Ultimate Courage (True Heroes #2)(78)

“Are you sure?” The fear sliced through him now. He’d been ignoring it as long as there’d been a purpose, action he’d needed to take, but now he was shaking because he’d almost lost her. “Not anywhere?”

Elisa raised her head. “I’m okay. I just…”

She trailed off and drew in a slow breath, then another.

“Yeah?” Concerned, he searched her face for any signs of pain.

She closed her eyes slowly then opened them to meet his worried gaze. “I need better cardio.”





Chapter Twenty-Six



Elisa woke up from a doze. It took her a few seconds to recognize the private room in the ER.

“Hey. Have a good nap?” Alex’s voice was gentle, gruff and low.

There was a stirring beyond the edge of the bed, and Souze’s face popped up as he rose to an upright sitting position from where he must’ve been lying on the floor.

She smiled at them both. “Maybe. How long was I out?”

Alex shook his head. “Not long, maybe twenty minutes tops. The doctor hasn’t come back yet.”

They’d been brought by the police to the same emergency room where Elisa had first met Alex and Boom. There’d been a storm of questions until her voice had started to crack from the strain and Alex’s police friend, Officer Graves, had exchanged a few words with the investigating officers. Then, only one officer at a time had sat down to talk with her, with Souze in the room to help reassure her. Alex had remained outside the room but within earshot if she needed to call him.

A doctor had come in to examine her and mentioned an IV bag of fluids to treat dehydration but otherwise gave her a clean bill of health. The ER had received an influx of patients, though, and out-processing was going to take a while, so Alex had told her to get some rest while she was still getting fluids via IV.

It seemed crazy to fall asleep in such a public place, despite the private room. She’d been exposed and frightened and worried that the man who’d been helping her ex would be brought to the same ER. Officer Graves assured her he wouldn’t be.

“How much longer on this bag of saline?” She craned her neck trying to get a look at the bag hanging behind the hospital bed.

Alex glanced up then back down at her. “Not long. It’s almost empty.”

“I feel like I’ve been run over.” Every muscle in her body ached, and if it was this bad now, it’d be far worse in the morning.

He didn’t stop staring at her, his gaze boring into her as if he could see every fear, every insecurity. She bit her lip. Maybe he was going to tell her she was fired. He’d helped her, but that was because he was a good man. It didn’t change things. He needed to think of Boom first, and Elisa was definitely not good for either of them.

“Elisa.” He stopped and then started again. “Elisa, I’m so sorry I left back there.”

She held her breath for a moment as his words sank in. So totally not what she’d been bracing herself to hear. “You came back.”

It was all she could think of.

He shook his head. “You were right. I didn’t believe you, and you never gave me any reason to doubt you. It was worse than betraying you.”

Tears welled up before she could stop them. “Do you believe me now?”

It was important for him to trust her. Because it mattered more than she had words to explain. He needed to believe her, always, or she might as well leave as soon as she could get released from this emergency room.

Alex placed his hand on her bedside, palm up. She stared at the invitation for a long moment and placed her hand in his, hoping he’d be very careful with the heart she was placing in his care, too.

“I wasn’t being fair to us,” he said quietly. “I was trying to compartmentalize too many things in life. Asking you to separate the work we were doing for Hope’s Crossing from the conflict I was causing for you by pursuing you. Asking you to ignore the way your relationship started with your ex to risk exploring what was between you and me. Ignoring my own issues while I was trying to do everything for Boom and for you. But when it came down to even the hint that you might have an issue I couldn’t accept, I ditched out and walked away. Like it was black and white, no discussion required. I was making decisions as if I was the only person whose opinion mattered, and I couldn’t have been more wrong.”

Elisa wanted to stop him, but at the same time she wanted to hear him out because every statement he made settled a piece of unrest inside her—a worry, a fear that he’d be just like Joseph.

Fundamentally, Alex Rojas and Joseph Corbin Junior couldn’t be more different.

Alex squeezed her hand, held on to it as if it was a lifeline. “I thought I’d lost you. And even though I’ve found you again, I want you to realize you got away on your own. You’re free of him now. You can choose to stay here or leave if you want to. And if you stay, you can decide if you want us to stay together or I will respectfully step back. It’s completely up to you. But I was hoping you’d let me ask you a question before you make those decisions. I was going to ask tonight, but dinner went all to hell.”

A big question. Her brain kicked into overdrive. It’d been a little over a week. There weren’t many questions he could ask, and she’d drive herself crazy wondering what if she didn’t let him ask.