All at Once (Complete)

xxv. I Wasn't The One

I had spent the last 24 hours of my life trying not to blink. If I blinked, I might miss it. I might miss watching his chest rise as life-giving oxygen poured into his lungs.

The doctors had retrieved the bullet from Riley's leg and said he was going to okay. That he just needed some rest. I had cried.

He was going to be able to walk again, smile again... Kiss me again. Relief wasn't enough of a word to describe what I was feeling.

After we got in the car, I had driven a lot faster than what was considered legal to reach the tiny, rural hospital in Remington. They weren't able to treat him because of their lack of resources so they flew us out to Sydney, where he went into surgery and I went into a state of permanent worry.

Hudson went to the house after I called and told him what had happened. He and two other officers made the arrest on Chase, his henchmen and Spence. My heart clenched a little at the mention of Spence's arrest, but I had to remind myself that he had tried to have me killed. That thought hurt worse. They were all being put on trial for attempted murder.

After Riley's surgery, they had transported him to the recovery ward where he lay, still unconscious, now.

My fingers were laced in his, but I was afraid to move in any other way in case I disturbed his soft breaths.

I hadn't had a wink of sleep in days, and while I was petrified that the moment I closed my eyes, something horrible would happen, my brain had its own agenda, and began to shut down.

I fell asleep, sitting in an uncomfortable armchair, my fingers still linked with Riley's.

-

Silence pined at my ears in a way that was almost painful. With not even the chirp of a bird to remind me that life existed, I realised that it wasn't a noise that had woke me. It was a movement. The twitching and tightening of Riley's fingers around mine. He's waking up!

Sleepiness leaves me instantly and my eyes dart to his, begging them to open wide. His eyelashes flutter and I realise just how long they are. So not fair, I swear guys always have the longest lashes and they don't even need them. Did I get so lucky? Nooo, I need 3 bottles of mascara just to make them visible.

A tightening around my fingers pulls me back from my mini-rage about mother natures sense of humour and I look directly into a sea of bright green.

It isn't until I let out a shudder of relief that I realise I had been holding my breath. For what would have to be the first time in my life the power of speech escaped me completely. I could barely breathe with the overwhelming sense of relief I was feeling, let alone speak.

He's alive. He's alive. He's alive.

Luckily, Riley wasn't going to make me say a word.

"Cat got your tongue, Greyson?" He spoke, as if nothing had even happened and we were still sitting on the kitchen bench of the cabin.

It was all I could do to stop from crying, so instead I jumped up into the hospital bed beside him and buried my head in his chest. I didn't want him to see my tears. I didn't want him to think I was unhappy.

His arms wrapped so tight around me I would have choked, had I not already been breathless.

"You nearly died. I thought you were dead." The rumble of his chest as he chuckled was all I needed to feel like all was right in the world again. Wow, how I would have missed his laugh.