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Soft footsteps mixed with the beeping of machines, and I felt the slight dip of the mattress behind me. Nikki nestled herself against my back and wrapped her arm around me.

I stopped crying hours ago, like my body couldn’t keep up with the quantity of tears needed.

“Babe, we’ve got shit to talk about. I need you to snap out of it. You’ve been like this for two days,” Nikki whispered into my hair. My brows furrowed. Why had I thought I’d been alone?

In the next moment, Nikki’s heat disappeared, and I was suddenly staring at a pair of blue eyes.

“You don’t remember me being here because they kicked me out every time you woke up. I passed out the first time they cleaned your wound…so it got me banned from the room. And you’ve been catatonic the rest of the time.” Her fingers brushed away a stray hair on my face.

A sigh left her lips. “Listen, from one broken bitch to another. It’s time to heal. And while we’ve never gotten into it fully, you know I know what I’m talking about when it comes to this shit. You pulled me out of the dark, and now I’m returning the favor. And let me tell you, you were a bitch. So you’re lucky I’m much nicer,” she said, a playful smile on her lips.

I smirked at her words. She was right. I was a major bitch when I found Nikki. I knew she was a diamond in the rough, and I couldn’t let her soul fade away. But I was all jagged edges, so I didn’t know any other way to handle her than to drag her ass out. This was a taste of my own medicine.

Nikki stood up and yanked the blanket off my body before standing there with her hands on her hips and determination in her eyes.

“No more of this. I’ll pull that shitty card and tell you Gunner would not want this for you. And you are too much of a bad bitch for this.”

The mention of his name was a punch to the gut. “Gunner wouldn’t fucking care what happens to me,” I whispered.

She kneeled back down. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. That’s what I’m trying to say. There’s a lot of shit you need to be filled in on, but you have to be willing to listen. Believe me when I tell you, Gunner is one of the good ones. He’s been trying to get in, but the suits won’t let him. They had to restrain him when he knocked out a guy guarding your door,” she whispered. My heart clenched at her words, but I didn’t show her a reaction.

Her finger hooked under my chin, bringing my eyes to hers. “He’s a man, Ryan. Of course, he’s going to fuck up. It’s in their DNA. But him not telling you the truth wasn’t entirely his call,” she stated.

I yanked my face away. I knew there was logic to what she said. I had kept secrets from him too. Hell, Nikki had kept secrets from me. I’d always felt other people’s shit was their own. They didn’t owe me explanations. But listening would mean opening myself up again, and I was shattered. Who would even want that?

“This is a clean break from me, Nikki. He can walk away. No need to explain to the broken girl.”

Nikki forced my eyes to her once more. “Broken things can heal. And we need you, Ryan. Lotería needs you, and all the women you have saved? They need you. I need you. And that man…that man needs you. Believe me. I punched the fucker for you, broke my damn finger doing it.” She lifted a bandaged hand I’d somehow missed. “Listen to him, okay? He’s hopelessly in love with your crazy ass.”

I gave a curt nod, unsure that I could form words.

Her lips brushed the top of my head. “I’ll send him in,” she whispered before leaving the room. I heard the door open, and I didn’t have to look to know it was him—his presence like a warm blanket.

“Ryan…” he called out, his voice laced with emotion.

I wanted so badly to not look at him, to ignore him. But I couldn’t. When I turned, I faced the man who had haunted my every moment for forty-eight hours. I couldn’t help the way the corners of my mouth pulled up at the sight of his black eye.

“Nikki really did hit you,” I whispered.

A sheepish grin appeared on his face, and Gunner was at my side the next instant. His hands cupped my face, pressing our foreheads together. His scent enveloped me, drawing out more tears, and I felt his thumbs swipe them away.

“I tried so fucking hard to stay away from you, but you were made for me. The other half of my soul,” he whispered into my hair. “And I swear on my life, as soon as I knew that, I wanted to tell you, Ryan. I couldn’t figure out how without risking you.”

A sob caught in my throat.

“Sweetheart,” he said as I pulled my face from his hands, shoving my finger in his chest.

“No, I want answers, Gunner. Fuck, I don’t even know your name,” I yelled. It hurt. It hurt so fucking bad when I looked at his face. The man I loved had never been never mine.

“Greyson McGregor. But I really did earn Gunner. That name wasn’t a lie,” he answered.

A humorless laugh left my lips—his tattoo, another clue.

McGregor. The name of someone I once knew. From an old life.

I shut my eyes, trying to block out the pain—the loss. The love I still had for him. The bed dipped, and muscled arms surrounded me. If I were stronger, I would push him away—tell him to go fuck himself. But I wasn’t. So I curled into him. Burying my face in his chest, pretending I could stay there forever.

“Baby, you can stay here forever. I’m not going anywhere. You’re mine, you hear me? I told you that. Remember, I told you I was keeping you,” he whispered, his calloused hand smoothing my hair as I sobbed into his shirt.