Priceless (Forbidden Men #8)(97)

All the while, the doctor kept talking, explaining that the damage had happened to the weaker side of Sarah’s brain. She was no longer hemorrhaging, and the only thing they were worried about at the moment was her eyesight and maybe some paralysis on her left side.

I bowed my head, trying to breathe normally and failing until the doctor said he’d have a nurse return with more news as soon as Sarah was moved to a patient room. As his footsteps faded away, I looked up, seeking out Mason. He looked as white as a sheet. I had a feeling I hadn’t fared the doctor’s diagnosis any better.

Sarah had had a stroke.

And it was my fault.

“Mason,” I croaked, reaching for his arm. “Jesus, God. I’m sorry. I’m so—”

“Don’t.” He shoved my hand before I made contact. The glare he sent me caused a sob to claw its way out of my throat. “Don’t even talk to me. Just...get out of my face.”

“But...” I opened my mouth to beg mercy, except I knew I didn’t deserve any. I didn’t deserve his forgiveness. I didn’t deserve to f*cking live.

I’d caused my favorite person on earth to have a stroke. I could’ve killed her.

“Get him away from me,” Mason growled to Noel. “And keep him away from my sister.”

“Come on, Brandt,” Noel murmured sadly, reaching for my arm.

I pulled out of his grip. “No.” I wasn’t leaving. I couldn’t leave until I was with Sarah again.

“Brandt,” my brother said a little more firmly. “Let’s go.” When he reached for me again, I dodged him.

“I have to see Sarah.” I had to see her right then. I was beginning to feel panicked and unsteady, and no one calmed me like Sarah.

Sarah would make this better.

Dodging my brothers and even Mason, I raced down the hall, with no idea where I was going. I sprinted in the direction the doctor had gone, bursting through one door I was sure I wasn’t supposed to go beyond.

Some hospital-type person yelled after me, but I kept running, breathing hard, heart racing, palms sweating. I needed to be with Sarah.

When I barely caught sight of the doctor who’d just talked to Mason and Reese, I darted after him just as he tugged aside a curtain to check on the patient behind it. When I drew close enough to see that it was her, I jarred to a halt, gasping.

She was so still and lifeless on the bed, pale and small, with all kinds of wires connected to her. Her heart monitor beeped out a steady rhythm, telling me she was alive, but she was far from okay.

Choking out the sob that tore from my throat, I collapsed to my knees, unable to take my eyes off the woman I’d just destroyed.

“Oh, God.”

Tears pricked my eyes. Shudders wracked my body. I went cold and numb, dying a little more each second I watched her.

“No, it’s okay,” I vaguely heard someone say, just before a hand gently gripped my shoulder. “We’re his brothers. We’ve got him. We’ll get him out of here.”

But I shook my head. I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to leave her. I needed her.

“Brandt.” Noel’s voice in my ear broke me. I wilted, covering my face with my hands, and wept.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Sarah...”

I was lifted and forced to walk. Not sure where they took me. But it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore.





BRANDT




I guess my brothers took me home. The next conscious thing I remembered was sitting in my chair at the kitchen table as my family paced around me. Aspen and Caroline had joined Noel, Ten, and Colton. Their children were absent.

“Are you sure sex can even cause a stroke?” Aspen ranted as she picked up her smartphone. “I’m googling it.” Thirty seconds later, her face paled and she gulped. “Oh,” she mumbled before quickly setting her phone face down on the kitchen counter next to her.

“Babe.” Noel tugged her against his chest. “Not helping.”

“I know.” She winced and bit her lip before glancing at me. “They say sex-triggered strokes are really rare if that makes you feel any better.”

I scowled. “Not even a little.”

“This was not your fault, bubba,” Caroline insisted, appearing in my face.

I turned away, not ready for anyone to get that close to me.

“Do all of you really need to hover like this?”

“Yep.” Ten fell into the seat next to me and took a bite from a cookie he stole from the middle of the table. “Makes us feel useful.”

“Well, you’re being a pain in the ass,” I growled.

He lifted his eyebrows. “A useful pain in the ass?”

“Get the f*ck away from me!” I kicked his chair, shoving it—with him on it—halfway across the kitchen.

“Fuck!” he yelped before popping to his feet and lifting his hands in surrender. “Fine. I’ll stay over here. Jesus.”

I narrowed my eyes at him before returning my stewing stare to the top of the table. “Pain in the f*cking ass.”

“And we love you too.” When Ten blew me a kiss, I sighed and rubbed my hands over my face.

“Even if the sex did cause it,” Colton said from the counter where he was sitting next to the sink and swinging his legs. “How the hell were you supposed to know that’d happen? Mason totally can’t blame you for this.”