Page 135 of Committed to You

“What happened to Meredith?”

Meredith.The name alone makes me feel ill.

“She’s somewhere in the hospital. The police are guarding her room. They shot her in the hand since she wouldn’t drop the gun, and that’s when it fired. The bullet hit your appendix. They removed it.”

He takes a deep breath. “Good thing I don’t need my appendix then.”

I swallow hard.

“Vivian, I’m so sorry you went through that.”

“Shh. It’s not your fault.”

“It is.”

“No, it’s not.”

He is quiet for a while and then says, “I’ve done so many things wrong.”

“You couldn’t have known she had mental issues.”

“Still…”

I bring my lips to his. “It’s not your fault.” I press my lips into his, his arm pulls me closer to him, and my tongue slips against his when he parts his lips. “I didn’t think I was going to get to kiss you again.”

“Let’s go home and just kiss all day.”

“I think you’re going to be in here for a bit.”

He groans. “Ask Noah to talk to the nurses about in-home observation. I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.”

“Settle down. You just got out of surgery.”

“Sweetheart, how’s your face? I thought maybe she broke it, but it doesn’t look it now that you’re cleaned up.”

“It’s not. I’m fine. It’s only bruised.”

He sighs. “I’m so sorry, baby.”

Baby. Meredith called him baby. He called her that, too.

“Don’t call me baby. You called her that,” I blurt out.

He freezes then pulls my chin toward him. “I’ve never called her baby before today. I only called her that because she was calling me it. Anything I said to her was a lie. I have zero feelings besides sympathy and anger toward her.”

I close my eyes then open them, looking away.

“Vivian.”

“I know you don’t have feelings for her. I assumed you used to call her that.”

“No. I was always clear with her that we were not a couple or together. She didn’t listen.”

I nod.

“I’m so sorry you had to hear all that. I didn’t know what else to do to keep her from hurting you.”

“It’s okay.”

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