“I’m going to marry your sister.”

The idea that I was going to be with Jet forever still gave me the shivers.

“That means I’m going to protect her. That means I’m going to keep her safe and make sure nothing ever hurts her again. I’m going to give her everything she ever wanted and anything she ever needs. When you wake up”—he paused and I could almost feel how hard he was trying to impress upon Asa what he was saying even though he was unconscious—“if you try to be anything to her but an awesome brother, a supportive, loving part of our family, I swear on everything you believe in, that what those bikers did to you will look like a picnic when I’m done with you. I love her and I will not let anyone use her, or manipulate her again. I hope nearly dying gives you the wake-up call you so clearly needed, because you have an amazing sister who loves you and is willing to put up with a lot of shit. We can have this chat again when you can respond, but I thought it was best to just get it out of the way now.”

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh or cry at that, so instead I just cleared my throat so he knew I was coming, and made my way the rest of the way into the room. I handed him the coffee and the snacks and put my hand on his lower back and kissed him on the cheek.

“The nurses outside think you have a nice butt, even if it is encased in some girly-ass purple pants.”

He lifted and eyebrow.

“I like my pants.”

“Me, too. I like what’s in them even more.”

He groaned and opened one of the sandwiches I handed him.

“Don’t go there, Ayd. It’s been a while.”

I looked at him over my shoulder and stroked one of Asa’s finger with mine. It was about the only visible skin on his body that didn’t have a tube coming out of it or gauze wrapped around it.

“There was no pretty French girl or sexy Spanish chick to keep you company?” I didn’t really want the answer to that question, but I figured I should ask. It wouldn’t change things, but I felt like I needed to know.

“No. What about you? Sweater Vest was blowing up your phone when I left.”

I shook my head in the negative.

“Adam is a really nice guy, but he isn’t you. That was the problem with him all along.”

I felt him run his hand up the back of my bare thigh and I had to suppress the shivers that trailed in their wake.

“When do you have to leave?”

“I have four days and then I need to hook back up with the guys in Amsterdam. If you need me to stay, I will.”

I looked back at him and gave him a sad, lopsided smile. “No. I don’t know what his condition is going to look like over the next few days. If I need to, I’ll call the girls.”

“You should let them come anyway. They’re both worried sick over you.”

I sighed and went over to prop myself up in the arm of the chair. He put a hand on my knee and I covered it with my own.

“It was just me and Asa growing up. Mama was always off doing her own thing. Granted, he wasn’t always the best caretaker. Frankly, he was a piece of crap most of the time and he used me in ways I don’t really want to think about right now, but we’re family no matter how dysfunctional it is. I kind of feel like it should be that way now. If he takes a turn for the worse, it needs to be me and him, ya know?”

“I’m sorry you have to deal with this, Ayd, and I’m sorry for whatever you felt you had to do in the past.”

“Me, too.”

We fell into a kind of pattern the next two days. I didn’t want Jet to have to be at the hospital the entire time, so I sent him back to the hotel to sleep when visiting hours were over, and I stayed with Asa. I would go back in the morning for a shower and we would grab breakfast and then spend the bulk of the day keeping vigil over my brother. There was no change in his condition, which everyone tried to convince me was a good thing, but I wasn’t sure I bought it. He was still unconscious, still needed a ventilator to breathe, and there was no miraculous recovery showing on any of the scans of his brain.

Jet was a champ. He took it all in stride and never once complained or griped that he had come all this way to sleep alone in a sketchy hotel and drink awful hospital coffee by the gallons. If I hadn’t already loved him, this would have sealed the deal. He was just rock solid, and the only entertainment we had during the day was watching the nurses, all of them from the sixty-year-old ladies to the younger techs, try to get his attention. He was quickly becoming the star of the intensive care unit. At one point, he decided to sing me every old Southern folk song he could think of—“Little Birdie,” “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow,” “Amazing Grace”—it was like a private little concert, and by the time he was done, every single female who worked in the intensive care unit was as in love with him as I was.

It was the day before he had to leave and we were both tired and starting to think things with Asa were at a standstill. I could tell Jet felt bad that he had to go, that he was worried about me, and the idea of leaving me alone made him nervous. I had to promise to call if Asa turned a corner either way, and he insisted that if I was going to be there for another week, I should bring in reinforcements. It was bittersweet. He was so wonderful for putting his life on hold for me, and made it so clear that he was in this for the long haul, that I wished he was going back on tour knowing I would be fine. I wished that Asa would wake up and things would just go back to normal. Since none of that looked like it was going to happen, I just tried to reassure him that everything would be fine either way, and that I would still be here when the tour was over.

I was talking to Asa in a low voice, telling him all about the crew back in D-town, about Rule and Shaw and their crazy love story. I told him all about Cora and how wild she was, how fun and unpredictable she was. I told him about Nash and Rowdy, and explained that my guy had the best friends that anyone could ask for, but mostly I told him all about Jet. I told him about how talented he was, how kind he was, how I had loved him from the first minute I saw him onstage. I told him all about the rocky road I had traveled to finally reach him, and how I never really thought someone like Jet was going to be my end game. I talked and talked and somewhere in the middle of my telling him how happy I really was and how great my life was, even if he had stumbled in and messed it all, up his fingers started to twitch.

At first I thought I was just imagining things. I thought it was just wishful thinking, but then they did it again and I looked up, and eyes that matched my own were looking back at me.

I freaked out and had every nurse on the floor rushing in to poke and prod at him. I was systematically shoved out of the way while people moved around him and took his vitals and nudged at all his tubes and wires. They were droopy and unfocused, but those whiskey-colored eyes stayed locked on mine and I knew, just knew, that he was going to be okay. When Jet showed up, I was an incoherent mess. All I could really explain was that Asa had opened his eyes and that his fingers had moved, and that all the medical staff seemed optimistic, which was a good sign. It was such a good sign, in fact, that the staff insisted I finally go to the hotel for the night since this was a huge hurdle cleared. I initially didn’t want to go, in case he woke up again and was aware, but it was Jet’s last night and he was going to be gone for a solid two months. Sexy text messages and phone sex only went so far.

Jet got me into the rental car and when he left the hospital parking lot, I didn’t even notice when he went the opposite direction of the hotel. I was lost in thought, and so elated that Asa had at least opened his eyes, that I paid zero attention until he pulled up in front of the Brown Hotel. He was taking us to the nicest, most elegant and expensive hotel in town. My shorts and boots, and his combat boots and Lacuna Coil T-shirt were not appropriate wear for this old and expensive place, but he didn’t seem to care.

“What are we doing here?”

“It’s my last night in town. It’s the only night I get to spend with you for the next two months, so I’m doing it in style.”

I didn’t argue and he clearly already had a reservation. We checked in with the guy behind the counter sneering at us the entire time. That seemed to amuse Jet to no end, so I just kept my mouth shut and let him haul our stuff up to the fancy room. I had to admit the idea of sleeping in a real bed with sheets that I knew for a fact were clean turned me on almost as much as the idea of getting him naked on top of them.

“Oh, Jet, this is just . . .”

Where I hadn’t wanted to get down on one knee on dirty carpet, he didn’t have the same problem here. I gasped a little when I turned around and found him on his knees in front of me. I put a hand to my mouth when he handed me a ring that was as unique as he was. It was platinum and in the center was a sparkling topaz, surrounded by a bunch of tiny canary yellow diamonds. I had never seen anything like it and had no idea where he had found something like that here.

“I told you I wanted to put a big-ass rock on your finger before I left.”

I took the ring with shaking fingers. “It’s so pretty. Where on earth did you find it?”

“Rowdy. I told him to find me something that matched your eyes and send me a bunch of pictures, then overnight the sucker. My boy has good taste and you have beautiful eyes.”

“He does. I love it. I love you.”

“I just wanted you to know that you weren’t alone when I left. This makes it feel more real to me.”

I put the ring on and just looked at him. He was perfect, tattoos, piercings, messy hair, and too-tight jeans, all those things that made him Jet were wonderful and unique. With him I could always just be me whatever form that happened to be, and that was a gift no one but him had ever been able to give me. It would keep me tied to him forever. I had his ring, I had his love, and I had him, and there was only one way I could think of to thank him and show him my appreciation and the fact that I would be a happy girl to just be with him forever. He didn’t know what to do when I tackled him to the ground and started kissing him all over on the plush carpet of the fancy hotel room. Well, he didn’t know what to do for a second, but this was Jet after all, and he caught on real quickly; we were bound to set the place on fire in no time.

Chapter 18

I was going to marry Ayden. However, first I was going to try to not lose control while she systematically stripped me of my T-shirt and pants. Granted, we both probably had a lot of pent-up sexual frustration to work out, but I think there was something about putting that ring on her finger that made her slightly more zealous in her pursuit of getting me all kinds of naked and under her.

Not that I was complaining. I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome to my journey back to her. All I wanted was for her to know she wasn’t alone, that I cared about her, and wanted to work on us being together. Now I had her forever and there was no more doubt, no more nagging fear that she was going to run from me the first chance she got. We were just two people who were meant to be together and that was all there was to it.

I wanted to spend the night with her in a fancy place, show her that even though it was rushed and we were probably too new and too young to really talk about forever, that I meant it, that this was serious and meant everything to me. I also wanted her to have something nice to hold on to if things with her brother nosedived. Only she had turned the tables on me, like she was fond of doing, and now I was on the floor with her on top of me. It was a pretty great place to be, but it defeated the purpose of what I was trying to do for her. I was getting ready to tell her that, to roll her over and pick her up and carry her to that massive king-sized bed that took up the majority of the room, but before I could form a coherent thought, she did what I had been dying for her to do all along, put that sassy mouth around my dick, piercing and all. I guess she wasn’t scared or hesitant about it anymore.