Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Troy
The hospital room is too quiet.
Not the peaceful kind of quiet—just the heavy, sterile kind that makes every little sound feel too loud. The faint hum of the fluorescent lights. The distant squeak of a rolling cart in the hallway. The steady beep of the monitor beside Ashton’s bed.
I sit hunched on the stiff vinyl sofa against the wall, elbows braced on my knees.
My eyes haven’t left Ashton once.
Luke sits beside me, leaning back with his arms crossed, but the tension in him is obvious. Every few seconds his foot taps against the floor. He keeps gnawing at his fingernails, leaving them chipped and bitten down to stubs.
An IV runs into the back of Ashton’s hand, clear fluid dripping steadily through the line.
His right arm is wrapped in a thick cast and supported in a sling across his chest. I remember the doctor explaining it before they wheeled him into surgery—something about the radial bone being broken in three places.
I blacked out as soon as she started mentioning plates and screws. A dangerous amount of blood loss. A few fractured ribs.
All I really heard was that the love of my life was hurting… and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to fix it.
Now he lies in the hospital bed looking more fragile than I’ve ever seen him.
My gentle giant seems unusually small right now, swallowed up by the blankets, his chest rising and falling in slow, steady breaths.
His face is pale against the white pillow, his lips dry and chapped.
His hair fans messily across the pillowcase, a few strands falling over his forehead.
I want to reach over and run my fingers through it like I always do, but I can’t. Not with his entire family here.
Mark sits near the door, rigid in a plastic chair, slowly flipping through a Farmer’s Life magazine. His expression is blank, his jaw set tight, carved from stone. Debbie sits beside him, knitting quietly. The soft click-click of the needles fills the silence between the monitor beeps.
The rest of Ashton’s siblings stepped out a little while ago to grab food in the cafeteria. Olivia drove down from Shelby Harbor the second she heard what happened.
I’ve been here the whole time. And I know it probably looks strange—Ashton’s “friend” sitting on the couch, staring at him like the world might end if he stops breathing.
Maybe Ashton wouldn’t even want me here. Like always, he’d probably worry about what people might think.
But right now, I don’t care.
I’m not leaving this hospital until Ashton opens his eyes again and I know he’s okay.
Luke lets out a long, exhausted sigh beside me. “I’m so damn tired,” he mutters, scrubbing both hands over his face.
I glance over at him. His eyes are bloodshot, his shoulders slumped forward like the adrenaline finally drained out of him.
“Want me to grab us some coffee?” I offer quietly.
Luke grimaces. “The coffee here is shit, but I wouldn’t say no to a Mountain Dew.”
I give his shoulder a firm squeeze. “You got it, man.”
“Thanks, dude.”
He leans back into the couch again, staring at Ashton.
I push myself to my feet and slip out into the hallway.
The corridor outside the room stretches long and quiet, the fluorescent lights buzzing softly overhead. My sneakers squeak against the tile as I wander down the hall until I spot the vending machines tucked into a small alcove.
I stop in front of them and pull out my card. The machine hums as I swipe it.
I press the button for the soda and wait, staring blankly at the rows of aluminum cans and water bottles while the gears inside whir. A moment later, the Mountain Dew rolls forward and clunks down into the tray.
When I bend down to grab it, a pair of boots step into view beside me.
My stomach tightens.
I straighten slowly and find Mark standing there.
He’s intentionally close, looming over me like he’s trying to make a point. He towers above me, broad shoulders filling the hallway, his arms crossed over his chest. His gray eyes lock onto mine, cold and assessing.
I don’t say anything, and neither does he.
The silence stretches tight between us.
Finally, I step forward to slip past him, but Mark moves first. His hand shoots out, stopping me. Before I can react, he plucks the can from my hand.
“I’ll take this to Luke,” he says flatly. He looks down at me, bushy eyebrows drawn together. “You should go home.”
My jaw twitches. “No,” I say evenly. “I’ll stay.”
His nostrils flare slightly. “I appreciate you helping Luke find Ashton,” he continues, his voice calm but edged with steel. “But he’s with his family now.” He gestures vaguely down the hall toward the hospital room. “You don’t have any reason to be here.”
My tongue swipes across my piercing. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“If you really care about Ashton,” he says slowly, “you’ll leave him alone. You’ll put some distance between the two of you. You won’t jeopardize his future more than you already have.”
For a second, I just stare at him.
Then a laugh slips out of me, quiet and bitter.
Mark’s brows draw together. “What’s so funny?”
I shake my head, running a hand over my face. “You think I’m the one jeopardizing his future?”
“You are.”
“No,” I say, meeting his eyes again. “You don’t really give a shit about Ashton’s future at all.”
His expression darkens. “You should choose your next words carefully, son.”
I step closer, crowding his space. “If you actually cared about his future,” I say, my voice low, “you wouldn’t spend so much time trying to hold him back.”
Mark’s eyes narrow, like he’s daring me to keep going.
“You wouldn’t make him feel scared to chase his dreams,” I continue. “Like it’s wrong for him to have a mind of his own instead of blindly following your wishes.”
The silence in the hallway grows thick. Mark’s fingers tighten around the soda can, the aluminum popping softly in the quiet.
“I don’t think you care about what Ashton wants at all,” I say steadily. “I think the only thing you care about is that precious family name of yours.”
His lips press into a thin line. “That’s enough—”
“You don’t love your kids,” I cut in, my voice shaking now despite my best effort to keep it steady. “You love the idea of them. The picture-perfect version of a family you can parade around town so everyone thinks you’ve got it all figured out.”
Mark opens his mouth to respond, but before he can—
“Mr. Tremblay?”
We both turn.
A nurse stands a few feet down the hall, waving us over.
“He’s awake,” she says.
Relief floods through me so fast it’s dizzying.
Mark and I move at the same time, hurrying down the hallway toward Ashton’s room. The nurse slows as we reach the door, holding up a hand before we walk in.
“Just a heads-up,” she says quietly. “He’s on some pretty strong pain medication right now, so he might seem a little… loopy.”
My stomach twists. “Is he okay?”
She nods. “Yes, of course. Like we said, the surgery went well without complications. He’s just waking up.”
She pushes the door open and steps aside so we can enter.
The room is suddenly crowded.
The rest of Ashton’s siblings must have returned from the cafeteria while we were gone. They’re all gathered around the hospital bed now, packed shoulder to shoulder. Olivia stands closest, leaning over the railing with her arms crossed.
Ashton lies propped up against the pillows, his eyes heavy-lidded. A slow, dopey smile stretches across his face.
He looks… completely out of it.
“You scared the hell out of me,” Olivia is saying, her voice sharp with emotion. “Do you have any idea how fast I drove to get here?”
Ashton giggles. “Sorry,” he slurs softly. “Was accident.”
Olivia sighs, shaking her head, but I can see the relief on her face.
Then Ashton’s eyes drift across the room before landing squarely on me.
His entire face lights up, his smile stretching even wider.
“Troy!” he blurts.
Before I can react, he lifts his good arm and makes a grabby hand in my direction.
“C’mere, boyfriend!”
My whole body locks up, my stomach dropping straight to the floor.
Oh, fuck.
Ashton is high as a kite. He has absolutely no idea what he’s saying.
I bite down hard on my lip, my feet suddenly glued to the floor. “Ash—” I start.
But Ashton just giggles again and puckers his lips dramatically. “Missed you,” he says dreamily. “Want kiss.”
The room goes completely silent. Every single person freezes.
My eyes squeeze shut for a second as I curse under my breath.
When I open them again, Debbie is staring at Ashton like the air has been punched out of her lungs. Her face has gone completely pale. Slowly, her gaze shifts to me, then to Mark.
They exchange a knowing look.
Mark doesn’t say a single word before turning sharply on his heel and walking straight out of the room.
“Mark—” Debbie calls after him, already hurrying after him like a shadow.
The door slams shut behind them.
For a moment, no one moves.
All four of Ashton’s siblings stare at me, eyes wide, while Ashton lies obliviously in the bed, tracing his finger along the bedsheets without a care in the world. There’s still a big, dopey smile on his face.
He has no idea his entire life has just changed—and it breaks my goddamn heart.
Luke steps forward slowly, his gaze fixed on me. His chin dips slightly, his expression hard.
“Care to explain,” he says, his voice low and controlled, “what the hell is going on?”