Chapter 34
My lids crackedopen and I blinked. Bones’ face was on the pillow next to mine, and his eyes were open, staring at me.
It only took me a moment to realize I was in bed—Bones must’ve carried me at some point. I had no recollection of falling asleep.
“What time is it?” I asked, my gaze darting to the window. It was daylight, and I deduced that it must’ve been late morning.
“3 PM,” he said.
“What?”
“It’s 3 PM. You fell asleep and I moved you to bed. You slept the night through.” His brow furrowed.
“What?”
“You had me worried,” he said. “I called Charlie. She told me you do this sometimes.”
“Do what sometimes?” I asked carefully.
“When things get stressful, you check out and sleep for fifteen, eighteen hours.”
“Oh. Yeah, I do that. I’m sorry you were worried.”
“You hungry?”
“I am—wait, did you say it’s 3 PM?”
“Yeah.”
“Shit, I have dinner at my mother’s house in two hours.”
“Hold on a second, Duchess,” he said.
“I have to shower,” I replied, throwing off the covers. My head swam and I had to brace myself.
“You shower and you’re going to fall over. You’re not going anywhere. Call and cancel. Tell her you’ve got the flu.”
“If I tell her I’ve got the flu, she’ll insist on coming over here to take care of me.”
He raised his brows. “She will?”
“Fine, she won’t come over herself. She’ll send Stanton with chicken soup. I’d rather not have to explain you to Stanton.”
“Huh.”
“I don’t mean it that way,” I hastened to say. “I just mean if Stanton knows about you, he’ll report back to my mother. That’s why I didn’t tell Walker I was dating someone. It would’ve gotten back to her. And I’d rather have the element of surprise when I show up attached to your arm for the gala.”
“I’m still not letting you go over there. Not when you need to rest.”
“I just rested for eighteen hours,” I commented. “I need to get up.”
“You’re allowed to go as far as the couch,” he said.
“Have you been keeping vigil the entire night?”
He shook his head. “No. But when you didn’t spring out of bed at 7 AM, I started to get worried. And then when it was past eight, I knew something was wrong.”
I reached out and cradled his cheek. “I’m okay.”
He grabbed my phone from the nightstand and handed it to me. “Cancel dinner with your mother. I don’t care what you tell her, but you’re in no shape to go over there.”
Bones climbed out of bed and headed for the door.
“Wait,” I called after him.
He turned and looked at me.
“How’s Lily?”
“You’ve been asleep for eighteen hours and she’s the first thing you ask about?”
“Bones. Tell me.”
“She’s awake.”
“Thank God,” I murmured.
“There’s more. I’ll tell you when you’re settled on the couch.”
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“To get you chicken soup,” he said with a soft smile. “Call for me when you’re ready to come downstairs.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ll carry you.”
“I’m perfectly capable of?—”
“I’m carrying you,” he repeated. “No arguments.”
He left the room before I could argue anymore. There was a glass of water on the nightstand. I grabbed it and downed it in a few huge swallows. Some of the fog was clearing from my head as I got up and went to the bathroom.
I climbed back into bed and thought about what I could say that wasn’t an outright lie. I had a low-grade headache so when I called my mother, I fibbed and told her I had the start of a migraine.
“I’m just going to rest,” I told her.
“Of course, darling. Whatever you need to do. I’ll see you Wednesday.”
“What’s Wednesday?” I asked, searching my brain, trying to remember if we had plans I’d forgotten about.
“You’re helping me finalize the seating chart,” she said. “Don’t you remember?”
“Oh, right,” I lied.
“You forgot.”
“No, no, I didn’t forget.” I was pretty sure she’d never told me she needed my help.
“You’ve been so absent from helping plan this event—normally you’re in the thick of it with me.”
“Migraine,” I reminded her.
“Right. I’m sorry. Feel better. Should I send Stanton over there to take care of you?”
“Ah, no. I’m fine. I’m just going to put a compress on my eyes and close the shades and take a nap. Hopefully that kicks it.”
“Well, just call if you need me.”
“Thanks, Mom. I’ll see you Wednesday.”
I hung up and rubbed my third eye. I checked my other messages and found a few from Charlie. I messaged her back.
ME
I’m awake.
A few minutes went by and she replied.
Charlie
How are you feeling?
ME
Better.
Charlie
Bones was worried.
ME
Yeah.
Charlie
You should tell him the truth.
Not wanting to go down that rabbit hole, I tossed my phone aside. “Bones!” I yelled.
A few minutes later, he appeared in the doorway of the bedroom. “You bellowed, Duchess?”
“I don’t bellow.”
“Sounded like a bellow.”
“You told me to call for you when I was ready to be carried downstairs.”
“Hmm. The nickname Duchess feels pretty fitting right about now.” He pushed away from the doorframe and walked to the bed. I grabbed my phone before he scooped me into his arms.
“How’d it go with your mother?”
“Fine. I told her I had a migraine, which isn’t a complete lie.”
“You have a migraine?”
“A headache,” I clarified. “Don’t worry, it’ll go away after I eat and hydrate.”
“I’ve got a prospect bringing over chicken soup. Your job is to sit and let me take care of you. I’ve got to make a call to Raze and get him to cover me tonight so I can stay?—”
“Cover you tonight?” I frowned. “Cover you for what?”
“Security at Chaos.” He set me down on the couch and swaddled me with a blanket.
“Really? I’m fine,” I said. “Don’t take off work for me.”
“I don’t want you to be alone,” he stated. “I’m taking off.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“It’s not ridiculous. If I’m at work, all I’m going to do is worry about you.”
“Okay, don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re kind of…”
“What?”
“Smothering me,” I blurted out.
He raised his brows. “Smothering? I’m smothering you?”
“I just need some space,” I stated. “I didn’t get a chance to process everything that happened yesterday. And I know you’re worried and you want to take care of me, but I just…”
His stare was unwavering. “I’m not leaving you alone. So, either I stay or you call Charlie to hang out with you.”
“I’ll call Charlie,” I said. “You can go.”
He sat down on the coffee table and faced me. “I’ll wait for you to call her.”
“Wait for me to—do you think I’m not going to call her?”
“That’s exactly what I think. You know what? Never mind.” He pulled out his cellphone from his breast pocket. After unlocking the screen, he scrolled and pressed a number. He put the phone to his ear. “Charlie, can you come hang out with Hayden? I don’t want her to be alone and she won’t let me cancel work and stay with her.” He paused. “Cool, see you in twenty.”
He hung up with her and looked at me.
“Unnecessary.”
“Entirely necessary,” he rebutted. “I’m bringing you orange juice.”
He got up off the table and headed for the kitchen. I stared after him. It was clearly useless to tell him no. I was surprised he was actually going to leave me with Charlie. He didn’t seem the type to trust anyone else.
“You were going to tell me what else was going on,” I said as he came back into the living room.
He handed me the glass of orange juice and sat down at the end of the couch. “Doc and Boxer have legal guardianship of the kids. When they’re able to be discharged, they’ll go home with them to live. They’re both awake now, but it’s rough. They’re going to need to sedate Lily for a while so she doesn’t re-injure herself during the hysteria. Cam is doing a little better.”
“How’s everyone else doing with the news?” I asked. “Emotions were running high.”
He sighed. “The Old Ladies aren’t talking to each other. Well, correction. Some are talking to each other. Others are not.”
“Battle lines drawn,” I said quietly.
“Yeah.” He ran a hand across his stubble. “None of us know how to handle this. We feel like shit.”
“So, was she inebriated?” I asked. “Do they know yet if she caused the accident?”
“It looks that way, but we don’t really know. The doctors are going to wait until Cam is no longer under the influence of so many pain meds before they start to ask him questions.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah…sip your juice.”
I took a drink.
The doorbell rang and Bones got up to answer it. He spoke to someone for a few seconds and then closed the door. He returned with a brown paper bag. A delicious aroma emanated from it and my stomach moaned.
“Let me put this into a bowl and get you a real spoon.”
While I was in the middle of eating, Charlie showed up and relieved Bones of babysitting duty.
Bones leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’ll check in on you later. Don’t argue.”
He left, and after I heard the rumble of his motorcycle disappear into the distance, I said to her, “You can go. You don’t actually have to sit here with me.”
“Are you kidding? If he finds out I bailed, there will be hell to pay.”
I rolled my eyes. “He’s over-reacting.”
“You were comatose for nearly eighteen hours. What’s he supposed to think? I’m surprised he actually left.”
“He’s overbearing,” I muttered.
“He’s not,” she protested. “This is what it looks like when a man cares for the woman he loves.”
“Love? Did you say love?”
“Oh please.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s got like, cartoon hearts in his eyes when he looks at you. Ten bucks says he’s picking out your kids’ names already.”