NovelEnglishMy Husband 387
GUILT JOSH
The hallway outside her room felt too long. Too bright. Too goddamn sterile. My footsteps barely made a sound
against the polished floors, but inside my head, everything was roaring. Laura was alive.
The words kept looping over and over, but my body hadn't caught up yet. It felt like if | let myself believe it too
much, the universe would take it away again.
A doctor had tried to stopat the nurses' station, spitting out words like stable condition and still on a
ventilator, but none of it registered. I'd shoved past them, past the concerned voices, past the fucking security
guard who grabbed at my arm. Nothing was going to stop
me.
And then | saw her.
The doors burst open, loud voices calling after me, but none of it mattered.
My heart stopped.
Laura.
Her pale, thin frwas bundled into a wheelchair, her body swallowed up by hospital-issued clothes that hung
from her like she was nothing but skin and bone. Her hair was limp, her cheeks hollowed, and her skin too pale
under the harsh 0.00%
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fluorescent lights.
But she was looking at me.
Those eyes-those beautiful fucking eyes-were staring right at me, and | swore | felt something crack wide open in
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtmy chest.
Laura was alive.
It didn't matter that thad taken from her, that she wasn't the same. She was still the most beautiful thing |
had ever seen.
The security guard grabbed atagain, but | shoved him off, barely sparing him a glance. My feet moved
before my brain could catch up, carryingto her, and then | was there.
| sank down next to her, my knees hitting the floor hard, but | barely felt it. My hands found hers, wrapping
around them like if | let go, she'd disappear.
Her fingers were so thin. So cold.
| kissed them, kissed her wrists, her knuckles, anything I could reach, my breath shaking against her skin.
| was afraid to touch her too much, afraid she'd break, but | needed to. | needed to feel her. To prove to myself
that this wasn't scruel trick.
"Laura," | choked out.
Her lips quirked, just barely, and then her hand trembled as she reached for something at her side. The nurse
beside her passed her a small whiteboard and a marker, and with a shaky grip, she scrawled two words. 25.40%
[11]
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Hi, babe.
A broken sound left me. Something between a laugh and a sob.
| ran a hand over my face, trying to pull myself together, but it was useless. | was smiling even as my vision
blurred, even as my chest ached with everything I couldn't say. This was happiness."Hi. Babe."
At least, as much as | could have when guilt was busy filling up my ribs, crawling up my throat.
It cout ofall at once, spilling from my mouth like | had no control over it.
"I'm so fucking sorry," | whispered, my voice raw, broken. "I-I fucked up, Laura. | gave up on you. | almost signed-
| almost signed, and if | had—"
My breath hitched, my hands tightening around hers.
| shook my head, squeezing my eyes shut.
"I should've known better," | kept going, unable to stop the words. "I should've held out. | should've believed-I
should've-"
| dropped my head onto her lap, my shoulders shaking.
Her body was so fragile beneath me, but her fingers-her beautiful, delicate fingers-moved through my hair, soft
and slow, like she wasn't angry. Like she wasn't hurt.
| should've been begging for forgiveness, for a chance to make
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GUILT
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things right, but instead, | just stayed
there, gripping the arm-f hero (1
pechadie Ade J again if |
let'go. The content is on
novelenglish.net! Read the latest
chapter there!
And then, gently, she pulled the board closer.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm
| lifted my head just enough to watch
as she wrote sometigg elee(hér
[
Movements SMifFweak but deliberate.
| swallowed hard, my throat tight, my heart pounding against my
ribs.
And then | saw it.
""Missed you."
| stared at the words, barely breathing.
| looked up at her, at the soft, tired smile she was giving me, and something incaved.
Relief, so overwhelming it nearly
knockedflat, TRE UEPhE!
I
like 2,gdddarmh ti al wave. The
content is on novelenglish.net! Read
the latest chapter there!
I didn't deserve it.
Not even a little.
But she was giving it toanyway.
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JESS AND LUKE
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