Read Online Provocative (Tempting Book 3) by Alex Lucian - Free Book Online
Authors: Alex Lucian
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life. This hope, this excitement about what’s coming next.”
My phone buzzed again with a text and I let out a rough exhale. Fucking Elias. I ignored it and plucked a blade of grass from the ground next to my legs.
“The thing I can’t reconcile is that my happiness right now is only because you died. If you were here, I don’t know whether we’d have kids yet. We probably would. But I never would have known Adele outside of being a student in one of my classes. And this baby, my baby, wouldn’t exist. And I don’t know how to not be one hundred percent happy with that. Even though it only exists because you’re gone.”
The buzzing started from my phone again and I yanked my phone out to silence it when I saw two texts from Adele, after the first one from Elias. I was about to swipe my thumb across the screen to read them when a call starting coming in from Adele.
“Hey, what’s—”
“Nathan?” Her voice was quiet and quaky. My heart thudded to a stop, my blood freezing in my veins and halting its movement through my body. “I’m bleeding. A lot.”
“Oh God, no,” I exhaled as I stood from the ground. My feet pounded on the grass as I ran to the car and I vaguely registered a sniff from Adele. My brain was fuzz and my heart was thin glass while I yanked my car door open. “Okay, honey, where are you?”
“I’m at home. Are you still at the office?”
Mother fucking shit. “No. I’m about forty-five minutes away. Maybe less. Shit !”
“What do I do?” God, she sounded so fucking scared. The glass splintered and I struggled to breathe. My arms started shaking while I pulled out of the cemetery. Adrenaline or fear, I couldn’t tell.
Breathe, Nathan, breathe . “Do you think you can drive?”
“Umm, yeah. I’m not really cramping or anything, just … just bleeding.” She let out a noise that sounded like she was swallowing a sob and I wanted to die. I wanted to run myself through for not being fifteen minutes away like I would have been if I’d been at the office.
“Fuck. Okay, is Leo on campus today? Could he come get you?”
“No, umm, he’s got an away game this weekend.”
I slammed to a stop at a red light and pounded a fist on my steering wheel. “Okay, baby, I will get to Mass General as soon as I can, I promise. But I don’t think you should wait for me. Go to the emergency room, and they’ll be able to help you. You and the baby will be fine .”
Adele sniffed again and I blinked at the boulder behind my eyes. “Okay.”
“Drive safe, and if you feel light-headed or anything, pull over and call 9-1-1. Okay?”
“Okay. I love you.” Her voice cracked at the end and I shut my eyes for a second since I was still stopped.
“I love you too. I will be there as soon as I can.”
I tucked the phone into the console right as the light turned green. My tires squealed when I took off and I did something for the rest of my thirty-six-minute drive that I’d never done before. Not when Diana died and not in the aftermath.
I prayed.
Chapter Eleven
S now had begun to fall . It was just a couple flakes, their descent so rapid that they obliterated the second they touched the windshield. I turned up the heat as I turned down the radio that had started playing the moment the engine came to life.
It was light, especially by New England standards, but as I drove through it to an unfamiliar place, across town from Nathan’s house, I focused on each flake that touched my windshield. Because anything was better than thinking about the puddle of blood I felt between my legs.
Just as I turned into the emergency parking area, my head felt fuzzy. The breath shuddered out of my lips and my eyelids closed nearly all the way.
“Nathan,” I whispered, putting the car in park and just resting my forehead on the steering wheel.
I was so tired—and it hit me in that moment.
My fingers curled around the warm leather of the steering wheel and I squeezed, trying to will myself to
My phone buzzed again with a text and I let out a rough exhale. Fucking Elias. I ignored it and plucked a blade of grass from the ground next to my legs.
“The thing I can’t reconcile is that my happiness right now is only because you died. If you were here, I don’t know whether we’d have kids yet. We probably would. But I never would have known Adele outside of being a student in one of my classes. And this baby, my baby, wouldn’t exist. And I don’t know how to not be one hundred percent happy with that. Even though it only exists because you’re gone.”
The buzzing started from my phone again and I yanked my phone out to silence it when I saw two texts from Adele, after the first one from Elias. I was about to swipe my thumb across the screen to read them when a call starting coming in from Adele.
“Hey, what’s—”
“Nathan?” Her voice was quiet and quaky. My heart thudded to a stop, my blood freezing in my veins and halting its movement through my body. “I’m bleeding. A lot.”
“Oh God, no,” I exhaled as I stood from the ground. My feet pounded on the grass as I ran to the car and I vaguely registered a sniff from Adele. My brain was fuzz and my heart was thin glass while I yanked my car door open. “Okay, honey, where are you?”
“I’m at home. Are you still at the office?”
Mother fucking shit. “No. I’m about forty-five minutes away. Maybe less. Shit !”
“What do I do?” God, she sounded so fucking scared. The glass splintered and I struggled to breathe. My arms started shaking while I pulled out of the cemetery. Adrenaline or fear, I couldn’t tell.
Breathe, Nathan, breathe . “Do you think you can drive?”
“Umm, yeah. I’m not really cramping or anything, just … just bleeding.” She let out a noise that sounded like she was swallowing a sob and I wanted to die. I wanted to run myself through for not being fifteen minutes away like I would have been if I’d been at the office.
“Fuck. Okay, is Leo on campus today? Could he come get you?”
“No, umm, he’s got an away game this weekend.”
I slammed to a stop at a red light and pounded a fist on my steering wheel. “Okay, baby, I will get to Mass General as soon as I can, I promise. But I don’t think you should wait for me. Go to the emergency room, and they’ll be able to help you. You and the baby will be fine .”
Adele sniffed again and I blinked at the boulder behind my eyes. “Okay.”
“Drive safe, and if you feel light-headed or anything, pull over and call 9-1-1. Okay?”
“Okay. I love you.” Her voice cracked at the end and I shut my eyes for a second since I was still stopped.
“I love you too. I will be there as soon as I can.”
I tucked the phone into the console right as the light turned green. My tires squealed when I took off and I did something for the rest of my thirty-six-minute drive that I’d never done before. Not when Diana died and not in the aftermath.
I prayed.
Chapter Eleven
S now had begun to fall . It was just a couple flakes, their descent so rapid that they obliterated the second they touched the windshield. I turned up the heat as I turned down the radio that had started playing the moment the engine came to life.
It was light, especially by New England standards, but as I drove through it to an unfamiliar place, across town from Nathan’s house, I focused on each flake that touched my windshield. Because anything was better than thinking about the puddle of blood I felt between my legs.
Just as I turned into the emergency parking area, my head felt fuzzy. The breath shuddered out of my lips and my eyelids closed nearly all the way.
“Nathan,” I whispered, putting the car in park and just resting my forehead on the steering wheel.
I was so tired—and it hit me in that moment.
My fingers curled around the warm leather of the steering wheel and I squeezed, trying to will myself to
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