33. No More Matchmaker
NO MORE MATCHMAKER
A spen
I was sitting in a hospital bed, an IV in my arm.
The doctor said it was for fluids, but there was another bag on there that I knew was for pain.
I wasn’t sure why they didn’t want me to know that, but I’d been here enough times to know what I was looking at.
The hospital gown they’d put me in was itchy compared to Rowan’s shirt, but I was trying not to be a whiny little ass right now.
Everyone was being kind and patient with me, but nothing could seem to wipe away the sense of unease I couldn’t rid my mind of from being in the hospital. Again.
Payton walked in with her little clipboard, a smile on her face.
“Are you always this pleased at work?” I asked, my tone sounding more tired than anything else.
She smirked. “Only when I have stunning patients such as yourself.”
I rolled my eyes. I was so tired, I didn’t have time for the niceties of it all. I’d apologize later. Maybe. If I saw her again. “So, can you give me the down low on my injuries, or do I need to wait for the doctor for all of that?”
I hadn’t been awake for long, and I had no idea how long I’d been stuck in this bed. I knew it had taken us a few hours to get back to Raven Creek, but I wouldn’t let Rowan take me anywhere else. So we drove—me in and out of consciousness.
Payton’s smile broke for half a second at my question. If I hadn’t been staring at her and used to the pitying look, I would’ve missed it completely. But I was me, and I was used to those sorts of looks. I hadn’t had one for a while, of course, but they were pretty normal when I was a teenager.
“Normally, the doctor, but I told them I was family, and I’d give you the rundown. Plus, they’re…uhm?—”
“Spit it out, Payton, please,” I said, trying not to sound mean, but at the same time, I was tired and already overwhelmed by this conversation.
“The staff wasn’t sure how you’d feel about a male doctor or nurse here talking to you.
So, they offered to give you space and send me in.
The cops are here, too, ready to talk to you whenever you’re ready.
” She was using her nurse voice. The voice that said she was calm and knowledgeable, and everything would be just fine with her in the room.
I hated it. I wanted the Payton I’d come to know and love over the last couple of weeks.
“I’m fine, Payton. Just give me the gist of it all so I can go home…assuming I have one,” I muttered the last bit, and I could see her brows scrunched together in confusion. I wasn’t diving into this with her. Not right now.
She released a breath and looked down at her clipboard. “You have a concussion, a few mild lacerations on your face and knee, two broken ribs, a sprained wrist, and a great deal of bruising.”
I felt myself nodding, but I didn’t speak.
What was there to say? Yeah, figured as much, my entire body ached, and I tried a few times to get out of cuffs that were on too tight even for a kidnapping.
The longer I sat here, the more random bits and pieces of the night came back to me.
Sam hitting the truck—more than once. Something hitting me in the side.
Falling in the parking lot. A gunshot. Blood.
I jumped when I felt something touch my shoulder, but I looked over to find Payton. “I want you to talk to someone, Aspen,” she said quietly. Words just for us. The two of us in this small, sterile hospital room.
I nodded again. I knew what she meant, no need to ask. She wanted me to chat with a professional, someone who could validate my whacked-out feelings of remorse and regret, and anger. Fuck I had so much anger buried inside of me, with nowhere for it to go.
“I’m going to give Rowan a card for a woman in town, her name is Harper.
She isn’t like the stuffy people I’m sure you’ve spoken with before.
She’s helped me a lot over the years, so trust me when I say she’s amazing.
Just give her a try, okay?” I finally looked up at her and saw the pleading in her eyes.
Only this time it didn’t hit me as pity; it was genuine pleading that I’d normally see on Ivy’s face.
A pleading that came from a place of love.
So I wasn’t surprised when I found myself whispering okay and nodding once more.
She smiled then and gave me a gentle side hug.
“Is he coming back?” I whispered to her.
Payton pulled away and looked down at me. “Who?”
“Rowan.” I felt the tears streaming down my face before I could will them away.
If anyone asked, I’d blame the pain meds instead of the dread I felt in my chest. He’d been here when I’d woken up, but not long after, he told me he’d be back.
But I hadn’t seen him since, and truly, I wouldn’t blame him for not coming back.
I’d shot someone right in front of him. My insane ex kidnapped me and ruined his truck.
I was more trouble than I was worth, and I wouldn’t even blame him if he was finally starting to agree with me.
Payton let out a breathy chuckle and wiped my cheeks for me.
“Oh, girl. I had to beat that man with a stick to stay out there. He went out because he saw some officers trying to come in, and you’d just woken up.
He went out to keep them outside for a bit, and then I came in and told him to fuck off.
Listing out your injuries makes him a bit homicidal, if you understand what I’m telling you,” she said, looking at me pointedly.
I didn’t understand at all, but I nodded anyway, wiping my cheeks again.
“So…he’s not mad at me?” I asked, feeling dumber by the moment.
Her eyes widened. “Why the fuck would he be mad, Aspen?”
“I…his truck is ruined…and I shot my ex right in front of him.” I stared at her for a moment before it started clicking in my head what I’d known all along.
“He isn’t Sam, Aspen,” she said gently, just reaffirming the words I’d just thought. “He doesn’t care about the stupid truck, and he would’ve shot him for you if you had asked.”
A soft knock came from the doorway, and there he stood—my cowboy. He looked tired, but he was wearing a new shirt and jeans now. His black hat backward on his head and a gentle smile across his face. “Hey, little angel,” he said.
“Hey, cowboy,” I replied.
Payton stood from the side of my bed. “Okay, well, I’m going back to work. Dude, please remind your girl how obsessed you are, she needs a refresher because of her head injury,” Payton said on her way out of the room as she smacked her brother playfully on the shoulder.
He glared at her as she laughed, as if the vocal reminder of my injuries pissed him off. Knowing him, that may be true. With his sister gone, Rowan pulled a chair up beside my bed and sat in it, leaning against the bed and taking my uninjured hand in his—as if he couldn’t get close enough.
“How ya feeling, angel?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I’m a little tired, sore of course. But I’m here,” I whispered back.
He nodded, looking down at our hands. I followed his gaze and found myself staring at his knuckles where my name was inked forever into his skin.
I tried to remind myself that I was allowing my anxiety to take hold of my feelings right now, but that wasn’t helping me not feel as if what I was feeling wasn’t true.
“Aspen, please listen closely to what I’m about to say, okay?
” he said, gazing into my eyes again. “You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried with all of your might.
You could crash my truck into a tree or drive it off into a gulley.
You could burn my house to the ground with all of my things inside it.
You could block my number and move to the other side of the country.
I’d just buy a new truck, build a new house, and follow your fine ass across the world.
I don’t fucking care about any of it, except knowing you’re okay. ”
He reached up and wiped the tears that were streaming down my face again. “Fuck, I wish I could stop crying. This is ridiculous,” I mumbled as I let out a breath of annoyance with myself. “You’re spouting poetry at me and I’m blubbering like a toddler.”
He chuckled and then leaned over to press his lips tenderly against my own.
“I want you to heal, feel better, and then you’re officially moving in.
” I opened my mouth to speak, but he held up his free hand to stop me.
“I will not be taking comments or questions at this time. I don’t want to hear any sort of objections.
You’re moving in. I will edge you into infinity—days at a time, if that is what it takes.
I’ll take Oliver’s truck and start moving in your remaining belongings.
You have no choice in this particular situation. ”
I reached over, closing my hand atop his mouth so he’d stop talking long enough for me to get a thought out. “I was going to say that it’s a good thing I don’t have anything else to move in since you’re down a vehicle,” I said with a smile.
Rowan’s eyes widened for a moment before he quickly stood and came closer to me.
Wrapping his arm around the back of my neck, he leaned down and kissed me.
It was somehow gentle but overwhelming all at once.
As if he was terrified to hurt me, but he needed me to understand how invested he was—how sure of this he was.
“Do you promise? No second-guessing or backing out when I spring you from this joint?” he asked, slightly breathless.
I giggled and nodded my head. “Nowhere I’d rather be, cowboy. Let’s do this.”
He was nodding his head and smiling as he leaned down, pressing one more kiss to my forehead. “Step one, force you to move in with me. Check. Step two, force you to wear my ring.”
I felt a blush take over my cheeks as I wrapped my arms around him, burying my face in his neck. “Thank you, Rowan,” I whispered against his bare skin.