AllFreeNovel
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“You were shot in the shoulder. Nothing major was hit, by some stroke of luck, but you’ll be sore for a while.”
“Did I have to have surgery?”
“Yes,” he murmurs. “The bullet was stuck in your arm. Luckily, it was just a .9mm, or it could have been worse.”
“Who did it?”
“Cortez. He’s dead.”
Something about the way his eyes flash when he says it sends a shiver down my spine.
“And . . . areyouokay?”
He pauses as if he doesn’t know what to say. My chest aches and oddly enough, I don’t think it’s from the bullet wound in my shoulder.
“I . . .fuck.”
He gets up walking across the room to look out over the night sky of Los Angeles, his shoulders tense and his jaw hard as he scrubs a hand over his face.
“I’m sorry for leaving you. I didn’t want to. It . . . nearly broke me.” Tears burn in my eyes and exhaustion waves over me, despite my extra long nap. I just want to hold him. Have him hold me until I can’t think about anything else.
“Don’t ever fucking do some shit like that again,” he says throatily and a tear slips down my cheek.
I deserve that.
Carefully, I maneuver to the side up on the side of the bed, wanting nothing more than to go to him, but I know I can’t. Not with all the drugs coursing through my system.
“Okay.”
“Fuck,” he curses again under his breath and finally, he turns back to me. This time, I can see the despair on his face. “You don’t get it, do you?”
“I do—”
“No, you don’t. You’re the love of my fucking life, Hannah.” The room falls silent as he waits for me to protest. “You and me are it. Something happens to you, I’ll go to hell to find you and then I’ll drag you right the fuck back.”
“I love you, too,” I whisper, a tremor rolling through me and he bares his teeth. I didn’t think I’d ever get to hear him say those things again. I was sure that was the end.
I hold out my hand to him and though it hurts my shoulder, I keep it there.
“I thought I was never going to get to see you again. Please don’t be angry with me. You can tomorrow, just . . . right now . . .”
His eyes burn in the night, fury seeping off him. I shiver, but deep down, I know he’s not angry with me.
He’s angry because, for a moment, he was helpless.
Because Mason Carpenter is the farthest thing from helpless.
Begrudgingly, he takes a step forward and then, surprises the hell out of me and drops to his knees, his head falling to rest in my lap.
“That’s the problem,” he murmurs, turning his lips into my fingertips. “I can’t be angry with you. Even when I want to hate you, I fucking can’t.”
“I . . . want you to know. It wasn’t an easy decision. I made up my mind because I wanted to give you a chance at freedom.”
“Baby—” He nips the pad of my finger, eyes darkening when a shallow breath leaves my lips. “—you are my freedom. Anythinghappens now, we do it together. I refuse to fucking lose you again.”
“You won’t,” I promise, and this time, I mean it. “I’ll prove it to you.” My stomach clenches as visions of Ian flash through my mind. “I’m sorry about Ian.”
“Fuck Ian,” he grits, a snarl pulling on the corners of his lips.
