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Georgia’s dark gaze locked with mine.
She was awake.
thirty-one
Georgia
Everyone bustledaround me as I tried to process all that was happening.
Dr. Pruitt, my parents, my siblings—everyone explaining the events of the last two days.
The only one not speaking was my boyfriend, who’d sat silently in the chair as people came in and out of the room.
I’d heard him when I was sleeping, or as they liked to call it, when I was in a coma.
I’d heard them all talking around me.
But Maddox was the one I’d heard endlessly. I had flashes of the car ride to the hospital with him, sobbing as he held me in his lap. I couldn’t recall the specific words, but I felt the impact. The pain. The desperation in his voice.
And here in the hospital, I heard the words.
How badly he needed me.
But I wasn’t leaving Maddox. It would take a lot more than an ice bath and a concussion to pull me away from this man. I was just resting. Just tired.
But I knew it was time to wake up because his sadness rocked me.
I hated that he was hurting.
He’d cried when my eyes had opened. Kissed every inch of my face and ran out to get the doctor, and then my mother came running in shortly after.
And from that moment on, there’d been too many people in the room. We hadn’t been alone. But every time I looked over at him, he was watching me.
Silently observing.
He looked exhausted.
Dark circles that were a mix of black and purple settled beneath his eyes. His scruff was overgrown, and he was wearing Hugh’s hoodie, along with a pair of joggers.
My mother told me that Maddox had never left the hospital. Not to get something to eat. Not to go home and sleep or change clothes or take a shower.
He’d refused to leave me.
But he’d barely spoken to me, as all my siblings, my niece, and my parents crowded the room the morning after I’d woken up.
“Hey, I’m going to let you be with your family, okay? I’m going to head out.” Maddox kissed my forehead, and when he pulled back and my gaze locked with his, I knew something was off.
He looked… sad and distant and lost.
Maybe it was exhaustion, I wasn’t sure.
“Yeah. Of course. I’m fine. Thanks for—” My eyes welled, and I looked away. They’d all told me what happened numerous times, and I had flashes of memories, but I knew that Maddox had saved my life. “Pulling me out, and breathing for me, and staying with me.”
There wasn’t enough that I could say to thank him. My words were jumbled, and even though I’d slept for two days, I was exhausted.
He put his finger to my lips. “You are the one who saved yourself, Tink. You nearly burst through that ice. You’re stronger than you think. Get some rest.”
His hand slipped from mine, and I missed him the minute he backed away from me.
