Accidentally on Purpose (Heartbreaker Bay #3)(84)

#GivingMeLife



It was the next day before Archer was finally released from the hospital. He’d spent every second of that time sending his friends to hell and back searching for Elle.

But she was good at hiding.

He found out that Morgan was out on bail, thanks to Elle getting her a solid attorney. She’d be pleading for a reduced sentence and restitution. Lars hadn’t made bail, and thanks to his priors, he probably wouldn’t be seeing daylight anytime soon.

Archer had torn out nearly all of his hair and aged ten years by the time the nurse handed him a stack of prescriptions.

“Take the first on an empty stomach three times a day,” she said.

From one of the chairs near his bed, Pru snorted. “I haven’t had an empty stomach since 2001.”

Archer’s dad smiled. Yeah, his dad was still there. Even in her absence, Elle had managed to put father and son back together. Which meant in the end, she’d saved him and not the other way around.

And if that wasn’t a big, fat pill to swallow. He’d always done the saving, but not this time.

He wanted to thank her. He wanted to grab her and haul her in close and never let go. But since he was in no shape to do that—he wasn’t supposed to use his shoulder or arm until further notice—it would be tricky. Hell, at this point, he’d settle for just getting his eyes on her.

But she still wasn’t answering her phone and if anyone knew where she was, they had a good poker face.

Joe tossed a small duffle bag on the bed. “Clothes, boss. Figured you might like some undies and shoes to go with that pretty hospital gown and sling.”

Archer flipped him off, snatched up the bag, and staggered into the bathroom. When he came back out after changing, he was trembling like a baby. Sweating, he sat heavily on the bed. “I feel like I’ve been hit by a fucking truck.”

“Or a fucking bullet,” Joe said.

“Still nothing from Elle?” he asked casually.

But he didn’t fool anyone. They all looked at each other awkwardly. According to all of them, no one had seen or heard from her, but he wasn’t buying it. They were basically family, close-knit, and they were all connected daily by at the very least an ongoing group text or Snapchat. He suspected that the girls knew where Elle was, which meant that the guys likely knew as well, but at least in the case of Finn and Keane, no one wanted to risk being cut off by the women.

“Look,” he said. “I messed up. We all know that. I messed up big too, on more than one occasion. But I’m trying to fix it. I need to convince her I’m the right man for the job of making her happy, so one of you has got to help me out here.” He paused and sighed. “Please.”

The please boggled everyone in the room. They weren’t used to the please from him. But he wasn’t messing around. “Well?”

Willa came and sat next to him, carefully nudging her shoulder to his good one. “Do you know the most beautiful part about loving a guarded woman? It’s that when she finally decides to trust you and lets you in it’s not because she needs you. We all know Elle stopped needing people a long time ago. Elle let you in because she wants you. She wants to be with you, Archer, just as you are, faults and all. She just needs to know that she can trust you to do the same, to love her as she is, faults and all.”

“I do. Get me out of here so I can go fix this.”

Spence was out front in Archer’s truck as planned. There were three additional faces pressed against the back passenger window. Not planned.

“No,” Archer said.

The back window rolled down and all three faces started talking at once.

“We can help,” Pru said.

“You might need us to plead your case,” Willa said.

“Because you’re alpha,” Kylie explained. “Alphas suck at apologies.”

“Besides we always do this as a group,” Willa said. “It’s our thing.”

“How?” Archer asked. “How is this our thing?”

“Remember Finn groveling to Pru on the roof?” she asked. “We were all there. And then when Willa had to grovel to Keane at his house on Christmas Eve? We were there too. See? It’s our thing.”

Too tired to argue, Archer sank gratefully onto the passenger seat and let out a careful breath.

“You need a nap first, old man?” Spence asked.

He could nap when he was dead. He slid a long look at Spence, who grinned.

“Just saying, you look a little rough. Maybe you want to wait until—”

“No,” Archer said. “Elle’s waited long enough for me to get my head out of my ass.”

From the backseat, Willa clapped her hands and bounced up and down. “Are you going to grovel? You’re going to, right? I want to see it!”

“Do you need some groveling tips?” Kylie asked.

Since it hurt like hell to crane his neck, he had to be happy with sending them both dirty looks via the rearview mirror.

Kylie held up a sleeping Vinnie. “Look,” she said. “A puppy.”

Willa snorted at this attempt at distraction and took Vinnie to cuddle him close.

“Where to?” Spence asked.

They all stared at each other, making Archer realize that they actually really didn’t know where Elle was.