Yours Suddenly

Chapter 11

Roman

An hour later, I’ve had Alexandra’s things taken to the airport from the B&B, leaving a fat wad of cash for the delighted owner. Night has fallen thickly over the quiet small town. I walk past the double doors of the hospital and the receptionist nods at me, signaling it's okay for me to go to the room my wife is in.

When I open the door, I see her asleep.

“Is she able to be discharged now?” I ask the nurse.

She nods, looking at me with either fear or desire, something I'm used to women doing. After she snaps out of her trance, she moves to wake Alexandra up, but I make a sound of disapproval.

“Don’t wake her. I'll carry her.”

I pick her up gently and she makes a small sound of either contentment or dissent. Or both.

“Thank you,” I say to the nurse, “and please thank the doctor.”

I walk out of the hospital carrying my wife, cradling her like she's the most precious thing in the world because that's exactly what she is. The smell of her hair calms the beast inside of me. In the parking lot are some of my men, waiting in black SUVs. Some people walking to the hospital building watch us, a little awestruck by the unusual display.

“How bad is the bruise?” Tristan asks, watching her curiously as she dozes in my arms. They must have given her some really strong meds since she's barely affected by the wind blowing her dark hair in her face.

“Fucking awful,” I say. It wasn’t life-threatening or anything but even a scratch is too much. “She’ll be fine though.”

“Thank fuck,” Blake says. He feels bad about the whole thing since she wouldn’t have been able to leave New York if he had been with her. But there was absolutely nothing he could have done. He'd gone to visit his parents in Jersey when she slipped away.

Adrianne and Freddy were the two I was pissed at. I almost took out all my anger on Freddy, almost beat his ass, but it's stupid to blame either of them really, they had no idea she was going to fly to fucking Oregon in a seven thousand dollar dress.

I mean, I like how she’s shown me she’s a little crazy and dramatic, and I’ll make sure never to fuck with her again in the future, but damn. I broke twenty-plus vases back home whenever calling her went to voicemail. I can tell Mama loves Alexandra because she was so worried about her daughter-in-law’s whereabouts that she didn't care about furniture being destroyed.

Anger and worry are still boiling inside of me, but I managed to expend most of it in the past hour.

We drive away from the hospital to the airport and I'm pissed off because she has to wake up to go through the entire airport check-in process. I still carry her though and as we go through the procedure, I hear snippets of the airport workers' conversation.

“…hear about the owner of Bedley's Ranch?”

“I did. A fucking horse kick to the chest! Found slumped in one of his stables.”

“Man! I’d kind of feel sorry for him if he wasn't an asshole.”

“Oh yeah. Huge asshole. Always abused his workers, I heard.”

When we're finished, we walk outside to my luxury private jet. I look down at my wife and she's awake, watching me. I brush a lock from her forehead. The way she's looking at me, she heard the airport employees too.

Scaring her is the last thing I want to do. It could even make me lose her again.

But I won’t ever let anyone fuck with her.

On the plane, I don't even let her sit in her own seat. I've been apart from her for way too long. She doesn't object, either because she's too drowsy and weak from the medication and the bruise, or she's just resigned herself to the situation.

I link my large hand with her much smaller one and press my lips to her forehead throughout the journey back home to New York.