Chapter 14
Fourteen
Liam
“You don’t have to stay over,” Bristol tells me, yet again. She’s stretched out on her mattress, and I’m seated on the desk chair, pulled up alongside her bed.
Me leaving is the absolute worst idea.
“Well, I’m not leaving you alone. You don’t have a roommate. Is there anyone else I can call for you?”
“I’m fine. I just need to sleep it off.” She closes her eyes and feigns sleep.
“Like a hangover?” I’m skeptical. She’s fainted more than once today. I’d be an asshole if I left her all alone.
My instinct tells me to take her to the emergency room.
Her silence irritates me, and I scoot closer, the chair squeaking against the linoleum flooring, forcing her to open an eye as she glares at me.
“I’m trying to sleep, Moretti.”
All the lights are still on in her dorm room. I don’t think she’s actually trying to sleep, it’s more of her way to shut me up.
I’m learning to speak Bristol Greyson a little too well.
Pursing my lips, I have an idea.
She’s going to hate me for it, but well, she already hates me.
“Remember that bet?”
Bristol grumbles under her breath.
“I don’t think I’m up for going out, Liam.” Her nostrils flare, and she gives me the side-eye.
Oh yeah, she’s definitely going to hate me even more.
Good.
“I’m calling it.”
“What?” her brow twitches, and she rolls onto her side, keeping her legs outstretched. “What are you yammering on about?”
“I’m going to take you out on that date tonight.”
She snorts. “Do I really look capable of going out tonight, Liam? Read the fucking room.”
A smirk falls on my lips. “Oh, I am. You’re accompanying me where I want to go.”
“Fuck off.” She throws up her hand, giving me the finger. I imagine it takes her a lot of energy, based solely on the expression she’s wearing.
I lean closer, getting in her face, riling her up. “I love your energy.”
“You’re a real piece of trash, Liam. Forcing me to go out with you when I’m sick.”
I glance at my phone, checking the temperature this evening, to make sure it’s not too chilly and if she’ll need a light coat before going out.
“Hate-date,” I say with a smirk. “Let’s call it what it is.”
She snips at me, “At least you have one thing right. The only thing we’ll ever agree on.”
I pull up the maps app on my phone and type in the location of where I want us to go. I keep it out of her sight. There’s zero chance she’d agree with my decision.
I shove my phone back into my pocket. I retrieve her keys and lift Bristol into my arms.
“Are you planning on carrying me on our date?” Her arms wrap around my neck, but it’s only for support. “I hate you,” she grumbles into my ear.
“I’m sure you’ll hate me even more after.”
“Why? Do you plan on forcing yourself on me?”
I bite down on my bottom lip.
Her remark stings, but I choose to ignore it.
I carry her out of her dorm room, and thankfully, the door locks automatically behind us. I bring her down to the elevator, and she rests her head on my chest. I hit the button to go down.
For a moment, I can’t tell if she’s falling asleep or passing out.
Until she opens her mouth, and the silence vanishes. “You can put me down. I’m capable of walking.”
I’m not sure that she is—without passing out.
“Only if you’ll let me keep an arm around you.” I don’t want to risk her fainting and hitting her head.
“Fine,” she snarls at me, and I carefully place her feet on the ground in front of the elevator.
The doors open, and she steps inside, swaying slightly, but my hand is around her waist, keeping her upright.
I press the button for the main floor and feel her back up, pressing her body against mine.
My arms encircle her waist, and for a moment, if I forget all the shit from today, this might actually feel nice. Like a couple.
But Bristol and I aren’t anything but complicated not-friends. I’m not sure if we still qualify as enemies. After tonight, we might once again.
I’ll take my chances.
The elevator doors open, and I walk out with her, accompanying her to my vehicle. She sways a bit, unsteady on her feet, but I’m right there, my arm against her waist, holding her to me.
Once we’re both situated in the car, I use the maps app to get us to the destination, because I’m not that familiar with the area.
Ten minutes later, I’m pulling up out front of Great Falls Emergency Room.
Bristol lets out a huff.
“You fucking didn’t. You want to go here. On our date?” She points at the entrance as I pull up at the front and park the car long enough to grab a wheelchair.
“I want you to feel better.”
“The ER can’t do anything for me, Liam. This is a colossal waste of time.”
“Such a big word,” I taunt her, doing my best to distract her. “You owe me one date. This is my date.”
“You’re fucking weird.” Bristol shakes her head but doesn’t tell me no.
“If the situation were reversed, and I was the one fainting, would you want me to go into the ER to get checked out?”
Her eyes glint with anger. “I’d kick you out of my car and let you die on the side of the road.”
“I don’t believe you.” I help her into a wheelchair and then stroll her inside past the front entrance. “Don’t go anywhere.”
“Where the hell am I going to run off to?” I hear her shouting back at me.
I run back to the car to park it in the lot nearby and jog back inside.
By the time I’m inside, merely two minutes later at most, Harper has a clipboard with a stack of papers to fill out. She shoves them at me.
“The paperwork is yours, sweetheart.”
“Sarcasm looks good on you,” I say with a smile. I glance down at the blank pages. She’s filled nothing out.
Okay, this should be interesting.
I know her first and last name.
“Date of birth?” I ask.
She gives me the information along with her legal address.
“I also need your insurance information.”
Bristol digs into her pocket for her phone and shoves it at me.
“It’s under the case.”
I unclasp the case, and behind it are her insurance card and her identification.
“Bristol,” the triage nurse calls her first name, and I push her in the wheelchair into the small room.
“You can fill out the rest of the forms out there,” the triage nurse informs me while ushering me out of the room and closing the door behind them.
I take a seat, copying the insurance information over and putting my name down as one of her emergency contacts.
I stare at the box beneath my name. Relationship to patient.
Boyfriend won’t suffice. They’ll never let me back if I don’t put I’m a blood relative. Husband? We’re not wearing wedding bands, and she barely looks eighteen.
I opt for brother, which may or may not end well for me.
This whole night is a disaster in the making.
Besides, Bristol already hates me, which at least makes a sibling relationship believable in this place.
I fill out as much as I can and wait for Bristol, in case she has any allergies or other medical information to include on the forms. I certainly don’t know the date of her last period or all of her current symptoms.
I marked the obvious one: fainting.
Waiting for Bristol, I play with her phone, trying her month and date to unlock her device.
Bingo.
That was way too easy.
She’ll end me if she realizes I have access to her phone. I scroll through her contacts and land on Dad.
I know she’s close with her parents, at least I’ve seen her at games with her father recently.
Yes, she asked me not to contact anyone, but that was before we went to the emergency room. Besides, won’t he see the bill? Isn’t it better for him to know what’s going on with his daughter?
I send myself his contact information before messaging him from my phone.
Liam: Hi, I’m friends with your daughter, Bristol. She fainted this afternoon on campus. I drove her to the ER. I’ll stay with her and keep you updated.
Within seconds, my phone rings.
“Hello?”
“Is Bristol okay?” Kyler’s voice is filled with concern. I recognize it from the press conferences I’ve seen of him on television.
I’ve always imagined what it’d be like to talk to an NHL player. I never thought it’d be over the phone, discussing his daughter’s health.
“She’s with the triage nurse right now.” Guilt ebbs at me. Maybe I shouldn’t have worried her father, at least until after we knew what was going on.
“I’m glad you called. She will probably need I.V. fluids. In the past, that seems to have helped.”
The door to the triage nurse’s office opens. “Bristol is coming back, I should go.”
“Yes, please text and keep me updated,” Kyler says.
I stand, helping wheel Bristol back to the waiting area with me. “Who were you on the phone with?” Bristol asks.
I ignore her question and bring her to sit in front of my chair. “You might want to fill out the last of these questions.” I hand her the clipboard and pen.
“Brother?” She glances up at me, glaring, and inhales sharply. “What kind of brother takes his sister on a date to the emergency room?”
Thankfully, the emergency room is empty, or there might be some questionable eyes shooting my way right now.
“The kind who cares about her?” My voice raises an octave. “I can wait here when you go back.”
Bristol shakes her head and winces. “No. If I’m going to be dragged back there, you’re coming with me.”
She glances down at the forms, jots the information necessary and shoves it back at me to hold on to.
“Worst date ever,” she mutters under her breath.
“The worst date would be if I’m the reason that you’re in the ER.”
“You are the reason I’m here!”
Exhaling, I stare at her, not the least afraid of Bristol. I don’t back down, not with her, not ever. “That’s not fair.” I pin her with my stare, and she finally glances away. “I only suggested this to help you. Do you think this is what I wanted for our first date?”
“We’re not going on a date, Liam.” She folds her arms across her chest.
“And why not?” I ask, pushing her for an answer. I half-expect her to tell me that this is the date and I have to suck it up.
“You hate me for starters. Why would you want to date someone you hate?” She raises an eyebrow, waiting for my answer.
“I don’t hate you—”
Bristol doesn’t look the least bit convinced, and I’m not about to pour my feelings out to her. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure what I feel for her. The girl knows how to leave a man conflicted.
“Well, I hate you. You stress me out. You make everything a million times worse because—”
Her words sting, but I don’t so much as flinch. “Because what?” I ask, waiting for her to elaborate.
“Because you’re … you!”