Chapter 15
Cori
“It had to be Eden,” I say while wiping a stray tear. Selene would typically comfort me, but she’s wiping her own tears. “It was before this happened. It’s her, right?”
Selene weeps on the other side of the couch, and I pull her close. We hold each other through our tears. Minutes later, Selene looks at me with bloodshot eyes. I wipe her face with the back of my hand.
“It wasn’t Eden,” Selene says. “She—”
“She’s full of money now. Rip gives her whatever she wants. Maybe he proposed—”
“Eden would never buy your favorite dress and—”
“You’re right. She wouldn’t,” I concede.
“Someone out there thinks you’re talented and paid fifteen thousand dollars for a dress you made.”
“But I want Eden to wake up so I can tell her. She’ll say I told you so and will clap her hands in excitement.”
“She will, and she’ll be so happy for you. Happier than I am because I only want my friend back.”
It’s been two days since Eden was involved in a head-on collision that’s left her unconscious. She’s not in a coma, but she hasn’t woken up yet, and with each passing minute, I lose a little bit of hope.
Selene pulls me closer, and I rest my head on her shoulder. We’re not just cousins, but best friends. When she moved to Shadow Cove when she was eleven, we became inseparable, and she fit right in with Eden and me. The three of us have always been there for each other.
We sit in the back of the hospital waiting room. It’s tense. It’s always been tense because Eden’s family hates her man, and he refuses to leave the hospital without her.
Despite the hatred, there’s an unspoken truce. Still, whenever Ripley King enters the waiting room, his eyes shoot daggers at Eden’s family, especially her sister, Sylvie, who tried to have him removed from the hospital.
Luckily, Eden’s parents were wise enough to shut that down.
Ripley’s heavy footsteps fill the room while he paces. At one point, he puts both hands on his face and grunts in frustration.
“You want to sit with us, friend?” Selene asks him. He stops mid-pace, and I expect him to either ignore or refuse her, but he takes the seat next to her. Selene rests a hand on top of his, and I put mine on top of hers.
He looks at us. He doesn’t smile but gives us a small nod.
“She’s going to be okay.” If I say the words often enough, they will come true. “She has to because we love and need her.”
The mood in the waiting room changes an hour later. Ripley returned to Eden’s room, and Dax is here. I can smell his cologne even though I haven’t looked his way once.
“I think you’re right,” Selene says. “That guy is here, and he’s been here a few times.
” I don’t answer my cousin. I should have listened to her and Eden and dropped my investigation into this guy.
Now, I’ve kicked a hornet’s nest, and I’m about to get stung.
“I have to leave soon, so I’m going to go see Eden. ”
“I’ll be gone by the time you get back. I’ll return after work and check on her.” By then, Eden’s family won’t be here, and Ripley will let me sit in the room with them for a few minutes.
After saying goodbye to the Roses, I leave without a word. Right on cue, he follows me, but I’m thankful he doesn’t have that horrible dog with him today.
He slides into the elevator just as the door is about to close. Once he’s inside, he stops it. Without a word, he pins me to the wall and kisses the breath out of me.
It must be the stress that allows me to wrap my arms around him and kiss him back as if my life depends on it. He lifts me off my feet, and I wrap my legs around him.
“Let me take you home,” he whispers.
I don’t have it in me to fight him today. “Okay.”
We enter my apartment not ten minutes later. Once the door closes, he helps me remove my jacket and lifts my shirt over my head. I’m in an old bra with a small hole on the side, but he either doesn’t mind or doesn’t notice.
He undresses me completely before carrying me to the bedroom. Once we’re in there, he puts me on the bed and undresses himself.
His body is that of a god. He’s chiseled without being bulky.
His brown skin is like butter under my fingertips.
He joins me on the bed, and instead of climbing on top of me, we position ourselves on our sides.
Daxton Hunt kisses me until I’m breathless.
I toss my leg over him, allowing him to get closer to me.
His large dick is rigid, and the moist tip touches my stomach. I groan when his hands massage my back. I want to get closer to him. If I could, I would climb inside of him and let him absorb my fear and my stress.
He finally puts me on my back. When he climbs on top of me, I spread my legs like a greedy slut. He slides inside, and instead of fucking me until I go blind, he makes love to me until I call out his name.
“She’s going to be okay.” I have my head on his shoulder while his fingertips glide on my hip. “Ripley will make sure of it. I don’t know your friend, but I know she’s got to be tough to be with Rip.”
“Only she doesn’t have to be because he makes her feel safe and secure. But you’re right. She’s going to be okay because anything else is unacceptable.”