Chapter 5
DEVON
Ow.
Everything hurts.
My back aches.
My shoulder aches.
My tummy hurts.
My arm… wait.
The pain in my arm is like a distant thought, like a memory I know I can recall if I think hard enough, but it’s just not quite there yet.
My heart beats sluggishly in my chest and the darkness surrounding me is relatively comfortable.
It’s tempting to sink back to sleep, but something in my mind prevents me.
I shouldn’t be sleeping right now.
Wasn’t I supposed to be doing something?
Slowly opening my eyes, a low light stabs into my eyes so I immediately close them again and bite back a groan.
On my second attempt, the hospital room that greets me loses my attention the second I notice the man sitting in the chair beside my bed.
My initial instinct is panic, but as it’s about to rise, I recognize him and that panic falters inside my chest.
It’s him.
The man from the bar.
‘Steve’.
He sits with his head down and his eyes on the phone in his hand, his thumb rapidly darting across the screen while he types.
What the fuck?
Why is he here?
How is he here?
He doesn’t look like a doctor, and I’m pretty sure they don’t sit by their patients’ bedsides texting.
Maybe I died and this is some kind of strange dream or in-between place.
He’s handsome enough to be in my dreams, that’s for sure, and seeing him in this light, without the fog and lights and darkness of that bar, he’s even more handsome than I remember.
He looks like he stepped right out of a modeling magazine with tawny, golden skin and short, jet-black hair that trails down into soft, faint sideburns.
Just below, the sharpest jaw I have ever seen tenses slightly as he types, then his dark brows pinch together and an adorable swirling curl forms just above his nose.
His thicker lower lip pulls into his mouth, and my core warms suddenly at the memory of how soft his mouth felt against mine.
His charcoal suit strains slightly as he moves, subtly hiding the thick muscle I know I felt at the bar.
Steve is a stunningly handsome man, and I take in every detail from his thick neck, broad shoulders, and elegant fingers, down to his lightly bouncing knee where his other hand flexes against his thigh.
Then he glances at me and his dark brown, almond-shaped eyes widen the second he realizes I’m awake.
“Devon! You’re awake!”
Steve immediately abandons his phone on the bed next to me and half rises in his chair until he’s over me, but he quickly thinks better of it and sinks back down with a small, soft smile. “I’m so glad.”
“Devon?” I repeat softly, struggling to find my words while staring into those dark eyes.
It’s like staring into an abyss, but rather than fearing the fall, I welcome it.
“Sorry, I got your name from your wallet in your pocket. I wasn’t looking to be creepy or anything, but the doctor needed to know who you were so he could get your file. I hope you don’t mind.”
His warm smile reminds me of a puppy gazing up at me, and it’s hard not to smile back.
“It’s fine,” I croak, blinking softly.
Yup, he’s still here.
The sexy man from the bar who fucked me so hard I came faster than I ever came in my life is right next to my bed while I surely look like shit.
“What… what happened?”
“It’s my fault, I’m so sorry,” he says earnestly, and his brows pinch again, creating that adorable swirl on his forehead.
“I reached out to catch you while you were falling, but I think I made things worse because you jerked away from me and you were hit by a car. From what I know, you’re okay, but your arm is broken. I’m really sorry.”
I glance down and a pink cast stares back at me from my right forearm.
Suddenly, the strange, distant ache around my limb makes sense.
As I flex my fingers, increasing that faint ache, Steve’s words slowly paint a picture through my memories and a swell of dread rises in my stomach.
It wasn’t his fault.
I remember hearing his voice and trying to find him around the boxes, only to feel a closing touch around my wrist.
It was a panicked reflex that forced me to jump backward, something neither of us could control, and there’s no way Steve would know how badly I dislike being touched.
Especially after how we met.
“It’s not your fault, Steve,” I croak again. “I promise.”
“Here.” He rises and picks up a small bottle of water from the table that hovers over the end of my bed.
After cracking the seal, he hands it back to me. “You should drink something. You’ve been out for a few hours.”
Accepting the bottle with a smile, the cool water is heaven against my raw throat and I drink like I’m parched while Steve continues to speak.
“And my name isn’t actually Steve. It’s Kairo. Since I know your real name, I figure I should be honest as well.”
His lips twitch up into another adorable smile that makes his eyes narrow and twinkle. “I am sorry.”
Kairo.
Of course his name is something as unique and hot as he is.
There’s no way this man is the one I fucked.
What does someone who looks like Adonis want with someone who looks like me?
The elegant cake I compared him to a few weeks ago wasn’t beautiful enough.
“It’s really not your fault,” I say after handing the bottle back to him. “I just uhm… I have this thing about being touched and it just… when you grabbed my wrist, I just reacted, y’know? So it’s not your fault.”
“Oh.” Confusion flickers across Kairo’s face while he tries to connect my words to my actions weeks ago.
Alcohol made everything easier at the bar, but other than spending my entire life drunk, there’s no avoiding my reflexes.
Axel trained them far too well.
“You don’t need to explain,” Kairo says after a moment with another relaxed smile. “I understand, but I am still sorry that I didn’t react fast enough.”
“No lightning reflexes, huh?” The corner of my mouth twitches as my pulse quickens slightly. “You should be ashamed.”
Kairo laughs and nods. “I know. Suddenly, my denial from the school baseball team makes so much sense.”
“And it took you this long to get an answer. Now I’m sorry.”
He briefly closes his eyes while he chuckles, and it’s a beautiful sight that I want to enjoy, but the longer I stay awake, the more my senses come back to me and my defenses start to build.
“Shit.”
“What is it?” Worry steals across his face. “Are you in pain? I can get the doctor.”
“No, it’s…” I shake my head while bracing my good hand down against the bed to sit up. “I can’t even imagine what the damage is going to be.”
“To your arm?”
“No.” I flash him a sad smile. “The hospital bills are going to be insane and I—” I cut myself off.
This guy doesn’t need to know about the crushing weight of using my entire savings to cover the bakery’s overdue rent, or how hospital bills on top of that might actually bankrupt me. “Let’s just say it’ll be a small Christmas.”
“You don’t need to worry about that.” The concern melts away from Kairo and his shoulders appear to relax as he smiles.
“Despite your saying this isn’t my fault, it certainly feels like it.
I should have approached you with more thought and I didn’t.
I’m responsible for scaring you, regardless of your reaction, so I put you on my insurance to cover the cost.”
“Kairo!” I gape at him, unable to maintain any kind of composure in front of him as he drops that bomb. “You can’t do that, it must be so much money!”
“I have really good insurance.”
“But the cost of just my arm alone, I can’t afford to pay you back or anything, and I can’t let you be responsible for—”
“Devon.” His warm tone, as gentle as it is, takes on a firm edge. “Please, let me. You got injured because of me, and I feel terribly guilty about it. So it’s absolutely my responsibility to take care of any financial fallout as a result of this.”
He tilts his head toward the cast on my arm. “And I have excellent insurance that I’ve never used, so really, you’re doing me a favor in making sure those leeches aren’t just sucking my bank account dry.”
I don’t know what to say.
This man barely knows me and yet he sits there insisting I not only take his money, but that it actually benefits him in some way.
It’s like he’s trying to do everything he can to make up for something that is barely even his fault.
How is he real?
As we stare at each other, he lightly lifts his brow as if silently encouraging me to just accept his offer, and it makes me smile until something about his very presence catches in my mind.
“Kairo… why are you here? Not here, I mean… how did you find me?”
I’ve never seen him around before that night in the bar, but somehow, he ends up on my street?
His eyes open and his smile fades to something more serious. “I was actually on my way—”
The words die as someone abruptly knocks on the door, making me jump.
As the monitor I’m hooked up to betrays my sudden heart rate increase, Kairo stands up and turns to face the door, angling himself between me and whoever walks through.
“Miss Miller? I’m—oh! You’re still here.” A thin woman in a peach pencil skirt suit and square glasses steps into the room, her black kitten heels clicking on the floor as she strides deeper into the room and stops near my bed.
An electronic tablet clings to one of her arms as she glances between the two of us. “This is actually perfect.”
“I’m sorry.” I try to adjust myself further on the bed while Kairo mirrors the woman’s movements and subtly steps closer to my bed. “Who are you?”
“I’m Jennifer. I’m from upstairs.” She glances up with a thin, tight smile.
“Upstairs?” Kairo asks.
“Administration,” Jennifer replies. “I’m glad to see you’re awake, Devon, as I have a few questions about your insurance here.”
“I can answer those,” Kairo says, and he crosses both his arms across his chest.
Something about his wide stance and the bulge of his arms makes him grow a few inches in all directions, an illusion likely because I’m stuck in this bed.
“We shall see,” Jennifer states curtly. “Miss Miller, the details provided are for insurance that you are simply not eligible for. Your injuries, while not life-threatening, are still a hefty debt to the hospital. You didn’t require any major surgery to help with repairing your arm, but I see from your notes that your doctor had to place a screw near your elbow due to the nature of the break and a fracture closer to your wrist. Surgery in any regard can make you ineligible for numerous insurances, but since the cost of the surgery, the rush on the doctor and specialist you saw at the behest of your… friend…”
Jennifer glances at Kairo like she’s about to eat him up. “You’ve racked up a bill of over forty thousand dollars.”
“What?” I can’t stop the strangled bark that escapes me as Jennifer taps on her pad and smiles tightly.
“Typically, the insurance would cover this, but as I said, you’re not eligible because this insurance?
Not only do they only work with people in a certain financial bracket, but this is a family package of which you are not a member.
Now I need to know exactly where you got these details from because even the smallest inconsistency is cause for concern.
” She finally stops tapping on the pad and fixes me with a cold look.
“I’m sure you’re aware that it’s fraudulent to attempt to use stolen insurance details to bypass—”
“Enough!” Kairo barks suddenly, ending Jennifer’s tirade.
My heart races as the high cost clashes with fraud in my mind.
I can’t think of anything to say because Jennifer’s accusations make it sound like we’re trying to break the law, or that there’s some rule that prevents Kairo from offering the help he wants to.
“I understand that you might feel pity, but I can’t allow you to—”
“She is part of the family,” Kairo snaps, and his shoulders tighten as a storm passes over his face.
“How dare you stand there and accuse my fiancée of fraud? Do you have any idea how truly shocking it is to hear you say that after barging in here without a drop of politeness? I know my insurance inside and out, so I can assure you that it covers the healthcare of my fiancée, so back the fuck off. Or do you need me to find the small print for you?”
Jennifer stares at Kairo with as much shock mirrored on my own face.
“Miss Miller is your… fiancée?”