London Falling (Falling #2)(70)

“He has a donor?” That evil bitch Hope came right back to the surface and I hugged her for all she was worth.

The nurse smiled. “Yes!” I hopped up and ran out the door as I saw Tripp being wheeled on a hospital bed around a corner. Confused, I made it to his side, trying not to fall. Running in my condition was not a good idea. My stomach swirled and tightened with the effort of not vomiting. My cast was like an anchor, tugging my balance to the right.

“Tripp, oh My God. What happened to you?”

His hand squeezed mine. “Nothing Bridge. Everything is great!”

I followed the team as they wheeled him down a long hallway. The light hurt my eyes and I faltered, but nothing was keeping me from following.

“I don’t understand, what’s going on?”

“Today’s your lucky day!”

“I know! Collier’s got a donor!” I half-yelled in glee.

Tripp smiled the mischievous one that told me he was up to no good. “How does that explain why the hell you’re in this hospital bed? What is going on?”

“Guys, give me a second?”

“We need to go, Mr. Devereux.”

“I know,” he answered. “Just give me a moment with my girl so I can say goodbye.”

“Goodbye? What the f*ck, Tripp. You’re scaring me!”

“None of this makes sense right now, but Bridge, I’m a match.” It took a few moments for what he said to sink in. The second it dawned on me, my smile turned into a frown.

“No, no, no, you can’t be! You can’t do this, Tripp!”

“Yes, I can and I have. Collier’s going to have a piece of me in him. I can’t wait to give him shit about it either!”

“Don’t make light of this. This is not f*cking funny. You could die and I’d lose you both! There has to be another way. Tell them no. You can’t. It’s not…“ A sob broke me and I leaned over the bed. He held me. I held on so tight I worried I might have finished off those severely bruised ribs.

“Bridge, there’s no other way. All of us were tested. Miraculous, I’m a match. Go figure.”

“No.“ I cried. “You can’t. I’ll lose you both. I won’t survive if something happens.”

“Bridge, baby, you’re going to be fine. I’m going to be fine. Dr. Nicholls, an excellent surgeon, was flown in. Aspen made sure we had the best transplant team. She was throwing money at the crew, trying to get random people to sign up to be donors and get checked. The doctors had to shut that down quick before they received a lawsuit.” He chuckled.

“Oh my God. I had no idea.” A lot seemed to have taken place while I was standing guard next to Collier’s bedside.

“Yeah, she and Hank had words because she’s actually a blood match, too, but with the pregnancy…”

“Oh no. They’d never let her.” He nodded and pointed to his nose. “Yeah, she wanted to be tested anyway. Hank f*cking lost it. It was kind of funny.” My frown deepened. “Guess you had to be there.”

“Tripp, seriously. Why are you doing this? You don’t even like Collier.” My tears fell and dropped on our combined hands. He rubbed our hands with his fingers.

“I love you. And you love him. I heard you last night Bridge. Telling him how sorry you were for not admitting your love. I had just found out that I was a possible match. I was waiting for the rest of the tests to see if I was a sure thing. When I came to find you, you were hunched over his bedside and I’d never seen you so gone for a man. Even James. I had to help. And now I can.” Intense emotions jumped off him and slammed into me, proving his love and gratitude. “I want to give you back your life. Exactly what you’ve given me over the past few years. You saved me. Now it’s my turn to save you.” A tear slipped down his cheek.

There weren’t words but I reached for them anyway. “I love you.“

“More than anyone?”

“Right now? Yes!” We laughed.

“Alright driver, I’m ready. Let’s go get my girl her man back!” That actually made me smile.

“Tripp, thank you.” His eyes closed and he let go of my hand. The team wheeled him away to the surgery bay.

“See you on the flip side, Bridge.”

Moments later Collier’s body headed toward the same door Tripp went through.

Please God. You’ve taken James. Don’t take Collier or Tripp. Please.

I stopped Collier’s bed before it went through. Before the team of medical professionals could say anything, I leaned over his bed and pressed my lips to his. I detected a small pressure back before I pulled away.

“I love you, Collier. I’ll be waiting for you,” I whispered in his ear. With one last kiss, I let them take the man I loved away.





Chapter - 18





A standard kidney transplant takes approximately three hours if you have a living donor. Three hours doesn’t sound long, unless you have a room filled with freaked out Brits who spoke a mile a minute.

Meeting Collier’s parents, sister, brother-in-law and nephew under normal circumstances would have sent me barreling to the hills. Under the peril of their son possibly dying, right along with my best friend? Unconscionable.