Caleb’s POV
The hospital doors slid open, spilling harsh fluorescent light onto the wet pavement. The rain had stopped, but the air still carried the scent of damp asphalt and something sterile—disinfectant, sickness, loss.
I was drunk. Not just buzzed. Not just lightheaded. I was staggering, the whiskey thick on my breath, my mind swaying between past and present.
I didn’t even remember getting here.
One minute, I was at some shitty liquor store, buying whatever would numb me the fastest. The next, I was here—standing in the same hospital where Emma was. Where our babies had been.
Where everything had ended before it even had the chance to begin.
I pressed a hand against the cool glass of the entrance, my pulse roaring in my ears. I needed to see her. I needed to hear her voice, to do something other than exist in this haze of alcohol and regret.
But then I saw him.
Logan.
Standing at the front desk, his back to me, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. His whole posture screamed helplessness. Like he wanted to be in that room with Emma but couldn’t. Like he wasn’t sure if he belonged there.
He didn’t.
And neither did I.
Because the truth was, neither of us had been able to save her from this. We were both too late. Too selfish. Too caught up in our own bullshit to see what she really needed.
My vision blurred—not from the alcohol, but from the rage bubbling inside me. Not at Logan. Not even at Emma.
At myself.
I had promised to protect her. To stand by her. And what did I do?
I let her down.
I let the whole damn world crash around her.
I wanted to go inside. Wanted to push past the nurses, past the doctors, past Logan, and drop to my knees beside Emma’s bed, tell her I was sorry, tell her that if I could take every ounce of her pain and make it my own, I would.
But I knew I wouldn’t make it that far.
Because I wasn’t strong enough for that.
I took a shaky breath and turned around, stepping back into the night, the cold air biting against my skin. I had no idea where I was going.
I just knew I couldn’t stay here.