Fever (Breathless #2)(123)

“I’ll go let them know,” Gabe said in a low voice.

“Why did you give them to her? How the f**k did you give them to her without her knowing? She would have never taken that shit.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be her,” Jack choked out. “Never supposed to be her. She took the wrong cup. It was hot chocolate. She drank the wrong one.”

“What the f**k?” Jace snarled.

“It was supposed to be me,” Jack said in a resigned voice. “I didn’t expect her to show up. She wasn’t supposed to. Had no idea you were having the place watched.”

“What the f**k are you saying? That you were going to commit suicide?”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. I put the pills in the hot chocolate. I was going to leave her a note and then I was going to do it quietly.”

“You stupid f**k. You claim to care about her and you’d put her through that shit? Do you think it wouldn’t have destroyed her if you took the coward’s way out and killed yourself? That is so unbelievably selfish. Did you even stop to think what it would do to her for you to go down like that?”

“Look, I was doing you a favor,” Jack said angrily. “You should be glad that I’m out of the picture.”

“You disgust me,” Jace seethed. “Unbelievable. This isn’t about me. I don’t have to like you, but Bethany loves you and I love her. I want her happy. That’s all I care about. And you dead would not make her happy.”

Pain and regret filled Jack’s eyes. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. You have to know I’d never do anything to hurt her.”

“You f**king offered her drugs before!”

“That was different. She wouldn’t overdose on them. She never did. She only took them when she needed them. I just wanted to make sure she had what she needed.”

“She doesn’t need that shit. Ever,” Jace snapped.

“Is she going to make it?” Jack asked fearfully.

“Jace, man, you need to come,” Gabe said from the door. “She coded, man. They’re trying to get her back now.”

Jace fell to his knees, grief crushing through his heart. “No!” he roared. “No! I can’t lose her! Goddamn it, no!”

Ash looked stricken and pale. Mia was suddenly there, her arms around Jace, but he was numb. Couldn’t feel anything but overwhelming devastation. Jack stumbled back, Kaden shoving him into a nearby chair with a harsh command not to move. Gabe moved forward, his face a mask of regret and sympathy.

“No,” Jace whispered, his voice choking off in a sob.

Then he lurched to his feet, only knowing that he had to get to her. He wouldn’t let her go this way. She had to fight! For her. For him. For the both of them.

He pushed away from Mia’s restraining hold. When he got to the door, both Ash and Gabe tried to hold him back. He threw them forcibly out of his way, desperate to get to Bethany. She couldn’t die. Wouldn’t die alone surrounded by medical staff. Around people who didn’t love her the way he loved her.

He ran toward her room and pushed inside the door, ignoring the urgent commands of the nurses for him to leave.

“Bethany!” he cried, the blood leaving his face when he saw them trying to resuscitate her. “Don’t you give up!” he said fiercely. “Don’t you dare give up, baby. You fight, damn it! You fight!”

His gaze was locked on the tube they’d reinserted into her lungs. The doctor doing chest compressions. The oxygen being pumped into her body. The medication being inserted into her IV line.

But the one thing he focused on to the exclusion of all else was the flat line running across the heart monitor, only jumping with the compressions being performed.

“Don’t leave me,” he said brokenly. “Baby, please don’t leave me.”

“Sir, you have to leave,” one of the nurses said in a low voice filled with sympathy and understanding. “I know you want to be with her, but you have to let us get her back. You’re in the way here.”

“I’m not leaving her alone,” Jace said fiercely. “I need to be with her so she understands. So she knows how much I love her. I won’t let her die alone. I won’t let her die, period!”

“If you want her to live, then get the hell out so we can get her back,” one of the doctors snapped. “That’s what you can do for her. Let us do our jobs.”

“Man, come on, let them work,” Ash said quietly. “They’ll get her back. You have to believe that. Best thing you can do is to get out of their way.”

Both Ash and Gabe grabbed Jace and forcibly pushed him out of the room.

“Bethany!” Jace roared just as the door was closing. “Don’t you f**king give up! I love you, goddamn it. Fight!”

• • •

The tension in the small waiting area was through the roof. Jace sat, head in his hands, his shoulders slumped. He’d replayed every single memory of Bethany in his mind. From the time he’d seen her across the room at Mia’s engagement party. Every smile. Every laugh. Every time they’d made love. When he’d put the choker around her neck the second time. The night she’d been drunk and so damn cute and the way she’d lustily made love to him. And the pain and sorrow in her eyes the night before when he’d hurt her unforgivably.