Defending What Is Mine (Wilde Boys Book 4) by Abby Brooks & Will Wright

Author:Abby Brooks & Will Wright [Brooks, Abby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little Bird Publishing LLC
Published: 2019-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Jack: Present—Late January

“Knock, knock.” Mom enthusiastically pushes through the door. “Oh, Jacques! You can’t begin to imagine how relieved I am to see you awake. I’ve prayed every night for you to come back to us,” she proclaims as she rushes to my bedside. “Every day, too.”

“Morning, Mom. It’s good to see you, too,” I say flatly, my focus out the window. The words are born of my love for her, because it’s the right thing to say. The truth is, I’d rather she wasn’t here. “But you shouldn’t have come. I don’t want to be seen like this. By anyone.”

Careful of my bandages, she slips her hand over mine. “There, there,” she says as she rubs my arm. “What do you mean, like this? You’re a hero.” When I don’t respond, she continues, unabated. “Everyone around here talks about it. Each time a new nurse or doctor came in to check on you, they always stopped to tell me your story. Always.” Mom grins a little. “Or, their version of it anyway.”

I turn my head to look at her. She looks tired and worn, each of the eight days I spent in a coma showing as a new line on her face, but when my gaze meets hers, her eyes are bright with happiness. “How did you even get here?” I ask, unable to conjure up the smile I know she wants.

“Honestly, I don’t know myself.” She chuckles. “Some very nice men from the Army arranged pretty much everything. I don’t know if that’s something they do for everyone, but...” Emotion tightens her features and she clears her throat. “Well, given your injuries, and then the coma, they were very diligent about making things as simple for me as possible. Considering.”

“I’m sorry. Sorry for everything that happened. Sorry for you being dragged away from home.” I groan as I adjust myself in the bed, then return my attention to the window. It’s easier to look at the sky then at the hope on my mother’s face. She must be fooling herself, so grateful to hear that her son is alive that she missed the fact that he has no life to return to. “You should go back now,” I murmur. “There’s nothing you can do at this point. There’s nothing anyone can do.”

Mom sighs heavily. “Son. Don’t do that. Don’t let yourself fall down that dark hole. You’re young. This isn’t the end. At most, it’s simply the beginning of your next chapter. Your entire life lies ahead of you.”

“What life?”

She half-sits, half-falls back into the chair by the bed. “Whatever do you mean? Your life. Everything you’ve worked so hard to create for yourself. You haven’t made it this far because of your father, or your brothers, or me. You made it happen, son. You.”

I laugh bitterly. “Yeah? I made it happen. I did this to myself. Go me!”

“What? No. You can’t look at it like that.” Mom scoffs, her eyes widening in disbelief. It’s clear she

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