Chapter 43
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
SEVEN VIRTUES, NORTH CAROLINA
@PRyanPOffical, Let me assure you, not all men are created equal.
—@CuteandRich3
@CuteandRich3, Now see? That was funny.
—Viego Martinez, Celebrity Blogger
I roll over, pluck my phone off the end table, and silence the alarm. Quickly scanning for texts, I see Ethan checked in this morning already. Deciding I want to hear his voice before I start another day, I dial his cell.
Before the first ring is over, I hear his sexy voice in my ear. “Hey, darlin’.”
I let out a huge yawn before asking, “What are you doing up so early?”
“Never went to bed,” he admits. “I’ve been working with the company I’m contracted to and inspiration took flight around midnight.”
Right around midnight, I had my last call at Devil’s Lair—with Whiskey. Emotions I’m not prepared for make my stomach churn—anger at a God who could make my mother so ill. Resentment at my mother for not allowing me to share the burden of her illness. And worse, an unceasing guilt at not telling Ethan the extent of what I’m doing to try to prolong her life.
Pressing my head back against my headboard, I whisper, “I miss you.”
“I’m right here, witch,” he murmurs.
“I mean in my bed, my arms.”
There is a pause before he asks, “Fal? Is everything okay? You know you can talk to me.”
I feel the liquid of my tears against my lips before I even acknowledge I’m crying. Lifting my free hand, I dash them away. “Yeah. Just a long day yesterday.”
“Is your mama not feeling any better? Do you want me to call Paige to see if she can come shake up the medical personnel in that godforsaken town you inhabit?”
My sob is masked by my laughter. Wouldn’t that just be a pisser? My mother wants to hide her condition from Austyn’s family to avoid pity and here’s my lover offering to send his sister—a doctor. The grin he elicited allows the tears to leak into my mouth. “I can just see the doctors hiding when they hear Dr. Paige Kensington is back in town.”
Ethan sips what I know is his morning go-to—strong black coffee. “Whatever you need, witch.”
I whisper, “I need you right now more than I’ve needed you since we met.”
His voice drops. “As soon as I wrap up this new piece of work. I promise I’ll be there soon thereafter.”
“I know, it’s selfish…,” I begin.
His soft laughter warms my cold body. “It’s not selfish that you need me? Want me? Never that, Fallon.”
“Make me a promise we’ll talk later,” I plead. I don’t want the last voice I hear to be that of one from Devil’s Lair. “I need to hear your voice so you follow me into my dreams.”
“Done,” he agrees immediately. “I’ll call no matter how late it is.”
I glance at the clock and sigh. “Then I suppose I need to get going.”
“Think of me today, Fal.”
“I always do.” I want to say more, tell him how much I love him, but I’ll save that for later. Reluctantly, I end the call and throw my legs over the side of the bed to begin my routine of Biltmore, hospital, and phone sex before I get a chance to come home and have a few minutes of being responsible for exactly one thing.
My heart.