Letting My Brother's Best Friend Take My V-Card

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JOSH.

It had been a week since Laura slipped into the coma, and it felt like a lifetime.

The hospital room was quiet except for the steady beep of the monitors and the faint hum of the heater. The world outside these walls didn't seem real anymore. I barely remembered walking off the practice field, driving here, or stepping into her room. But the moment I saw her, all of that faded away.

Laura was still, her body too pale against the stark white of the hospital sheets. The rise and fall of her chest, regulated by the machines, was the only sign of life. But she was alive. That thought was the only thing keeping me sane.

I crossed the room to her bedside and immediately took her hand in mine. It was warm, but it didn't squeeze back. I brought it to my lips and held it there, closing my eyes like she could somehow feel me willing her to wake up. "I need you, Laura," I whispered, my voice hoarse.

The chair next to her bed was still where I'd left it, and I sank into it, exhausted. Jess had been helping with the baby while I went to practice. Our baby. My baby girl.

As if on cue, Jess walked in, carrying her in one arm and a bottle in the other. She handed the baby to me with a small, sad smile, and I took her, cradling her like she was made of glass.

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the bottle touched

She didn't have a name yet. I couldn't name her without Laura. We were supposed to do that together. "Remember when I found you two in the kitchen that night?"

and I glanced up to see her standing near the window, Luke by her side. She was watching Laura, but her lips curved into a faint smile as she continued. "You thought

soft but genuine. I

I said,

remembered every single moment with Laura-the stolen kisses, the laughter, the fights that always ended with us tangled together. But more than that, I remembered every moment without her. And I could say, without a doubt, the ones with her were better. Jess smiled softly. "You know," she said, sitting down in the chair opposite me, "when she spoke about you two kissing, I knew. I just knew she fell for you. And that's the only reason I wasn't more angry. I saw it on her face. She

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her expression

hating you back then,

stand, but she lingered for a moment longer, her gaze shifting back to Laura. "She's strong, Josh. She's going to wake

it. She'd say I couldn't sit

and smoothed her sweater, her movements slow and deliberate. "Okay," she said, turning to me. "You need to go home. Your baby girl needs routine, Josh. The nurses will call if

the look on her face stopped me. She wasn't asking; she

the room with Luke.

bottle, her eyelids fluttering closed in sleep. I gently set her in the portable bassinet the nurses had let me keep in the room and leaned back in my chair, my eyes drifting to Laura again. "I don't know how to do this without you," I admitted, my voice barely above

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