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Because there was no risk too great to give this child a chance at the life he deserved.
So when her mother and father came into the hospital room when Frederick was taking a call, she curled her fist in her father’s shirt as he hugged her, and she begged at his ear, “I need your help.”
FORTY
CHARLEIGH
I blinkedmy eyes open to dark eyes staring back.
“Rise and shine, Char-Bug. It’s about time you woke up. I’ve been sitting here poking you in the arm for the last fifteen minutes, and you didn’t even budge. I’d think you’d be a little more excited to see me, but I guess you were probably hoping to be waking up to a different Tayte.”
Raven wagged her brows where she lay beside me with her hands curled under her cheek, blinking wide and teasing.
I couldn’t help the groggy laugh as I sat up and pushed back the matted mess of hair from my face. “No way. You’re way prettier than him.”
Raven sat up, too, fighting a smile. “Obviously.”
Then her expression deepened. “How are you feeling this morning?”
Memories of the night before flash-fired through my mind. River kissing me. His head between my thighs. His cock in my mouth.
A burn erupted on my skin, though my stomach squeezed with the emptiness of walking away.
“Tired,” I told her.
Tired of running.
Tired ofbeing alone.
Tired of this fight that I knew I’d have to wage for the rest of my life.
Her nod was perceptive. “I get it, my sweet little Char-Bug.”
My lips tweaked at the edge. “Tell me you aren’t going to keep on with that.”
“Um, hello, of course, I am. You should have seen yourself last night while you were sleeping. All doe-like and dreamy with these little noises you make. Talk about adorbs. But you might have also mumbled a few…words.”
She slipped off the side of the bed and stretched her arms overhead.
“Do I even want to ask?”
“Well, one word,” she corrected with an emphatic bite to her bottom lip as she turned back around to look at me.
“What one word?”
“River.”
I groaned.
“Well, I’m not saying it was my brother’s name you were saying,” she said, fully razzing. “I mean, there are a lot of really gorgeous rivers around here and you might have been dreaming about canoeing or fishing or doing something outdoorsy like that. You know, since you likehikingso much.”
I choked out a laugh. Of course, she would rub that in. Then she really started rubbing it in. “Okay, let’s be real here. It was totally my brother’s name.”
She started moaning. “River, oh River. Give it to me.”
“Oh my God, stop,” I begged, my hands covering my face, voice rippling with both embarrassment and amusement.
“River,” she sang as she spun around in a circle. “Come to me, you beast of a man.”
