The Longest Ride

°•°Chapter 25°•°

"The best thing to hold onto in life is each other."

-Audrey Hepburn.

Reese's POV.

I stare at the blood on my hands, Irene's blood. Alex shot her just when we thought we managed to get out of the mess but no why the fuck would things ever come that easy. Tears are quick to roll out of my eyes as the scene replays in my head, what if I lose her?

Despite every precaution, I thought we took, I couldn't protect her enough. If things were any different, Alex would've been dead by now but instead, he'll just be surviving in prison. While my girl goes through the pain of being shot and losing her life apart from which, need I mention the possibility of him getting out of prison much sooner because well the fucking bastard is rich. I shouldn't have let myself get away from her to talk to Rob, it's probably my fault in the first place.

"Reese, she's going to be okay," I feel Ty's hand rest on my shoulder but I shake my head, "I promised to protect her..."

More tears just blur my vision as the wait for the surgeon to come out of the operation theater just prolongs and it's already been an hour, "You did everything you could and I'm sure Irene would be disappointed if she knew you were beating yourself up for this,"

Finally getting myself together with what Ty said, I wipe off my tears and sit up straight trying to calm myself down. Is that even possible? I'm just putting up a strong exterior so that Ty and Ray who's been silent don't start worrying more than they already are.

I don't think I felt this torn apart ever since Addy and now Irene, I can't even being to explain the feeling. I love her, way too much that I can't contain my feelings anymore. How long does it take for everything to fall apart? A fucking second.

The surgeon walks into the waiting area and I quickly spring to my feet I anticipation, "Mr. Jarrett?"

"That's me," I walk up to the person dressed up in blue scrubs with my heart beating out of my chest.

Please survive this Irene.

"Ms. Vandermeer survived the surgery but she'll need to be observed for the next twenty-four hours at least to ensure there's no complication,"

I let out a breath that I didn't realize I've been holding, "Can I meet her?"

"You can in an hour, but she's going to be under sedation overnight so only one person would be allowed to stick around."

I thank him and sit back into the sofa breathing out in relief, she's alright. "You should go home and clean up, I'll stick around till you're back," Ray suggests and I give it a thought. I need to go home and clean myself up for sure but I can't leave Irene alone either.

"I'll be back just in half an hour, can you promise to call if anything happens?"

I ask Ray as Ty stands up holding the keys to his car to drive me home, "You know you can count on me Reese, just go and fresh up," finally giving in, I nod before Ray pulls me into a hug.

"Didn't know I needed this but thank you," I say before Ty joined in too making me chuckle, "It's an incomplete bro hug without me, just admit it,"

A small smile makes it's way onto my face as I pull away from both of them, they're family and both of them stuck around always no matter how much of an ass I was to them when things got fucked up, "Let's go, Reese,"

Ty nudges me before we both head out but not, without doubt, lingering in my mind. Leaving Irene even for a bit is making me mad at myself but I can't enter her room until I'm clean enough. But I think what matters is that she's okay for now and no matter what, I'm not going to let anything happen to her again.