We’re celebrating Cane Alexander’s birthday with a special DELETED scene from The Exception!! Enjoy
Synopsis:
They say there is an exception to every rule…
Jada Stanley is starting over, refusing to repeat her past mistakes. Everything is going great until she meets Cane Alexander. He is gorgeous, cocky, and everything she needs to avoid.
Cane lives within a set of carefully constructed guidelines to ensure his life remains uncomplicated. When he sets his eyes on Jada, all of his rules are called into question.
As their worlds become intertwined, they find it impossible to stay away from each other. Will they be able to maintain the rules they’ve created to protect their hearts? Or will they make an exception?
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Deleted Scene: Cane at the hospital
Can they hurry up a little? For fuck’s sake! They said I would be back there in a little bit. Can they not tell fucking time?
I ran my fingers through my hair, pulling at it and letting the frustration of the past few hours get the best of me.
I need to see her. She’s probably scared out of her mind. And I know she’s in pain.
She needs me. I promised her I’d always be there.
Damn it!
I stood up but sat back down again, not really knowing what to do with myself. I wiped my hands down the length of my jeans. I noticed the blood splatters on the denim and it sent the rage I had felt earlier back to the surface.
I took a deep breath. I needed to keep my shit in check.
The last thing Jada needs is me going off like a fucking explosion in the middle of this godforsaken waiting room.
I inhaled again and closed my eyes, trying to stop the panic from rising.
Why does it smell like chemistry class in here? I need fresh air. I need to get out of here …
The feel of a strong hand on my shoulder jerked my attention back to the present. I twisted quickly in my seat, my fists clenching at my sides. My nerves were still frayed, despite what felt like fucking hours since the medics arrived at my house.
“Hey, man. How is she?” Max asked, his voice calm and steady.
“Where’s my sister, Cane?” Kari looked at me, her eyes wild as hell. Tears were clouding them and I knew she was fighting to stay composed.
It was like looking in a mirror.
I stood and instinctively grabbed her, pulling her into my chest. As soon as I wrapped my arms around her, she began to cry and I fought like hell to keep my tears back.
Max and I made eye contact. His face was solemn and full of understanding. Of course, out of all of the people in the world, he would understand. After the accident with his sister, I knew he could put himself in my shoes. He understood how painful it was to wait for the doctor to either elate you or destroy you with the verdict on someone you loved. That and the helpless feeling of not being able to control the outcome.
But maybe if I would’ve controlled things earlier …
Max placed one hand on each of us and cleared his throat. “I’m going to find someone to let us know what’s going on. I’ll be right back.”
I watched him walk away as Kari composed herself, pulling away from me and wiping her eyes. “Is she alright? Have they said anything? I called the ER on our way in but they just said she was having a scan.”
I shook my head. “She’s going to be fine. I carried her to the ambulance and didn’t leave her side until they took her back for this test. She was talking and …” My voice broke and my words drifted off. I choked back the tears that were building. The memory of her laying on the gurney, her beautiful face bruised and bloody, her voice trying to stay strong but wavering when the pain would cut through the medicine—it fucking broke me.
I would never be the same.
My life had just been whittled down in front of me and I knew more than I knew anything that all I needed in my life was Jada.
I had few moments in my life where I felt the loss of something important. The loss of my grandfather, the death of my father. The loss of my first puppy. And when those things happened, I kind of looked around and wondered how I’d go on. I thought about how my life will be different, how my routine would change.
When I thought that I could lose Jada, I didn’t have that. Because I knew the answer.
My life wouldn’t go on. There was no life without her.
And now my life was laying on some fucking hospital bed having tests ran because something had hurt her that stemmed from me.
There was no way I would let anything like this happen again. I would fucking move mountains first.
She’s everything to me.
Kari reached out and touched my arm, bringing me out of my thoughts.
“You did everything you could do, Cane. You saved her.”
“Saved her? I got her in this fucking mess.”
“You saved her from more than this fucking mess.” She smiled through her tears. “I need to go find a doctor. God love Max, but he’ll never understand the medical jargon.”
“Go. But as soon as we are allowed to see her, I’m going in. Hear me?”
She smiled and patted me on the shoulder. She and Max met in the doorway and exchanged a few quiet words before he made his way back to me again.
“Well?”
He sat in one of the hard blue plastic chairs. “She’s still in testing. They wouldn’t tell me anything else because I’m not family. That HIPPA thing.”
“They pulled that bullshit on me, too.”
“How’d that work for them?” Max half smiled.
“We compromised. Did you get ahold of their dad?”
“He’s on his way. Alice is driving him over.”
We sat quietly for a while, waiting on Kari to return, lost in our own thoughts.
“I think we sat in this same waiting room with Brielle.”
“They must’ve patched that hole in the wall pretty good then,” I said, raising my eyebrows at him. “You can’t even tell someone put their fist through it.”
“My dad made me pay to have that fixed.”
I shrugged. “I guess we all have to pay for our mistakes, right?”
He shot me a look. “This isn’t your fault, Cane.”
“Maybe it is.”
“I’m not about to sit here and listen to you blame yourself for this. This wasn’t your fault by any means. Don’t try to blow smoke up my ass.”
“Because blaming yourself after something is such a crazy thing, right? What’s that thing you say – pot calling the kettle black or something?”
Max’s eyes blazed, knowing good and well what I was getting at. He opened his mouth to respond but Kari walked in. We both stood.
“Anything?” I asked.
“Yeah. I talked to a doctor that had looked at her chart and he said off the record that he thinks she’s going to be fine. The scan should be done in a few minutes.”
“When can I see her?” My patience was wearing thin. I wanted to burst through the doorway and grab someone and force them to take me to her. But that wasn’t going to get any of us anywhere.
“It should be soon. They’ll come and get us.”
“I don’t want her to be alone. I promised her she’d never be alone again.”
Kari’s lips curved into a smile. “She won’t be.”
“Damn right she won’t be.”
“Are you insinuating something, Mr. Alexander?”
“I’m not insinuating it, Miss Stanley. I’m guaran-fucking-teeing it.”
About the Author:
Adriana Locke lives and breathes books. After years of slightly obsessive relationships with the flawed bad boys created by other authors, Adriana has created her own. The Exception is Adriana’s debut novel and will be released on September 18th.
Adriana lives in the Midwest with her family. She spends a large amount of time playing with her kids, drinking coffee, and cooking. Her favorite things include sunshine, candy, and random quotes. Please contact Adriana at www.adrianalocke.com. She loves to hear from readers.