Inked Devotion by Carrie Ann Ryan
Chapter 20
Benjamin
It took over an hour of poking and prodding before they finally left us alone long enough that I could crawl out of bed.
Brenna narrowed her eyes but moved over so I could sit next to her. I no longer had an IV and didn’t need any pain meds. I had a slight concussion, was still attached to all the monitors, but only needed a few stitches on my forehead. Brenna needed stitches on her shoulder, as well as right on her cheekbone, and it might scar depending on how it healed, but we would both be fine.
The baby was fine.
I could barely breathe with the relief shooting through me.
“Hey,” I whispered as I crawled into her bed and held her close. “Everything’s okay.”
“The staff is going to get angry at us again,” she said.
“Maybe, I don’t give a fuck right now. With as much money as the Montgomery’s pour into this hospital with how many times we’re here? We can hold each other for a minute.”
“I’m so sorry,” she blurted.
I frowned. “Why are you sorry?”
“If I hadn’t gotten scared and pushed you away, we wouldn’t have been in the car, and this wouldn’t have happened.”
I leaned down and kissed her brow, the sounds of her screams still echoing in my head. “Stop it. There was an oil slick on the road, and the other guy was going too fast, especially in the rain. He hit us; it wasn’t your fault.”
“Is he okay?”
That was my Brenna, worried about the other guy while she had stitches on her face. “He has a broken leg, but he’s fine. At least that’s what Beckett growled at me.”
“If I hadn’t wanted to leave, we wouldn’t have been in the car. We could have lost the baby.”
“We didn’t. And I wanted to leave, too. I was only there because I wanted to be with you. I always want to be with you, Brenna. Maybe we didn’t go about this the right way, but it’s our way.” I pause. “I love you, Brenna. You’re mine. You and the baby. I love you both. And I know that this isn’t going to be easy. Nothing is, but we can find a path that works for us. I don’t want to lose you, Brenna.”
She reached up, her fingers touching the edge of the bandage. “I almost lost you tonight. I don’t want to lose you either.”
“I know it might be too soon for you to say anything, for you to get through all of your emotions because I know you keep thinking too hard, but I need to be here. No matter what.”
My heart ached, and I wanted her to say the words back, but I knew that she might not be able to. It would be too quick for her, and I understood that.
It didn’t ease the wanting, though.
She put her fingers to my lips then and smiled. “I love you too, Benjamin Montgomery. This isn’t exactly how I pictured saying it, but maybe it’s how it needed to be. I think I started falling in love with you on that road trip when I got to spend time with just you without the others around us. You faced my family, faced my own tumbled thoughts. And you haven’t shied away. You haven’t run away. I was the one who tried to do the running, and I failed. I love you, Benjamin. And we’re making a family.”
“We already are a family. We’re just growing it. And I can’t wait to see what else we do.” I leaned down and kissed her and ignored the throat-clearing of a nurse that walked in. Yes, we were going to be in trouble. Yes, if we weren’t careful, we’d somehow get kicked out of the hospital, even if I wasn’t sure that actually could happen. It didn’t matter. I was holding the woman that I loved, the future mother of my child, and nothing else mattered.
