“Absolutely fucking not.”
My husband sneers at me from where he sits in the chair next to my bed. You would have thought I’ve just asked for a threesome or something equally ridiculous, not for him to go into the bathroom adjacent to my room and take a shower.
I swear to God, the man is driving me insane.
I’ve been in this hospital for three days and the only times he’s left my bedside is to quickly use the bathroom, which he uses with the goddamn door open.
Is this what marriage is like? Or is my husband just the most ridiculous man on earth?
He’s adamant about not letting me out of his sight, and he’s currently still dressed in the same clothes he wore when he rescued me and is in desperate need of a shower and change of clothes.
It’s not even like he doesn’t have anything to change into since Marco brought us a bag of clothes each and everything else we could ever need. That man might be stoic as hell and kinda scary, but he’s definitely thorough when he needs to be, if the ridiculous amount of things he packed is anything to go by.
“I’ll be here the whole time. I’m fine, Enzo, we can’t live the rest of our lives attached at the hip,” I say and roll my eyes.
“Like hell we can’t,” he huffs. “If it was up to me, I’d sew our fucking skin together so you could never leave me.”
Something about the way he says it has my hackles raising. Is he worried about me getting hurt, or is he worried about me leaving him?
“What do you mean?” I murmur.
He bites his lip as he contemplates what to say until he finally whispers, “I’m scared.”
I grab his hand and press a kiss to his palm. I’d love nothing more for him to climb into this bed with me so we could hold each other while we talk, but he’s adamant about not hurting me and will barely give me a peck on the lips.
“What are you scared of?” I ask.
“I’m scared of you getting hurt. I’m scared that I can’t protect you the way you need me too. I’m scared I won’t be able to protect our baby. I’m scared you’ll realize you made a mistake marrying me and that you’ll decide you’re better off without me. I’m scared you’ll realize what happened is my fault and that you—”
“Enough,” I bark, and he swings his gaze to me, his eyes wide as he gapes at me. Not surprising since that’s the harshest my tone has ever been with him.
“What happened wasn’t your fault. There’s nothing you could have done to stop it. If they didn’t get me in that bathroom then they would have found another way to do it. If anything, things would have been a lot worse for me these last few months if it wasn’t for you. I know deep in my freaking soul that you will do everything humanly possible to protect me and our baby. You’re not the reason, and I’ll never blame you. In fact, you’re the reason I’m here right now and not being auctioned off to the highest bidder.” He tenses as the words leave my mouth. “You found me Enzo, I know it took you a few days, but you did it. I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere; you’re stuck with me. I love you far too much to ever spend a day without you, but you seriously can’t spend every second with me Enzo, it’s not healthy.”
He blinks at me, seemingly lost for words before he stands and leans over me.
“You’re my whole fucking life, angel. You’re my reason, and even if you wanted to leave, I’d never let you get far.” He smirks and kisses me, framing my face in his hands and taking the kiss deeper. His tongue languidly strokes mine, it’s not rushed or desperate, it’s intimate and loving and packed full of emotion.
He pulls away and presses a kiss to my forehead before dropping down into the chair and kicking his feet up on my bed, mindful not to jostle me in the process.
I guess he’s being stubborn and still not leaving my side.
“Hey, can you pass me my phone?”
He hands me my phone and I pull up the number I need and press call. The phone rings a couple of times before he answers.
“Robyn, is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine, but are you close to the hospital?”
“I’m in the waiting room. I’ve only left when I needed to get you guys some things and to go home and shower, I stayed in case you needed anything. Want me to come to your room?”
“Please,” I say and end the call.
Enzo stares at me with an inquisitive expression on his face. The volume on my phone is lowered so I know he only heard my side of the conversation, and he’ll be wondering who the hell I called.
Before he can ask, there’s a knock at the door and Marco strolls inside. He’s dressed in his usual suit and looks perfectly put together. A stark contrast between him and me in my hospital gown and Enzo in three-day-old clothes.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Enzo asks.
Marco flicks his gaze to me, and I swear I see a small smile forming on his lips before he flattens it. “You summoned me?”
“Can you please sit with me while Enzo showers?” I ask sweetly and I see Enzo roll his eyes in my peripheral.
“Sure,” Marco says before approaching Enzo and waiting a second for him to move from the seat. When he doesn’t budge, Marco huffs before grabbing his arm and pulling him from his seat, plopping down in his place. “Off you go, little bro.”
Enzo pouts, realizing he isn’t gonna get his way before he grabs one of the bags from by the end of the bed and storms into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.
“Is there a reason you needed me to sit with you while he showered? And why the hell was he still wearing the same clothes from the day of the… incident.”
I turn my head to face him and see a small smirk playing on his lips.
“Because he refuses to leave my side for longer than one minute. The only time he has left me is when he’s gone to the bathroom, in which he leaves the goddamn door open.”
Marco barks out a laugh, and the sound is so unexpected and foreign it makes me jolt backwards a little and my ribs twinge in pain at the movement, though he’s too busy looking towards the bathroom door to realize.
“He’s driving you crazy, huh?”
“Insane,” I mutter.
“He loves you, Robyn. Just let him suffocate you for a few days, I’ve never seen him the way he was when you were missing. It was like his whole world was ending and everything was crashing down around him, so just let him get it out of his system and he’ll get over it eventually. I know it was traumatic for you, but it was traumatic for him too, and this is his way of getting through it.”
“You’re wise when you actually speak,” I say and narrow my eyes at him. “So what about you? You got a girl out there?”
Marco’s jaw ticks and his eyes flick around the room as if he’s avoiding looking at me before he takes a deep breath. “Well… it’s complic—”
He’s cut off as there’s a knock at the door and we both turn our attention to the newcomer.
A nurse who looks a little older than me walks in, her head tilted down, and her blonde hair frames her face as she reads the paperwork in her hand.
“Hey, I’m your nurse on call today, it’s nice to meet you Mrs. Ro…” She trails off as she reads my name on the paper before her head snaps up to look at us. Or more accurately, her eyes flit over me before she settles her gaze on Marco.
Her face drains of color as she stares at him, her gaze flicking between the clipboard in her hand, me and Marco.
“I… um, I…” She’s saved from attempting to say whatever it was she was going to say when the bathroom door opens, and Enzo strolls out freshly showered. When he sees whatever the hell is going on he stops abruptly and looks over at each of us, his gaze resting a little longer on Marco which makes me turn to look at him too, only to find his complexion as white as the nurse’s.
Something is happening, though I have no freaking idea what.
Is this the concussion? Am I losing it?
“Sorry, I’ll be back in a moment,” the nurse squeaks before bolting from the room, leaving the three of us in confused silence. Or maybe that’s just me, judging by Enzo’s reaction.
“Dude!” he bursts and waves his arms towards Marco who still sits frozen staring towards the door, seeming shell shocked.
“Marco,” Enzo barks, which pulls him out of his stupor as his head swivels towards Enzo but remains silent.
My husband lets out an exasperated breath. “Fucking go!” he exclaims, and Marco shoots up from the chair and runs out of the door.
Me and Enzo both stare at the empty doorway for a moment before I turn to him.
“What the hell just happened?”
“That was my brother getting a second chance,” he says with a smirk.
