Free Eight Days (Love Always #1.5) by D. Nichole King Page B

glow.
    I’m counting down the hours. Ticking them off in my head. Tammy said the longer she’s been under, the higher the risk of complications. She’d said more, but the word complications flashed red in my mind.
    Forty-eight hours is the hoped-for time frame according to Tammy, and we’d just passed hour twenty-one. Time couldn’t move any slower.
    “Anytime, Katie,” I murmur against her hand that’s been in mine since before the sun came up. I kiss it again, leaving my mouth on her.
    In my downtime, I’ve worked some on the song, but mostly I’ve contemplated what to say to her when she wakes up. Again, I consider how my feelings for Kate mystify me. She’s consumed my thoughts since day one. Both in good ways and bad. I’ll never be able to live up to her. Yet she wants to be with me, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why.
    Slowly, I graze my lips over the skin on the back of her hand. And that’s when it happens. Her fingers constrict around mine for a second. Then she lets go.
    I’m stunned for a moment before what happened sinks in. I bolt from my chair to stand over her. As I do, I tighten my grip on her hand.
    I bend down, close to her ear, and whisper, “Do it again, Katie. Squeeze my hand.”
    I hold my breath, waiting. Waiting for the tiniest of movements.
    A whole minute passes, and my lungs are on fire. I exhale and suck in air as if I’d completed a workout at the gym.
    “Come on, Kate. Wake up,” I say a little louder.
    I stare at her, watching her chest rise and fall. But she offers no voluntary motion.
    I glance at the clock and count down another hour. Twenty-two. The wait is fucking killing me.
    Sitting back down, I push a hand through my hair. I’m exhausted. Last night, I’d dozed off for a couple of hours, but it’s been two days since I had a full night’s sleep. I’m cool with it, though. I want to be awake when Kate opens her eyes.
    I want to tell her…
    My gaze slides over her again. Honest to God, she looks like she’s only sleeping instead of working on coming out of an induced coma. I can’t get over how much this girl infatuates me.
    What the hell do I want to tell her?
    That I’ll be here for her.
    Yeah, I guess. I can’t promise anything else. Not right now, anyway. I need to get this Ellie thing under control first before I can even begin to figure out all that Kate means to me.
    If I can ever be good enough for her.
     
    ~*~
     
    My eyelids are dropping. Sleep is beckoning to me, and my body is rebelling against my mind. I can’t sleep now. Not on hour twenty-six.
    “Damian?” The sound of Marcy’s voice jolts me to attention.
    I rub my eyes as I face her. “Yeah.”
    “Sorry,” she apologizes. She nods her head toward the door. “I’m going to go grab a coffee. Want some?”
    “That would be great. Thank you.”
    She chuckles. “Okay, be right back.”
    As soon as she leaves, I pace the room to revitalize myself. I’ve watched Kate all day, and there’s been no visible change. Dad’s checked on her twice. I couldn’t read his expression, but Tammy’s? Tammy is an open book.
    Two hours ago, she came in. Her bottom lip set between her teeth, she scanned over every single read-out the machines gave up. She took Kate’s blood pressure twice.
    When she was satisfied, she sighed. “Well, we have twenty-four hours left.”
    “What does that mean?” I’d asked.
    She hesitated. “Twenty-four hours is a long time. A lot can change.”
    Since Marcy wasn’t around at the time, Tammy didn’t elaborate. Stupid privacy mumbo jumbo.
    I drop to the floor and do fifty push-ups. I have to do something. It gets my blood moving a little. Enough to give my body the delusion that I’ve had some rest.
    As I wait for my coffee, I sit on the bed beside Kate and stroke her arm. I’ve touched her so much in the last week that I can’t imagine going a day without the skin-on-skin contact. Somewhere inside her, I hope she’s gotten as much out of my