30. Nolan
NOLAN
T hat antiseptic smell that seems to linger in all hospitals burns in my nostrils as I storm through the automatic doors. The guys and Juliet are hot on my heels as I slam into the front desk, hands slapping against the countertop and startling the nurse there.
“My mom,” I snap at the woman manning the desk. “Eliza Pierce. Where is she?”
Mrs. Neely, an older woman with her fuzzy gray hair pulled back into a bun, softens as she looks at me. “Oh, Nolan, dear, she’s fine, don’t worry.” Her hand comes up and cups over where mine rests. “She just had a little scare. A few scrapes and bruises. She’ll be?—”
“Where is she?” I cut Mrs. Neely off as I glance down the side hallway that leads to a pair of closed brown double doors.
“She’s with the doctor right now, dear, but truly. It was a small accident. Nothing to be in such a tizzy about.”
I hear what she’s saying and, logically, I know I can trust this woman. Mrs. Neely has been working with my mom since I was born. She knows what’s serious and what’s not. It’s not my mind that can’t understand her, it’s my goddamn heart.
It pounds against my chest as adrenaline races through my system. Sweat coats the back of my neck and I turn away from the nurses’ station to face Lex, Gio, and Juliet. All of whom are standing, wide-eyed and waiting. Words evaporate. What am I supposed to say?
I’m usually the one with the plan, with the answer. But this isn’t a body I can fight. This is my fucking mom. As if she realizes how close to the edge I am, Juliet steps forward, pushing through Lex and Gio to come to me.
Her arms encircle my waist and my hands fall automatically against her back. “It’s going to be okay, Nolan,” she says. “You heard what the nurse said. Your mom is fine. She’s fine.”
Oxygen rakes across the inside of my throat, no longer clouded like the gas that it is, but deadly and sharp. I shudder as I squeeze the girl in my arms tighter.
She’s fine. My mom is fine. She’s alive. She’s not hurt.
Juliet’s feminine scent drifts through my nostrils, calming the sharp pain of breathing as panic still drives me. I suck in lungfuls of the smell and lower my head, burying my face against her hair. She strokes my back up and down in soothing motions.
“It’s okay,” she promises. “She’s okay. You’re okay.”
I don’t feel okay. I feel the exact opposite. I’m freaking out. I’m sliding into an abyss of pain and fear. How did this happen? Why her? Why my mom? I know that’s not fair to think, but it’s all that my brain can come up with.
“Nolan?” I lift my head from Juliet’s as the sound of my name being called echoes from down the hall.
Turning, I spot the second nurse with her body half tucked out of the double doors and a clipboard in hand. I recognize her as well as a newer nurse that’s only been around for the past couple of months. Still, she offers me a smile as she gestures towards her.
“Your mom’s being seen now. Do you want to?—”
She doesn’t even get to finish the sentence before I’m leaving the others behind and striding towards her. If I’m going to believe that my mom’s truly all right, then I need to see her with my own eyes.
JULIET
The three of us watch Nolan disappear beyond the double doors that lead into the belly of the hospital.
“I’ve never seen him like this,” I murmur.
Gio moves up to my side and carefully tugs me over to a quiet waiting area with lots of chairs and a few couches. “His mom’s never been in an accident before,” he replies.
I nod, but the sensation of Nolan shaking as he burrowed against me is still prevalent in my mind. He’d been so scared. “I hope she’s okay.”
“Eliza’s a tough woman,” Lex comments as he takes a seat on one of the couches and pats the cushion at his side. “Nolan probably freaked because the guy didn’t have any more information about what happened. It’s not what you know that can be scary—but what you don’t.”
With a sigh, I sink onto the cushion next to him and Gio nudges me closer as he takes the seat on my other side.
I don’t think this little couch was meant to host two massive football players as well as one girl, but I like that they’re close, so I don’t complain.
Leaning back against Lex’s side, I let my head fall to his shoulder as Gio pulls out his cell and starts jiggling his knee.
He types out a quick message to someone whose name I don’t read before switching to a puzzle screw pin game.
Minutes pass as people come in and out of the hospital waiting area, stopping to talk to the nurse at the desk before either finding a seat of their own or leaving.
The phone rings and I look up as the nurse lifts the receiver and listens in on whoever’s talking.
“How long do you think we’re—” Before I get the rest of the question out, the nurse at the desk stands.
“Miss Donovan?”
I blink and straighten, jumping to my feet. “Yes?” Both Lex and Gio stand as well, though slower than me.
“It seems your friend would like for you to meet him in the back,” she says.
Her face softens as I carefully approach the desk, my eyes darting to the doors behind her.
“Nolan knows we’re not supposed to have multiple visitors at this time of night, but I’m sure he’d like his girlfriend there to help him. He seemed quite upset.”
“I’m not—uh, yeah, you think he needs me?” I cough, stopping myself from dissuading her from the notion that’s obviously going to get me back behind those doors. If she thinks I’m Nolan’s girlfriend, then who am I to correct her?
The nurse nods and bends down to press what I assume is a button under the desk.
A second later the small black box anchored to the wall next to the doors beeps and the light there flashes green.
“I think he does,” she murmurs. “Try to convince the poor boy that everything will be all right. I think he’s had a fright tonight. ”
“Can his friends…” I look back to Lex and Gio, but there’s no need to finish my question. When I turn back to the woman, she’s shaking her head.
“I really shouldn’t be letting you back,” she says, “but Nolan looked so upset and Dr. Pillard said he might need someone since they wanted to run a few extra tests on Eliza.”
“Thank you,” I say. “I’ll see if he’s okay.”
She nods and the double doors beyond the desk unlock. “It’s straight back and to the left,” she directs. “There should be another nurses’ station there if you get lost, but it’s pretty easy to find.”
I bob my head and turn to the guys. “I?—”
“Don’t worry about us,” Gio says. “Go look after our boy. We’ll wait here. Just text us and let us know if he needs anything, or Eliza.”
“I will,” I promise.
Then, I’m hurrying down the hall and through the doors. Once I’m on the other side, the hallway opens into a brightly lit tunnel with several noises—from people talking to machines beeping.
Straight back and to the left, I remind myself as I start walking. I follow the directions and am walking by several rooms with actual doors, though I spot openings with curtains to section off individual waiting areas farther down. My heart rate kicks up.
Just as I’m passing a darkened room with a cracked door, someone grabs my arm and whirls me out of place. I stumble, nearly tripping over my own two feet as I’m catapulted into a patient room and the door is quickly shut behind me.
“What the fuck?” Ripping myself out of the person’s hold, I whirl around and freeze.
Dr. Pillard stands there, his eyes wild and his hair mussed as if he’s been running his fingers through it regularly and hasn’t taken a moment to smooth it back down.
He doesn’t look like the previously clean and immaculately dressed man that I’m used to seeing.
Instead, he looks haggard. There are bags under his eyes and a shadow of beard growth that I know he usually keeps clean shaven.
The nurse that had sent me back said Dr. Pillard had been the one to call for me.
I jerk my gaze around the room. Had it been a setup?
No one else resides in the room, the patient bed stripped and empty.
A frown puckers my brow, then the door opens again and I turn to face the man that steps inside.
Morpheus Calloway .
My heart rate jerks into overdrive, hammering against my rib cage in the primordial fight-or-flight reflex.
Sweat pools at the base of my spine and my skin buzzes.
I clench my hands into fists and take a step away from both men as Morpheus fully enters the room and closes the door behind him. They leave the lights off.
“What the hell is going on here?” I demand, glaring daggers at Dr. Pillard.
The man doesn’t shrink under my gaze, but he does flinch when Morpheus steps up behind him and puts a hand on his shoulder. “That will be all, Dr. Pillard,” he says. “You may leave. I’d like to speak with my ward alone.”
“I am not your fucking ward.”
Morpheus lifts his head and sighs. “Please try to curb your language, Juliet. It’s very unbecoming of a lady to curse.”
Ignoring his words, I look to the only other person that might be able to help me. “Dr. Pillard? What’s the meaning of this?” I should’ve known better. The second Morpheus gives the man an out, he bolts into action, nodding to Morpheus and slipping from the room without answering me.
Trapped. I’m fucking trapped in here. My breathing stutters in my chest as I examine the space between me and the door.
Morpheus shifts on his shiny black loafers, stepping directly in my path.
I bite down on my lip hard enough to taste blood.
This can’t be happening. The muscles in my legs jump and jitter beneath the skin.
When I take another step back as Morpheus advances one, I almost fall, barely managing to catch myself on the side railing of the empty bed.
“I heard what happened to your friend’s mother,” Morpheus begins.
The riot of emotions and fears in my head go dead silent. “What?”