5. Ember #2
“Your EEG results indicate some evidence of epileptiform activity. This looks a bit like small spikes in your brain activity, particularly when we simulate hyperventilation to trigger a response.”
“Even when she isn’t having a seizure?” Hyland questions.
“Correct.”
“Then what would a full seizure look like?”
“Ember’s episodes would elicit a much more dramatic result—prolonged, jagged waves of abnormal activity generalised across the brain. However, this baseline does confirm her diagnosis.”
“So you’re just telling us what we already know,” I huff.
“As I said before, finding a long-term treatment plan is a complex process.” He grants me a smile. “Confirmation of our initial diagnosis is an important step.”
I’m not sure how much longer I can clench my teeth to hold back my annoyance. This is such a waste of time. I’ve got the label. I’ve got the pills. I should be out there looking for Tom, not listening to this moron harp on.
“We will continue on your current regimen and proceed with regular checkups to monitor any changes to your condition. Any cause for concern or intense episodes, please contact me.”
“That’s it?” Hyland blusters.
Stacking the paperwork against his knee, Doctor Fawn levels him with an appraising stare. I’m sure Hyland harassed the poor man while I was stuck in here after my last attack.
“Mr Wesson, this is a long process.”
“You’re saying she could have an epileptic fit at any moment.”
“That is the nature of Ember’s diagnosis. Chronic illnesses can manifest at any time.”
“How is that okay? No one can live like that.”
“On the contrary, vast swathes of the population live with this condition and others like it. They live full lives, only with a few extra precautions.”
“But you’re seemingly okay with her walking around like a ticking time bomb?”
“That isn’t language I’d choose?—”
“There isn’t a cure,” I interrupt, fatigue weighing me down.
Pushed off from the wall, Hyland has to bend his neck to peer down at me. Aggravation is a well-versed look on him at this point.
“I found you on the floor just a couple of days ago, Em.” The corners of his eyes crease into an aggrieved frown. “You were barely conscious.”
“I pushed myself too hard. That’s it.”
“You could’ve triggered another seizure!”
“And it was stupid. I won’t do it again. Are you done?”
“No,” he replies hotly. “I’m not. You can’t live like this.”
“I have to!” My voice raises in volume.
Nose pinched, Doctor Fawn nods. “And we’re here to help.”
“Is that supposed to be comforting?” Hyland snaps.
“We’re teaching Ember to manage her long-term condition, but it’s enduring. She will always live with this condition because we cannot cure it. This is her new reality.”
“She can’t live in fear forever.”
“Hy, stop,” I protest.
“There must be something else… Something we can do…”
“Enough! You’re not helping!”
Abruptly halting, Hyland flinches. That overprotective beast beneath his skin needs some serious training in bedside manners. It’s raging out of control of late.
“This has been my life ever since I fractured my skull.” I manage to spell it out in a calm voice. “It isn’t anything new. I just have a fancy label now and this bundle of joy telling me what to do.”
Doctor Fawn has the decency to smile.
“Point is, I’m dealing. You don’t need to don some white knight armour and try to rationalise this for me. Labels aside, these episodes aren’t new.”
“I’m worried about you.” He deflates, gaze sinking to the clean linoleum.
“If I may…” Doctor Fawn waits for me to nod. “It’s perfectly normal for loved ones to struggle with a new diagnosis too. Long-term conditions affect the whole family unit.”
“Ember is the one struggling.” Hyland shakes his head, disturbing loose flyaways from his ponytail. “Not me.”
“You’re shouldering anxiety too. It’s good to acknowledge that.”
“But…”
“Just something to think about.” Gathering his notes, the doctor stands with a final, pointed smile. “I’ll give you both some privacy. Take your time.”
Once he’s gone, I stare at the wheeled trolley that holds the EEG machine while Hyland pulls himself together. He circles the medical chair to squat down beside me, an oversized paw landing on my jean-covered knee, squeezing when I don’t push him away.
“Em?”
All I can do is shake my head.
“I’m sure I’ll apologise a million more times in the years to come, but I’m sorry… again. You know, for butting in. It’s hard to hear him talk about your health like that.”
“What did you think he was going to say?”
“I don’t know.” Hyland thrusts his free hand through his hair.
“This is a long-term condition. It’s not going anywhere.”
“And I knew that… I do know that.” His deep baritone radiates pure sadness. “I guess a part of me hoped he’d have found some magical solution. I hate seeing you suffer.”
“I’m surviving in my own way. You don’t need to make it harder.”
“Protecting you is making your life harder?”
“You mean when you stick your nose into my business?” I force down the growl creeping up my throat.
“I prefer to think of it as being a good co-worker.”
Laughter tumbles from my throat. “Right.”
“Unless you’d rather I had a different title?”
“Semantics aside, it makes it ten times harder when you resort to this crazy bull in a china shop routine. I’m coping in my own way, and I need you to respect that.”
His fingers tighten over my kneecap. “I hear you.”
“Good. I’m getting really tired of this conversation.”
Flicking his gaze over to the sealed door, Hyland nibbles his bottom lip. “We can go back to discussing you inviting Warner into your bed rather than me. Do I have to respect that too?”
Air whistles from my nostrils. Shock is quickly followed by embarrassment, but I quickly squash it. I’m a grown woman. Who I choose to sleep with is none of his business.
“I should’ve known you wouldn’t let that go so easily.”
“Pretty hard memory to erase, Em.”
“Is that so?”
His hand moves from my knee to skate upwards, rubbing my upper thigh. “The sight of you, all naked and flushed, riding Warner’s face with your head thrown back and those beckoning tits thrust out…”
My quads tighten, instinctively reacting to the pressure of his touch. The path his hand travels leaves a red-hot trail of hyperactive butterflies, the tiny creatures determined to rip free from my cells and hold some kind of celebratory dance party.
“Did you like it?” he purrs.
“This isn’t the time nor place to discuss it.”
“Then answer the question, and we can go.”
Aggravation pushes me to play along. “Did I like what?”
Hyland’s head tilts, studying my reaction. “His mouth feasting on your pussy.”
My legs clench, trapping his hand an inch from the apex of my thighs. The corner of Hyland’s mouth twitches, the delicious darkness swirling in his green orbs intensifying his heated stare.
“Warner warned me to stay away from you,” he reveals. “Threatened me even. All while he crawled between your sheets to steal you for himself. Does that seem fair?”
My head rests back on the chair. “Does it seem fair to you?”
Hand moving from between my pressed thighs, it gravitates towards my denim-covered core. I quietly gasp when Hyland cups my cunt through my blue jeans, teasing me with a squeeze.
“No, red. It sure as hell doesn’t.”
“Then perhaps you should even the scoreboard.”
“Is that what you want?” He cocks a dirty-blonde brow.
“I’m not afraid to ask for it, but you already know exactly what I want.”
“Still being so demanding.” He laughs under his breath. “I admire that about you. Not many of us know what we want with such certainty.”
“I’ve made no secret of my feelings,” I squeak, feeling his fingers feather over my denim core. “You’re the one who denied me for months with this we’re just colleagues bullshit.”
“Perhaps I’m done with that now.”
“Since when?”
His throat undulates, betraying his anticipation. “Since I walked into your bedroom and realised that all bets are off. We’re allowed to want you.”
I crook my neck so I can peer down at him. Hyland may as well have his own gravity for all the power his intense presence packs. Ignoring him is near impossible. And honestly, right now, that’s the last thing I want to do.
“Meaning?” I whisper throatily.
Lips parting, his tongue darts out to swipe over the pillowy swell. “Meaning I’m done playing childish games. I intend to take what I want now.”
“And what would that be?”
“Allow me to demonstrate.”
My lungs seize up as his big hand lifts to encircle my neck. Each individual callus grazes the sensitive slope of my throat when Hyland lightly grips it, using the leverage to haul me closer to him.
“If we were home right now, you’d already be splayed out in my bed without a scrap of clothing in my way,” he growls into my lips. “I’d have your beautiful, bare body riding me while I discover how to make you cry out myself.”
A fast kiss, the nip almost painful, delivers a preview of his promise. I strain against Hyland’s warm hand at my throat, skin alight with tingles caused by the feel of him holding me prone. Though I never thought I’d like another man to touch me like this, he makes it feel exhilarating.
“Then I’d flip you over and bend you at the perfect angle to take you from behind.” He ghosts his mouth over my lips again. “I want to fill every last part of you until I’m the only thing that exists inside your mind.”
“Hy…”
“That’s what you want, isn’t it? You want to be fucked and shared? You want us all to own this sweet cunt, right? I understand now.”
To illustrate his point, the hand that still holds me between my thighs squeezes again. A flood of heat shoots down south, flushing my system with agonising excitement.
“I can feel your heat, red. I’d bet anything that you’re soaked already.”
“No,” I try to deny.
“Mind if I double check?”
Please, I want to pant. But I somehow hold it back.
The trill of a ringtone startles Hyland before he can touch me, dousing us both in icy water. Reality returns in a painful slap, filling me with a rush of disappointment that quickly turns into anxiety.
“Shit,” he curses.
Hyland releases me then leans back to fish his mobile phone from his cargos. I take the brief pause to refill my lungs, blinking aside the lazy haze that’s infected my vision.
“It’s Axel.”
“Answer it!”
He jabs his thumb on the screen then lifts the phone to his ear. “What?”
Ever the charmer.
My heart rate explodes into a racing staccato at the shouting I can hear down the line. When Hyland’s eyes meet mine, widening emphatically, I sit upright in the chair.
“If he’s just heard rumours, you need to verify the intel. He may be throwing us a bone to save his own skin now jail time is looming.”
More impassioned yelling follows.
“Alright, alright. We’re coming in now.”
Quickly ending the call, Hyland pockets his phone then stands. He sticks out a hand in offer to me.
“We’ve got a location.”