Chapter 60
MALLORY
I woke up to beeping. And the strong smell of cleaning supplies. And a wicked headache.
“Easy.”
I blinked my eyes open, turned toward the voice. The one I recognized and was oh-so-soft. Like a gentle whisper.
I felt a hand in mine, a thumb brushing over my palm.
“Theo.”
He sat beside the bed, leaning toward me. His gaze raked over my face, but I didn’t see any of his usual tenseness. Or anger. Or lust. Or any other emotion I was used to from him.
Now, all I saw was tenderness.
“There’s my tiger. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”
“What… what happened?” I was in a hospital room, hooked up to monitors and an IV.
“What do you remember?”
I closed my eyes, thought back. “Oh. There was an accident.”
“Yes.”
I turned my head, looked to Theo, whose eyes seemed haunted. I’d never seen him look this way before. “I hit someone.”
He shook his head. “Someone hit you. Took a curve too wide.”
“Are they okay?”
He offered a small smile. “Yes. He’s got a broken collar bone, but he’s on good pain meds and is happily letting his wife take care of him.”
“And Cheryl?” We’d been arguing. I’d been so angry I’d turned around to take her home. To literally get rid of her.
He clenched his jaw and gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “Not a scratch on her.”
Of course not. “She’d been drinking.”
Theo nodded. “Yes. Intoxicated people have slow reaction times. They don’t tense up before an accident. Helps them from getting hurt.”
“Is she–”
“Hunter, you remember him?” Theo arched a brow and gave me a soft smile. Yeah, a smile. “He took her home.”
So she wasn’t here at the hospital waiting for me to wake up. I didn’t ask if she worried about me. I didn’t want to know. I made it clear she was out of my life now and I meant it. The fact that she’d left…
“What are you doing here?” I asked. It didn’t make any sense why he might be by my bedside holding my hand.
“I was with Mac when the call came in. I was there when they pulled you out of the car.”
I frowned. “Was I operated on?” I didn’t feel hurt other than a headache.
“No. I checked you over in the back of the ambulance, then handed you off to the ER team. Do you have a headache?” he wondered.
It pulsed. Throbbed. Ached. Like I’d gone through a blender. “Yeah.”
“You hit the airbag pretty hard, then something else when the car flipped.”
“The car flipped?” I had no idea.
Theo looked grim. Bleak even.
“Now that you’re awake, you’ll be checked for a concussion, but it’s pretty much a given,” he explained.
“Thank you,” I said.
“You’re awake!” Bridget said, coming into the room.
“Shh,” I said.
Mav followed behind her but remained quiet.
“You scared the shit out of me,” Bridge whispered, leaning in to give me a gentle hug. She took in Theo holding my hand but said nothing about it.
I didn’t know what it meant and I was too out of it to process.
“Well, the doctor says you’re spending the night for observation, then you’re staying with me for a few days.”
I swallowed, but my mouth was so dry. “I’m not staying at your house. You guys have too much sex.”
“Fine, then I’ll stay with you at the house. It’ll be like a sleepover when we were kids. Lindy heard about the accident and is on her way.”
I glanced at Theo, remembering the last sleepover I had there with him. No more though. I was thankful he’d been there to help, but his medical skills–or any other talents he had–weren’t needed any longer. “Thanks again, Theo. I’ll… see you around.”
He was a doctor, and he was checking on a patient. It was required. He’d made an oath or something. He’d looked after Cheryl, too.
I was fine or would be. Bridge was here and she was going to mother the hell out of me. Lindy, too.
After what I went through with Cheryl, it sounded great.
“Mallory, I…” Theo said.
“I’m good. Thanks for doctoring me.”
Realizing he was dismissed–it wasn’t like we were anything since he made that crystal clear–he stood. “Right. Um… bye.”
I watched him leave and wondered if I was ever going to get over him. While he felt nothing for me, I felt so much. I wondered if it was more than my head splitting in two. It felt like my heart was too.