospital and make sure she puts in one hell of a fight,” Declan said.
“Thank you guys for coming out here. I didn’t want to pull you away from the distillery, but I’m thankful you all came.”
“That’s what family does, Seb. And we’ll be here when Emma becomes a part of the Montgomery crew one day, too.” Cooper’s words washed over Sebastian, a lump growing in his throat as he tried to shove down the fear that he may never get to see that day with Emma.
* * *
Sweat poured over his body as he sparred with the weighted bag in his home gym. He’d tried to sleep, wanting nothing more than the blank darkness to wash over him, but after a few hours of staring at his ceiling he couldn’t take the built up energy any longer.
He’d run until his legs had nearly given out, then as soon as he could breathe again, he’d put on his gloves and started beating the shit out of his hanging bag, picturing the sketch Emma had helped the FBI come up with for Marco.
That fucking piece of shit was a dead man walking, and Seb hoped he didn’t know it. He hoped Marco was somewhere sleeping right now, thinking he’d won. It would make his death so much sweeter. And Sebastian would kill him. For Emma. For everything he’d taken from her. For nearly taking her life.
Fuck.
Sebastian threw another punch, and another, grunting loudly under the strain of moving his tired body.
“That’s enough.” His brother’s booming voice filled the room.
Seb threw another jab.
“I said, that’s enough, Sebastian.” Declan’s hand landed on Seb’s shoulder.
“It’s not,” he said, trying to catch his breath.
“You need to sleep, not beat the shit out of some inanimate object.”
“Fuck off, Dec. I tried to sleep, okay? I can’t. I can’t when I know she’s lying in that hospital bed because of me. She’s so fucking stubborn, but you know what?” His anger burned in his throat as the salty sting of tears burned in his eyes. “That’s what I love about her. The first woman I’ve ever loved and she wouldn’t even let me say those words to her. She told me to wait. And now I’m never going to get to tell her.”
Sebastian stepped back from his brother, letting all his weight fall against the wall. With his hands on his knees, he tried to catch his breath.
“You’ll be able to tell her,” Dec said as he laid his hand on Sebastian’s shoulder. “And when you do, it will be a million times more powerful, because you both survived this. You told her she had to come back to you. She needed to survive. But you need to also, Seb. You can’t let this asshole take you from her, either.”
His brother hauled him into a hug, apparently not caring that Sebastian was soaked through with sweat. His brothers were not exactly the warm, emotional type, but the speech Dec had just given him, along with the bear hug, had Sebastian’s already frayed emotions close to exploding.
“Thanks, Dec. You’re right.” Sebastian nodded as he walked away, pulling his gloves off his hand and grabbing a towel off the nearby bench.
“Where are you going?”
“I have an appointment I need to make,” Seb said. “And then I’m going back to Emma, and I’m not leaving until she comes with me.”