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Hands in his pockets, he stared at her a beat before speaking His voice was a shaky whisper "He’s so in love with you, E to punch his way out of whatever he’s in right now just to be with you" Lips treathered her in his ar He’s too stubborn not to"

"I hope he is," she choked out, clinging to him "I can’t lose him"

Lillian joined their eh Emily’s ears Chad stood silently behind his wife, his eyes srief Lillian held Emily’s face "You need ti rooentleness of her touch as they walked out With a shaky breath, she took a tentative step forward, her heart sinking i chest rose and fell in rhyths Another step closer and her eyes dripped with tears as she observed his head wrapped in white gauze, a dapple of blood soaking through theBreathing heavily, she reached the bed and touched his hand There armth but no movement

Not a twitch

Not a flutter

Nothing

God All Emily wanted to do was kiss him, but she couldn’t The tube in hisso She wanted to pull him from his pain, but she wasn’t sure where to touch him His body was covered in wires connected to thethe bed Unable to resist, she leaned over and placed a soft kiss on his black and blue bruised cheek Letting her lips linger, a tear fell from her eye to his face It slid down the side of his nose, alh it was his tear

And that’s when Emily really lost it

"Please, Gavin, you can’t do this to us" She brought a hand to his cheek, her body tre I’ the child our love created Remember? The love they make movies about? That’s us, Gavin Our past is i You can’t leave me You can’t I need you I need your bottle caps and twenty questions I need your wiseass coive ht Fight for us Fight for Noah There’re too urgled in a drainpipe outside theas she waited for a sign For a whisper of life For anything that said he heard her, felt her

Again… nothing

"God, please Please…" Her cries trailed off as she buried her face against his shoulder The strong shoulder Gavin had so many times before tossed her over She breathed in his musky scent that had made her dizzy for hiht of every spoken and unspoken word they’d shared, her body jerked as an alarm suddenly sounded Her eyes flew to one of thered Emily sed and stumbled back when a nurse ran into the room