Keep Me (39 page)

“Tessa,” Marcus finally spoke. “Look at me.”

Thank you, God.

My own tears choked me, my unwavering sobs shook me, and my head felt like it would explode from the injuries and the insanity of the last—I didn’t know how long. I wanted to speak, to open my eyes, but I was immobile.

“Tessa!” His familiar, loving hands gripped my shoulders, jostling me gently. “Baby, you’re okay. It’s over,” he cried. “Please look at me. Please, baby. I need you to look at me.”

But I couldn’t. I was relieved the ordeal was over, but the memories, the physical, mental and visual reminders would disturb me forever. For a brief moment, I regained a vague sense of logic, and remembered my son. “Luca,” I managed to croak out.

Marcus sprang from the bed where he sat next to me, and I felt a breeze whoosh past me as he ran out of the room to check on Luca. What a pitiful excuse for a mother I was, letting someone else assess my own son’s damage. Instead of running in there myself to hold him and tell him I would never leave him again, I was bound to this bed, paralyzed by the fear I allowed to creep back into my bones.

I felt the breeze again as Marcus’s warm body returned to my side. “He’s perfect, baby. As if nothing happened. He’s asleep and unharmed and just… perfect.”

“Oh thank God.” I wailed. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if something had happened to him. “And what about…
him
?” I nodded in the direction of my assailant. I needed to know Zack wasn’t about to make one of those horror movie comebacks.

His body lay lifeless. He was out cold—I wondered if Marcus had…

“He’s breathing. Unconscious, but still fucking alive.” Marcus clenched his jaw as he stared at the body, giving him one final kick that sent him off the bed with a loud thud.

I shouldn’t care that he was alive, but at least Marcus wouldn’t have to live with Zack’s blood on his hands.
Did this really just happen? How the hell was this my life?
I covered my face with my hands, bawling into my palms, flinching in pain when I grazed my swollen flesh.

“Let me see,” Marcus insisted, as he removed my hands from my face. He grumbled something inaudible, finally pressing a kiss over the wound. “Help is on the way. Everyone’s going to be fine. I promise you. I will never let anyone hurt you again.” He leaned down to kiss me again and then let out a guttural groan. “Fuck!” He gripped his side and when he removed his hands, a shiny liquid glistened in the dim lighting.

“Marcus! You’re bleeding!” All I could focus on was the red blood staining his hands. “You’re—” and then I remembered, “Oh my God, Riley! Is she okay? Are you—” I started to shake again, unable to control all the emotions rattling through me. I felt shattered, broken, torn apart at the seams. Would anything ever be normal again?

“I’m… fine,” he winced. “And Riley…” he stammered, pausing, “she’ll be fine too. Her head—he must have…
Fuck
!” he screamed again, his face scrunched up in agony. As if I hadn’t gone through enough in one night, watching Marcus suffer—it was unbearable.

I inched up, fighting past the throbbing in my skull and the fear of just—breathing again. I ached to reach out to him, to comfort him and alleviate his pain and when I finally gained the courage to do it, I feared I was too late.

Clutching his bullet wound, his eyes rolled to the back of his head—his expression vacant and his color completely drained. Right before my eyes, he seemed to just slip away. “Marcus!” I screamed, panicking. “Marcus, wake up! Please!
Someone, please help us
!”

Beeping … bright lights … white coats … PAIN!
Where the hell was I? And why was I in excruciating pain?

“Marcus? Oh thank God. Nurse! He’s awake!” There was a lot of commotion, poking and prodding, but Tessa’s voice was all I heard over all the fuss.

I blinked a few times, adjusting to the lights.
The hospital. I’m in the hospital
. When my blurry eyes finally came into focus, she was there. “Hi,” I said, smiling as a nurse clamped something around my arm.

“Hi,” she said back, a tear falling from her bruised face.
Zack. I was shot, and Tessa was almost—
I couldn’t even think about it without seeing red. I would never get that vision of her helpless body cowering beneath his.
She’s safe now. I can keep her safe.
Her wounds were now cleaned and bandaged, but she was still a disheveled mess. A beautiful disheveled mess.

The two of us stared at each other, taking inventory of the other. Memories came flooding back of the horror scene that took place back at her house, but I was grateful just to be here with her again. We remained silent as the staff adjusted IVs and messed around with the wires attached to my body. “How long was I out?” I wondered because it felt like days and mere minutes at the same time.

“Too long,” she spoke, her hand at my cheek.

I reached up to hold it in place, savoring her touch. Ignoring the pain that spread as I moved, I inched up on the bed. There were too many strangers in this room, evaluating us, imposing on our moment. “Can we be alone?” I said in the most authoritative tone I could manage, feeling broken and pitiful in this sorry excuse for a hospital gown.

One elderly nurse nodded, and the rest scattered and scurried off.
Guess she was the Queen Bee around here.
“Mr. Grayson, visiting hours are almost over and you need your rest. The doctors will be in soon to discuss your plan for recovery, so I suggest you make this quick.”

I was tempted to say ‘Yes, Nurse Ratchet,’ but instead I smiled and nodded. I didn’t know the details of how, but they were responsible for patching me back together. They were responsible for the gift in front of me.

Finally alone. I cupped Tessa’s face, searching the depth of her eyes for truth. “Are you okay?” I knew the answer without hearing her speak it. There was no way she could be okay after what went down. We were nearly killed and she was—the thought of that bastard forcing himself on her, my sweet, innocent pretty girl, it made me sick to my stomach. I should have been there to protect her, but my love wasn’t enough to shield her from Zack’s hate. It made me feel like less of a man. It made me wish I killed the sick son of a bitch when I had the chance.

“I’m okay now,” she spoke softly. “Now that I’m here with you.”

I knew what she meant, but her words only went skin deep. She was shattered and it was going to take time and dedication to get back to that perfect place. That place we were in right before the start of the darkest night in both our lives. How could one of the best nights of my life turn into something I wish I could erase from both our minds forever?

The pads of my thumbs caressed the marred skin of her face, sensing the brave act she was putting on for me. “Tessa, I know you’re fucked up. It’s
okay
to be fucked up. Don’t you dare think you need to be strong for me. We’ll get through this. I’ll make it go away. I’ll help you forget. We can do it together—erase all the pain and move on. Before all this we were happy, ready for forever. Let’s not let him take that away.”

Her eyes left mine, her body trembling as she cried. “I’m sorry, Marcus. I’m so, so sorry.”

I gently turned her face so our eyes met again. It killed me to see her so hurt, so destroyed. Tears stung at the back of my own eyes—I just wanted the woman I loved. She was in there somewhere. “You have nothing to be sorry about. Nothing, you hear me?”

She squeezed her eyes shut, her bottom lip quivering.

“Open your eyes, pretty girl. Please? Let me back in.”

It felt as if each second were an hour as I waited for something—anything—to tell me she wasn’t completely lost. When she finally opened her eyes, there was a tiny glimmer of hope—the spark that made me fall for her in the first place. She swallowed back the last of her tears, and gripped my hand. “Thank you for saving me, Marcus. Thank you for being everything I never knew I needed. When you walked back into my life, there was something missing, but I just didn’t know it. I never could have imagined it was you, but—it’s you, baby. You make me whole again and with you, I know that everything will be okay.”

Her words mirrored every single emotion I felt for her. We’d never be perfect, we’d never be free of our scars, but the love we had for each other could defeat anything. Without thinking, just knowing, there was only one thing left to say. “Marry me, pretty girl. Marry me and let me keep you safe for the rest of your life.”

Her eyes grew wide, a genuine smile spread across her face for the first time since I opened my eyes. “Wow, I didn’t know you were hit on the head, too. Clearly all those pain meds are making you loopy. Should I get the nurse?”

Seriously?
After going through hell and back together was she still unclear of how I really felt for her? Tangling one hand in her hair and the other holding hers, I poured it all out, not holding back.

“Tessa, I’m proposing marriage here. Laying it all out. No more games, no more second-guessing, no more time apart. Shit like this—it makes you realize how short life is, how you have to grab it by the balls and live it. I’m alive when I’m with you. I love you like I’ve never loved anything or anyone. I want you to be my wife. I want Luca to be my son. I want the happily ever after, pretty girl.”

Tears rimmed her eyes and my heart pounded in my chest. This was the most honest moment of my life. No gimmicks or ulterior motives, just my heart speaking for me in ways my brain never knew how. I was never so sure of something, so desperate to make this mine. “Say yes, baby. You know you want to.” I arched an eyebrow, gnawing on my lower lip.

“I can’t believe this is happening. Here. Like this. I’m a fucking mess, you were almost dead, and our life is just so—”

“Perfect. Our life together is going to be fucking perfect. I won’t have it any other way.”

“Always so sure of yourself, Little Marcus Grayson. I think that’s what I love most about you.”

She’d have a lifetime to get over the unexpected reality of marrying the boy that used to tease her just to make her laugh and ogle her from afar. I’d have a lifetime to accept the beautiful reality that it was always her—she always had my heart, even back when I was too young to understand it.

I hooked my hands underneath her arms and pulled her toward me, covering her mouth with mine. The kiss was soft and tender, but the two of us connected in a way we never had before. We knew we were lucky to be in each other’s arms again, and so this kiss was like a reunion, a way to start again, to pick up right where we left off.

“Baby,” I whispered against her mouth, our noses touching, our bodies locked together in a tight embrace. “I love you. Be my wife.”

Her hand traveled up my spine to my neck, running her fingers though my hair. With eyes brighter than the sun and a smile that could melt stone, she finally answered, “Yes, Marcus. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

All my life, I got by just fine. I never understood what other people meant about a woman completing them. I hadn’t wanted that even if it
did
exist. My heart was never concerned when it came to the girls I brought back to my bed—another, more selfish part of my anatomy called the shots then. When my mother died, I succumbed to the fact that something would always be missing—unconditional love, the kind that overpowers everything, the kind you’d kill for. Sure, I felt that for my sister, when I didn’t want to kill her myself, but I knew she’d one day find someone who would be
her
constant. She wouldn’t need me fending for her once she met him, and even though it still hadn’t happened, I knew it would one day. But in this moment, hearing those three little letters from Tessa Bradley’s mouth—I finally fucking got it.

I wrapped my arms around her body, pulling her so close I felt we would meld together as one—that was the point, after all. I let this empowerment take over every single nerve ending. I fought past the stinging ache of my wound and shoved away the wires that stuck out in between us. “Pretty girl, I never thought this day would come. I can’t believe you’re going to be mine forever.” I whispered my promise in her ear.

“Forever sounds perfect,” she whispered back.

“Oh, God. They’re at it again. Even on his death bed, he can still get it up for her!”

I buried my head deeper into the crook of Tessa’s neck, not wanting to look up at the voice coming from the door. If it hadn’t been for the fact that she was hurt too, I would’ve told her to fuck off and leave us alone in our little cocoon. Groaning, I lifted my head and was taken aback by the sight of Riley in a wheelchair with Beck as her chauffeur.

Tessa turned to face the two, adjusting herself and the thin cotton blanket that covered me. “Glad to see you up and about, Ry. Did the cops take your statement yet?”

Still stunned by the fact he was here too, I watched Beck wheel my sister into my room. The two girls went on and on with their recount of things as if I weren’t sitting right there.

“There wasn’t much info I could give them, but between your statement and what they’ll get from Marcus, that sick motherfucker won’t be bothering you ever again.” Riley spoke like she was an outsider looking in. You’d never know that she was a victim of his lunacy like Tessa and I were. As much as I didn’t want to rehash all this shit, there were bits and pieces still floating around unanswered for me and I needed to be filled in.