This is an extended scene that was not included in the original book.
Please note: THIS SCENE CONTAINS SPOILERS. Please DO NOT READ if you haven’t read Sacrifice.
Julia
Our shoes squeak as we fly down the hallway, the fluorescent lighting casting an ominous feel over the white walls. A woman with black-rimmed glasses comes out of an office and we nearly knock her over in our rush to get by.
“Sorry,” Macie mutters, not bothering to slow down. She squeezes my hand tighter and pulls me around a corner and down another corridor. “It’s right down here. Hang on, Jules.”
I try to nod, but when I do, my lip quivers again instead. My eyes burn with tears, my cheeks hot from the same. I’m ready to explode from anxiety, two seconds from having a meltdown in the middle of the hospital hallway and screaming until someone gives me answers. Until someone tells me where he is and that’s he’s okay.
He must be okay.
The hallways seem endless, a maze just to torture me further. It’s been far too long since we’ve heard anything at all and that terrifies me. I’ve always heard that they won’t give you bad news over the phone and that rumor is now flashing through the front of my mind like a neon sign warning me of what’s to come.
I’m going to be sick.
My hand clamps over my mouth and I gag, choking down the bile that’s working its way up.
Macie glances at me over her shoulder but doesn’t slow her pace. She just squeezes my hand again.
I’m strangely numb. My brain isn’t clear, jumping from memories of Crew laying lifelessly on the mat, to his face when he told me he loved me for the first time, to the sight of him and Ever snuggled up in bed just last night. It’s a slideshow featuring the man I love, the man that has given what might very well be everything for me and Ever …
A sob escapes my lips, bringing another round of heavy tears with it. I can’t think of that. I can’t go there. I try to hold on to the good, to his cocky grin and his dreamcatcher tattoo. But the memories of what seems like second go, but I know must be an hour or so by now, are seared into my mind.
“There’s Will!” Macie says, pointing down the hallway.
He’s crouched against the wall, his head buried in his hands. He’s the picture of helplessness and the imagery breaks me further.
At the sound of Macie’s voice, his head snaps up. His face, typically so joking and happy, is tear-stained. His eyes are wide, full of fear, like a little boy. His hands shake as he pulls me in immediately, wrapping his arms around me with such force I almost can’t breathe. I collapse against him, burying my head in his shoulder.
I start to speak, to ask where Crew is, but when my mouth opens, all that comes out is a sob. Will pulls me even tighter, his hot tears dotting the skin on my neck.
“I’m so sorry, Jules.”
“It’s not your fault,” I choke out. I will myself to get it together, to find Crew. I pull back, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. “Where is he?”
“He’s in surgery right now. They said it’ll be awhile.”
“Is he okay? Did you see him? Did you talk to him? Did you—”
Will shakes his head. “He wasn’t conscious. I got a quick look at him as they pushed him by on the stretcher, but he …” He squeezes his eyes shut, tears slipping from beneath his dark lashes. “Damn it.”
He shakes his head and leans back against the wall for support.
“Is he going to be okay?” I ask, my voice riddled with the pain that’s so real, so raw that I almost don’t even recognize it.
He shrugs and half laughs. “He has to be, Jules. What do we do without him?”
The devastation on his face mirrors mine, the two of us on the cusp of losing yet another man that we both love. That we are both sure we can’t live without. When he opens his eyes, I know he’s thinking that, too. He’s remembering a very similar situation in a hospital like this, only Crew was with us and it was Gage we were waiting to see.
“I can’t lose him, too, Will.”
Our gazes lock, our biggest fear – that we could lose him – is now out in the open. The words dangle in the air like a serpent, ready to strike.
Macie’s phone rings and we both jump, having forgotten she was even there. She rummages through her bag and shuts it off. She looks back to us with saddened eyes.
“Why don’t we wait in the waiting room? That’s where the doctor will go to find you once he’s out,” Macie suggests.
Will slings an arm around me and tucks me to his side. “He’s going to get through this.”
“He has to,” I whisper.
Will looks at me with a quiet resolution that I need more than I can ever express.
“He will. Want to know how I know?” he asks.
I shrug as we follow Macie back down the hallway and into a waiting room for patients in surgery. Will grins, a haunted version of the one that usually makes me laugh.
“He’ll pull through this because he finally has you again. You are all he’s ever wanted, Jules, and there’s no way in Hell he’ll let that go again.”
“You think?”
“I know. Fact as fuck.”
Binge read the Gibson Boys series starting with Crank!
