Page 75 of Saving You

“But—”

“Have the life you deserve.”

She’d started crying, and he turned, walking away to the sound of her sobs.

He told all that to Oz now, who listened with no expression at all.

Eventually, he took a breath, then reached up with his free arm and pulled his processors off. Ridge hadn’t expected him to want to talk about it, so he bent down and pressed a long, slow kiss to his forehead before leaning back.

‘I’ll be right here if you need me.’

‘You’ll stay?’ Oz asked with a tired hand.

Ridge stood up, shimmying out of his jeans and pulling his work shirt over his head. When he was sufficiently comfortable, he climbed up and slid behind Oz, wrapping an arm around him. He adjusted his body so he could sign in front of Oz where he could see. ‘If I have to get up, I won’t go far. Promise.’

And it was with those words that Oz let himself breathe deep, ease back into Ridge’s arms, and slow his breathing until he was asleep.

Ridge waited until he was certain Oz was completely asleep before he snuck out of the bed and headed for the kitchen. He started the coffee maker, then leaned on the counter as it began to percolate, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

He had more than a dozen messages on his phone from the guys, but he ignored them all and hit Adele’s name in his contacts. It only rang a couple of times before a voice picked up that was not Adele.

“He’s in the bathroom.” It was Kash. “Want to wait or call back?”

“I’ll wait. Unless he’s taking a monster shit,” Ridge said.

Kash burst into laughter. “God only knows. He did bring matches with him, so there’s not a lot of hope.” He went quiet for a beat. “How are you?”

“I’m assuming you got all the hot gossip?”

Kash sighed into the receiver. “You know how everyone is. Dallas and Bowen were already over here giving us all the details after they saw Frey.”

Ridge winced. “How is he? And Rex?”

“A mess, from what I can tell. Frey’s having a panic attack that Oz is going to quit and never speak to him again since this was the second time Oz has been fucked-up because of his kid.”

Ridge didn’t know any details the first time, but he knew Oz was too busy blaming himself to ever be mad at Frey. “I think those two need a long night of drinks together to work it out.”

Kash snorted. “Yeah. But that’s assuming the people we love will ever be rational. I—oh. Adele’s here. Let me put him on.”

“Thanks,” Ridge said. “But hey, I hope you’re doing okay.”

“Oh. Yeah, not too bad. Thanks.” Kash always sounded surprised when everyone around him gave a shit. Ridge knew the feeling a little too well. It was a nice comfort but hard to get used to.

“Hey, babe.” Adele’s voice came on a second later, a low, soothing rumble. “How is he?”

“Sleeping in my bed. He said the drugs wore off, but they gave him enough to knock out a horse. I think he hit his adrenaline crash.”

“And you?”

Ridge closed his eyes for a second, then stood up straight, grabbed a glass from the cabinet, and walked over to the fridge to fill it with ice and milk. “I don’t know yet. I don’t think the shock’s worn off. I feel like once the nightmares start, I’ll be ready to process everything.” He grabbed the coffeepot and slowly added the hot coffee over the ice. It crackled in a pleasing way, and he grabbed a spoon to stir it all up. “How did you get through it?”

“By being a clingy pain in the ass. Gage eventually threatened my life if I kept mothering him, so I took a step back and realized the sky wasn’t going to fall if I let go for a bit. Luckily, Kash likes it when I’m up his ass.”

“Babe!” Ridge heard Kash groan in the background.

He smiled as he took a long sip of his iced coffee. He knew what Adele had been through was very different. By the time Ridge got onto the scene, he already knew that Oz was okay. They were looking for a possible spine injury and a concussion, but his life wasn’t in danger. And he’d known Rex was fine the whole time.

Adele had been forced to face a burning house with no idea if his fiancé and kid had gotten out. He hadn’t known anything until he ran up and found them on the neighbor’s lawn.

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