Echo (Bleeding Hearts #1)(69)
“Hush,” he whispered. “Don’t cry for me.”
“Don’t say that,” I snapped, threading my fingers through his. “Don’t tell me not to cry for you.”
A moment of silence fell between us, and when he spoke again, his words were heavy with the weight of relief.
“I didn’t think you would come.”
“Of course I would come,” I sniffled. “I love you, Ryland. That doesn’t just go away.”
He winced as he moved his body to the side, leaving a small gap between the frame and him.
“Come up here,” he pleaded. “Lay with me.”
I glanced at the cracked door, mentally calculating how long it would be before a nurse would come through it to scold me. But the longer I thought it about it, the less I cared. I needed to be beside him. To feel his warmth, his heartbeat, his life.
I crawled up and laid on my side, careful not to touch him anywhere on his torso. The blankets covered his bandages, and I was grateful for it. I wouldn’t have been able to handle that. Not yet.
Ryland clutched my hand in his and stared into my eyes as though he didn’t believe I was really here with him. There was still so much that needed to be said between us, and we both knew it. But neither one of us brought it up. Instead, he said the only thing he could in that moment. The only thing I knew within my soul was not a lie.
“I love you, Brighton.”
***
The nurse ended up kicking me out after midnight. Ryland didn’t want me to go, but he needed his rest. So I promised him I’d be back first thing in the morning, and I meant it.
As I walked out of the hospital lobby into the cool evening air, someone clutched me around the arm and pulled me to the side.
I started to struggle when the familiar voice hissed into my ear.
“Relax,” Brayden ordered. “It’s me.”
I yanked my arm away and took a step back, glaring at his profile in the gloomy light of the hospital parking lot. A hatred I had never known bubbled up inside of me, and there was only one place for it to go.
I shoved him back against the wall. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Brayden just blinked at me like I was acting crazy. It made me crazier. I shoved him again and slapped at his face.
“You tried to kill him!”
“Jesus, Brighton,” he spat. “Keep your voice down and stop hitting me. I’m bleeding all over the place as it is.”
On closer inspection, I realized he was right. Ryland hadn’t gone down without a fight. Brayden’s nose was crooked and both his eyes were black. But the blood stains all over his shirt had me shaking as I tried to calm down.
I reached towards him and then snatched my hand away. I couldn’t comfort him. I couldn’t justify what he’d done. Ever.
“Have you even bothered to see a doctor?”
“I’ll be fine,” he grunted.
“Well, I’m glad to hear that. Because I want nothing to do with you anymore.”
I didn’t even recognize my own voice. But I recognized the anger in Brayden’s eyes.
“So that’s it, huh? You’re going to choose him over your family?”
“I don’t want to choose anyone!” I cried out. “You're both making me choose. And right now, I have to choose him, Brayden. He has no one else. Because of what you and Frankie did to his family. And if that wasn’t enough, you went after him again! I can’t even wrap my head around that. I don’t understand what’s happened to you.”
“He’s killing our mother!” he argued. “Is that not justification enough? And do you really think it’s going to stop there? Who will be next? Me? And then what? You know he isn’t capable of love. He doesn’t care about you. He’s going to hurt you too.”
“He wouldn’t.” I shook my head vehemently. “You don’t know him like I do. He’s in pain, and he just needs someone to help him.”
“He’s a sinking ship,” Brayden spat. “And it disgusts me that you can even look at him knowing what he’s done to Norma.”
“What?” I scoffed. “Gave her money? It was her choice to buy the drugs, not Ryland’s.”
I didn’t know why I defended him on this. Deep down, I knew Ryland had malicious intent behind giving her that money. But I had tried to justify it was her actions that would cause her own demise, not his.
“She’s an addict,” Brayden snorted. “He knew exactly what she would do with that money. He wants her dead. He wants me dead too. And what’s going to happen to you, Brighton? Is he saving you for last?”
“I can’t have this conversation right now,” I snapped. “I don’t know what to do anymore. All I know is that I love him. And I want you to stay away from him.”
“Don’t worry about that,” he sneered. “I’ll be staying away from both of you.”
***
When I got back to Nicole’s apartment, I was surprised to find that my key didn’t work in the door anymore.
I stood in the hallway with warring feelings. I didn’t want to wake her up, but I didn’t want to go back to Ryland’s either. To see his blood everywhere. I couldn’t handle it.