Left Together (19 page)

Just
as I’m about to get on the elevator, Danny calls out to me. “You didn’t hear
this from me,” he says once he catches up. “Late this afternoon, Sean Murphy
was released from jail.” He lowers his voice and looks around, making sure no
one else can hear. “I also heard a rumor that he got his ass kicked and ended
up in the ER across town because the EMTs refused to bring him here. Not that I
would have any inside information on the situation or anything, but he won’t be
walking anywhere for a long time. The only reason I’m sharing any of this with
you is to keep your ass out of trouble. You just worry about getting that girl
of yours better.”

“Where
was Jake when this happened?” I need to know, remembering the round I went with
him this morning. When he came into Kacie’s room to talk to me, his face was
already bruised. Kacie will probably kick my ass as soon as she wakes up,
broken arm or not.

“He
was here with you at the time. I made sure,” he responds. “Speaking of Jake, do
you know what happened to him? I heard he had a black eye or some shit.”

“I
know as much about that as you know about what happened to Murphy.”

“You
two cool?” he cautiously asks.

“Yeah,
we’re good now.” Again, I shake Danny’s hand and thank him.

“There’s
no need to thank me, man. You’d do the same for us.” I turn to see the rest of
the guys standing by the door, watching. I nod, hoping they know how grateful I
am that the motherfucker got what was coming to him. They each nod once and
exit through the main doors. As Danny goes to follow them, he calls over his
shoulder, “Give Kacie a kiss for me.”

“No
fucking way, jerkoff,” I tell him.

“No
big deal. I’ll just do it myself when I see her.”

Laughing,
I get on the elevator and head back up to my girl, feeling like a ton of weight
has been lifted off my shoulders. I hope Sean is suffering, and I’m not even
ashamed to admit it.          

Walking
back into the room, my eyes immediately fall on Kacie. Just like Noah said, she
looks a million times better. The bed is propped up more, so she isn’t as flat.
Except for oxygen, the other tubes are gone. The monitor is still beeping, but
at least the other noise is gone. Now it looks like she’s just sleeping.

Audrey
comes in behind me with a blanket and pillows. “Thought you might need these,”
she says, putting them on the table next to my bag. “Kacie handled it like a
champ. I can monitor her from outside the room so I’m not in here, keeping you awake.
If you need anything, pop your head out. I’ll be at the desk across from the
door. She’s still my only patient for the night. I’ll peek in from time to time.”

“Sounds
good,” I say. “Thanks.” She smiles and disappears.

Noah
is hanging up the phone. I didn’t notice him sitting in the corner when I
walked in. “Addie says to send her love.”

“Are
you heading home?”

“No. I
thought I was going to, but Addie decided to stay with her parents tonight. She
didn’t want me to rush home, and I don’t like when she’s alone overnight. It’s
going to suck when she has the baby and I have to come in for something. I still
feel bad about asking you to stay, but I kind of figured you weren’t going to
leave anyway.”

“Not
even if I had to sleep in the waiting room downstairs.”

“There’s
a room down the hall I’m going to crash in for a few hours. Do you want to take
a shower before I head out?”

“I’m
good,” I say, grabbing the blanket and sitting back in the chair next to Kacie.
The whole way up, I debated whether or not to tell Noah what Danny told me
about Sean. “Hey, I heard Sean was released from jail.”

“So
did I.” He looks at me with an odd look on his face.

“You
already know what happened.” I’m not asking because it’s obvious.

“Who
do you think made sure he was diverted to another hospital? My phone is on if
you need me,” he adds, walking out of the room.

As I
settle in for the long night ahead, I think how lucky Kacie Foster is. She
might have the shittiest parents in the world, but she has the best brother and
friends of anyone I’ve ever met.

***

A
slight rustling sound causes me to lift my head up off the bed. Seeing the
hazel color of Kacie’s eyes staring back at me is more amazing than I thought
it was going to be. It appears as if she’s trying to get a grasp on what’s going
on and where she is. Her voice is merely a whisper. “If you look that terrible,
I can only imagine how bad I must look.” I’m sure her throat hurts like a
bitch. Her voice is pretty raspy, but it’s hers.

“You
have no idea how happy I am to hear your sarcastic mouth,” I say, standing up.

“Who’s
being sarcastic?” she asks. “You look awful.” I lean over the side of the bed
to kiss her forehead. Watching her move is torture. It’s obvious she’s in pain
and trying to find a comfortable position to relieve it, but is unsuccessful.

“Just
stay still,” I practically beg. “You’re pretty banged up, remember? Noah was
gloating about how well he fixed your arm, so I’m sure you’ll be back to
yourself in no time.” I fucking hate rambling, but now that she’s awake, I’m
nervous as hell. Kacie coughs and it brings tears to her eyes. Damn it! This is
going to fucking kill me. It was easier when she was sleeping. “I have to get
the nurse. She made me promise to tell her as soon as you woke up.”

“Wait,”
Kacie blurts out, grabbing my wrist before I can walk away, then regrets the
sudden movement. After the pain passes, she slowly slides her hand away and I
miss her touch already. “You should go home.”

I knew
she was going to do this, but it still hurts. “No.” I turn to go get Brandi. She
and Audrey both came in about an hour ago. Audrey showed Brandi some shit I
didn’t pay attention to and left for the day.

“Evan…”

“Sweetheart,”
I cut her off before she can get out whatever spiel she’s cooking up inside
that beautiful head of hers. “I’ve been sitting here waiting for you to wake up
since yesterday. There’s no way in hell I’m leaving now.”

“Yesterday?”

“Yeah,
yesterday,” I say, wishing her brother was here to tell her what the hell
happened, but he was called to the ER for a consult a little while ago. “Noah
can explain it much better than I can, but you had an allergic reaction to a
medication. Everything is fine now, though.”

“It feels
like I’ve only been asleep for an hour.” She rests her head back and closes her
eyes. “You still need to go. You shouldn’t be here.”

“Kacie,
we aren’t doing this right now. I’m going to get the nurse so she can do
whatever the hell it is she needs to do. If you want to discuss this shit when
she’s done, fine. If not, it can wait until later, but I’m not going anywhere.”

“You’re
not going to want to be here,” she says, miserably.

“There’s
nothing that would make me walk out on you. Not now. Not ever.” The only reason
her stubbornness is bugging me is because I’m fucking exhausted. If she wants
to give me shit, I’m going to give it right back. That’s the only way to get
through to her. We may as well clear the air and get it over with so we can
move on. “I know you slept with Jake.”

“He
told you?” Kacie whispers, disappointed and clearly hurt by his betrayal. She
really expected Jake to keep their promise.

“He
did, but only because he knew you wouldn’t and it would torment you.” Did I
just defend him? “Kacie, this is my fault.” She attempts to talk. “No, just
listen for a second. Jake warned me not to screw up. He was just waiting for
the opportunity to take my place. It’s my fault for giving him that chance. I
should’ve thought the whole thing through better. The second I found out your
dad was in the club, I should’ve called you. None of this shit, including the
fucking accident, would have happened if I just talked to you. This is all on
me and I’m so sorry. I can’t apologize enough for leaving you out of the
decision I made on how to handle the situation. I thought I was protecting you
and my family. How wrong was I?”

“Stop
it.” She goes from upset to pissed off. “You aren’t going to sit here and take
the blame for this whole mess. I screwed up, too. And Sean is the only one to
blame for me being in the hospital.” Kacie coughs again. It’s difficult for her
to talk for too long. Softer, she says, “Please, just go. Don’t make this any
harder for either of us than it already is.”

“Do
you love Jake?” Why the hell did I ask that when I don’t want to know her
answer?

A
sympathetic look crosses her face. “I do.” As she says that, I fall back into
the chair, defeated. Air rushes out of my lungs, and they don’t fill back up.
“Even though the son of a bitch broke his promise, I love him as much and in
the same way I love Jade. You already know that. Nothing has changed.” Relief
fills the void, allowing me to breathe again.

“Then
why do you want me to leave?” I try to understand, lifting my head to look at
her.

“We
can’t be together anymore. I won’t be able to take it.”

It
seems as though she’s trying to explain what’s going on in her crazy mind, but
I’m not getting it. “You won’t be able to take what?”

The
sadness in her beautiful eyes is fucking crushing me. “The way you’ll look at
me. The way you’ll think of what I did every time you kiss me or, worse,
whenever we are…” Kacie reaches over to grab her side. She’s desperately trying
to ignore the pain, but it’s getting to be too much.

Only
so she doesn’t have to keep hurting, I interrupt her, “You completely
overestimate my ability to think clearly when I’m with you. You’re all I see.
Being with you is the only thing that matters. The rest of the world and all
the bullshit in it fades away to nothing because, when it comes down to it,
none of it means anything. You’re my everything, Kacie. My life doesn’t mean
shit without you in it.”

“That’s
not true. You were living just fine before you met me.”

“That
wasn’t living!” I snap, pushing myself up out of the chair. Pacing around the
room doesn’t help calm my irritation. She’s doing this shit to push me away. I
have to make her see it’s not going to work. “Before you came into my life, I
was just existing. Now that I know what it’s like to live, existing will never
be enough.”

“We
can’t change what happened. The damage is done.”

She is
so goddamn stubborn! “You’re right. We can’t change it, but who gives a fuck?
The only thing that matters is I love the shit out of you!” Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
It wasn’t supposed to come out like that. How do I fix it? If I apologize,
she’s going to think I didn’t mean it and I definitely did. I’ve never meant
anything more.

“You
love me?”

I
sigh, thankful she’s not pissed at me for fucking that up. “Man, I’m so glad
that’s what you got out of what I just said.” Running my hand through my hair
again, I sit on the edge of the bed facing Kacie and take her hand in mine.
“That’s not at all how I practiced telling you. I really thought I’d be able to
pull that off better.”

“You
practiced?”

“Over
and over again,” I admit, anxious to hear what she’ll say.  

For
the first time since she woke up, she smiles as tears roll down her cheeks. “I
love the shit out of you, too.”

That’s
when it makes sense why Kacie isn’t upset with me for how I just blurted out my
feelings. Hearing the person who means the world to you actually say they feel
the same way about you is probably the best thing that could ever happen. And
just like I told her, everything else begins to fade when we’re together. The
memories of every event since last week up to about a half-minute ago are no
longer important enough to focus on. They all just slip away as if they never
existed. When I’m just a few inches from her face, she whispers, “I’m so
sorry.”

Using
my fingers, I wipe away the moisture on her face, but she continues to cry.
Softly, I say, “Tell me again.”

“I’m
sorry,” she murmurs. Her good hand is now resting on my chest. Why the hell
does she think that’s what I’d want to hear a second time?

Shaking
my head, I say, “That’s not what I meant.”

Smiling
slightly, she says, “I love you. I will only ever be in love with you.”
Reminding myself to hold back because my girl’s in pain, I gently place my lips
to hers as my thumb caresses her cheek. Kacie grips my shirt tightly. When I
try to pull away, she stops me. “I just told you I’m in love with you and
that’s how you kiss me?”

“I’m
afraid of hurting you,” I confess. “Did you really just roll your eyes at me?”
She smirks. “Seriously? You finally wake up from this bullshit and you’re
already giving me attitude?”

“Evan,
will you shut the hell up and kiss me like you mean it?” Who the hell am I to
argue with that?

For
the moment, we aren’t in a hospital room burdened by a long list of mistakes we
both created and would do anything to erase. We’re somewhere far away,
completely lost in each other. Being with Kacie is the only thing that works
for me now. Here’s my chance to prove how much I want this. How much I will
always want her. I kiss my girl the way I have ever since the very first time
our lips met. It has the butterflies, the excitement, and the uniqueness that
usually only a first kiss can offer, but it also has the importance of it being
remembered forever in case it’s the last. That’s the feeling I want to leave
her with every time. That’s what will guarantee she comes back for more.