Her hand reached out toward me, palm up and open.
I furrowed my brows as I stared at her hand in confusion, but I reached for it, anyway.
Maya laced our fingers together the best she could and gently tugged me forward. I leaned toward her, resting my elbows on the mattress as I got closer to her. “Come here,” she whispered.
I frowned and tried to see how I could get any closer. She tugged me toward her. “May—”
Maya tugged my hand harder.
“Alright, alright, already,” I muttered and stood up. I kicked off my shoes and Maya hit the button on the bed to lower the head down. I waited while the bed moved, glancing at a slightly snoring Nico before I looked back at Maya. She was rolling ontoher right side and scooting over to make room for me in the hospital bed. Maya even went as far as to pull back the blanket and sheet for me to get under.
I shook my head slightly in disbelief, before I slid into the bed with her. Once I was covered up, I slid my arm under her neck and pulled her against me. It took some maneuvering, but we eventually got her comfortable with her head on my shoulder and her arm with the IV’s in it resting on my chest. She even draped her leg over mine.
I wrapped my arm around her and reveled in the feeling of her in my arms. It was fucking heaven, and I wasn’t going to let go ever. Loosely, I laced my fingers with hers on my chest, stroking gently over the top of her hand. “Darlin’,” I breathed the endearment I used for her.
“Not now, Jase.” Her voice was hoarse, but getting stronger.
“When?” I had so much I needed to say, to get off my chest. I needed to apologize and beg for her forgiveness, grovel if I had to.
“When I’m ready.”
I sighed and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. Maya was completely within her right, but it was hard to accept that. It was hard to keep my damn mouth shut when all I wanted to do was explain and pour my damn heart out.
She tensed momentarily in my arms, before she relaxed. Melting against me, she nuzzled her cheek a bit against my shoulder before settling in.
Maya
SeeingLukehadbeenmore emotional than I expected. The pain in his eyes when I gave him my phone to call Marcos and made him leave without me. I would never forget the look in his eye. The fear.
The heartbreak on his face when he walked in the hospital room and saw me sitting up in bed, eating breakfast, would forever be engrained in my mind. He rushed toward me; Nico barely moved my food tray out of the way as Luke flung himself into my arms. I didn’t even care that it hurt to hug him, I had my baby boy back safely in my arms, and that was all that mattered.
“Oh, my baby.” I cried and hugged him tight.
Luke sobbed in my arms and refused to leave for the rest of the day. And I wasn’t making him. Instead, I ate my food with one hand and held him with the other. We watched movies and hung out with my guys, and when Darla came in that night, she brought with her a package of fresh-baked cookies from the local bakery.
Later that night, Luke was half-asleep lying in bed with me when Marcos told Luke it was time to go. I frowned at Marcos but didn’t say anything. I didn’t like the idea of him leaving though. I didn’t want him so far away.
Luke immediately started protesting. “No! I’m staying with my mom! I’m not leaving!”
“Luke, your mom needs rest, buddy.” Marcos tried to coax him away from me.
Luke started crying as he clung to me. My heart broke into a million pieces. Jason and Nico looked as lost as I felt. Darla must have heard the commotion because she walked in a moment later. “Can I suggest the family bedroom? He can get his rest and so can mom?”
Ever the fucking lifesaver, I thought. I caught Marcos’s eye and shrugged. Marcos nodded slowly, as if admitting defeat. “It’s ok, Luke. I’m ok.” I rubbed my son’s back, speaking softly while trying to sooth him. “There’s a bedroom here, you can stay in the suite with Dad.”
“I can?” Luke’s head shot off my shoulder to look back at his father.
“Yeah, buddy. We can stay. But you need your rest, and so does mom,” Marcos said.
Luke looked back at me and I gave him a warm smile. “You need to sleep,” I said.
“Alright,” he reluctantly agreed.
Once he was in the bedroom suite and Marcos closed the door behind them, I let the first tears fall.
“Oh, Little Dreamer.” Nico sighed and sat on the edge of the bed next to me, pulling me into his arms.
I silently let the tears fall down my face, sniffling here there into the tissue that Jason handed me.
