Chapter 34
Zac
Aslow, methodical beeping pulls me from the darkness, my mouth tasting like sandpaper as I fight to peel my eyes open. A dull throbbing in my skull causes me to groan, and I blink heavily.
“Zac, honey?”
Mum’s voice sounds like it’s coming from under-water. A soft hand brushes my hair off my face.
Another hand, this one larger, heavier, squeezes mine.
I blink again, trying to clear my blurred vision as a strange room slowly comes into focus. It takes a second for me to register I’m in hospital.
“Oh, Zac.”
The relief in Mum’s voice causes my chest to tighten, then I see her face. Her red-rimmed eyes, the tired smile.
Dad appears over her shoulder, frown lines marring his usually jovial expression.
“How are you feeling, mate?”
I try to swallow, but my mouth is drier than the Sahara Desert. “W-water,” I croak out.
A moment later, a straw prods my lips, and I take a deep pull.
“W-what happened?” My throat’s raw, and I grimace.
“You were in a car accident,” Mum explains, voice gentle.
“A car accident?” The beeping on the monitor picks up as my heart races. My memory is fuzzy, but I was picking my sister up from the formal. Was she in the car? “Where’s Milly?”
“She’s okay, honey,” Mum sniffs, stroking my face. “She wasn’t in the car. She’ll be here soon. The main thing is you’re okay.”
Another thought occurs to me. “My car?”
The look on Dad’s face tells me damn near guts me.
“How bad?”
“Sorry, son. It’s a write-off.”
A strangled sob slips from my lips.
Pop and I put our blood, sweat, and tears into that car. Now it’s gone, just like that.
The hand gripping mine tightens, and I slowly turn my head, wincing at the pain. My eyes land on a dishevelled Noah, his terrified gaze boring into mine.
“Hey,” he grunts, emotion thick in that one simple word.
“Noah,” I whisper, my brain foggy as I lift my free hand to reach for him.
Tears sting the corners of my eyes as he leans forward, resting his cheek on my palm. It’s rough with stubble, and I slide the pad of my thumb over the gravelly texture.
“We’ll go get the doctor,” Dad says, but I can’t tear my eyes away from Noah.
The door closes softly behind them.
“I’ve never been so terrified in my life,” Noah chokes out, a tear sliding down his cheek.
“Shh,” I whisper, resting my eyes briefly before grinning at him. “You heard my mum. I’m fine.”
He lets out a startled laugh, shaking his head. “This isn’t the time for jokes, Zac.”
“How did you get back here so fast?” I ask. “I thought you weren’t getting back until tomorrow.”
His smile freezes, and he pulls away, averting his gaze.
My stomach drops. “What happened? Did your dad—”
“It’s not my dad,” he says, still not looking at me.
“Noah—”
The door opens, and an older woman enters, followed by my parents. She smiles kindly at me, but it does nothing to alleviate my unease.
“Hi Zac. I’m Doctor Monroe. Good to see you awake. How are you feeling?”
“Like I was in a car accident,” I deadpan.
“Zac!” Mum admonishes me, while Dad fights to hide his grin.
“Sorry, Doctor Monroe.”
She laughs. “It’s quite all right. It’s good to see you still have your sense of humour.”
“Who said he had one to begin with,” Noah mutters, and I flip him off.
Doctor Monroe approaches my bedside, checking over my chart. “Do you mind if I run some tests?”
“Go for it,” I say, resting my hands on my chest.
She pulls a small torch from her lab coat and lifts my eyelids, flashing a blinding white light a couple of times. “Is there any pain?”
“Only a dull headache.”
“That’s to be expected.” She pockets the torture device and lifts the bandage on the right side of my head to check the wound. I wince as she prods at it. “This is healing quite well.”
“Great. So, I’ll be back on the pitch in no time?”
I don’t miss the way everyone in the room exchanges a worried look.
“What?” I ask warily.
“Can you tell me what month it is?” Doctor Monroe asks.
“July,” I say, glancing at Noah who still won’t look at me.
“Hmm.” Doctor Monroe nods and writes something on my chart. “And the day?”
I sigh. “Sunday.”
She frowns. Mum sniffs, and my eyes dart to her.
“What?”
Nobody says anything. My chest tightens, and my stomach knots into painful cramps.
“Somebody start talking,” I grit out.
“Zac,” Doctor Monroe says in that infuriatingly practised calm doctors have. “The head injury you sustained was quite serious. You required twenty stitches, and there was some swelling around your brain.”
My stomach leaps into my throat, and I reach for Noah. He grips my hand tight.
“To protect your brain and give you time to recover, we had to sedate you.”
“What are you saying?”
“It’s the fourth of August, Zac.”
My jaw goes slack and my stomach churns like I’m on a rollercoaster that I need to get the fuck off.
August.
“August?” I croak out.
“August,” Dr Monroe repeats.
How the fuck is it August?
I lost twelve days of my fucking life. How can she be so calm?
“I’m tired,” I snap, closing my eyes.
“Zac, honey…” Mum’s voice is pained, but I need time to process.
“Press the call button if you need anything, or if the pain gets worse. Someone will be in to check on you in an hour.”
I grunt in response.
The door opens and closes.
Dad clears his throat. “Zac, son—”
I shake my head.
“I need some time, Dad.” My voice breaks. “Please. Just give me some time.”
He sighs, and I know without opening my eyes that he and Mum are having a conversation of meaningful looks. “Okay, we’ll go home and let Milly know you’re awake. We’ll bring her back to see you later. Noah, do you need a lift?”
“No,” I rush out, my eyes snapping to him as I cling to his hand. “Stay. Please?”
He glances at my parents before nodding. “I can stay.”
Mum and Dad both kiss the top of my forehead before leaving with a promise to be back later.
Once they’re gone, I pat the bed.
“Get up here.”
Noah shakes his head, but I fix him with a glare.
“I almost died, arsehole. Get up here. I need you.”
His face pales. “Don’t fucking joke about that. I fucking thought you’d be dead by the time I got home to you. I’ve never been so terrified in my life.”
“Noah—”
He jerks to his feet, pacing the small space and tugging at his hair.
“This has been the worst twelve days, sitting around and waiting for you to wake up, not knowing if there’d be lasting damage.
The whole time, all I could think about was, what if you never wake up and I wouldn’t get to tell you—” His voice hitches and he stops, dropping his forehead against the wall, his back to me.
My pulse picks up, the damn monitor picking up the change in my heartbeat.
“Noah,” I croak before clearing my throat and trying again. “Noah, please?”
His shoulders slump. “Goddamn it, Kincaid.”
My lips quirk into a smirk, and I pat the bed again.
Heaving a sigh, he crosses the space, and I wince as I make room for him, both of us careful of all the cords and wires connected to me. His familiar scent makes my body relax, and once he’s snuggled into my side, I press my chapped lips to the top of his head and breathe deeply.
“What was it you wanted to tell me?”
“Not here,” he groans.
“What happened in Perth?” I ask instead, brushing my fingers through his hair. “How was your grandad’s birthday?”
Did you talk to your dad? The question is on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t want to put any more pressure on him.
“It was… interesting,” he says, his finger tracing a pattern on my chest. I’m wearing an itchy hospital gown, but I don’t give a shit what I look like. All I care about is that he’s here with me.
“Interesting in what way?” I press when he doesn’t continue.
“Grandad knows.”
My fingers still.
“About us?”
“About me, Nathan, us. Everything.”
I tilt his chin, searching his gaze for any sign of how bad this is. “How? What does this mean?”
To my surprise, he smiles. “Apparently, Nathan and I weren’t as covert as we thought. Grandad knew the entire time. He was waiting for me to come out.”
“So, what your dad did—”
“Had nothing to do with Grandad. He was shocked when I told him what happened.”
I frown. “What did your dad say?”
Darkness clouds his eyes. “I haven’t spoken to him. Hannah interrupted me telling Grandad about you with the news of your accident, and he sent me straight back here on his jet. I’ve been talking to him every night and keeping him updated, but I haven’t answered Dad’s calls.”
“How do you feel about all this?”
He leans forward and brushes his nose against mine. “Relieved.”
Warmth blooms in my chest, spreading through my body. I’m so down bad for this guy.
The pad of my thumb swipes along his bottom lip, and I swallow nervously before asking, “What does this mean for us?”
His brown eyes bore into mine as he says, “Grandad’s not the only one who knows about us.”
My brow furrows.
“A few of the guys were here when I arrived. I don’t think I did a very good job of hiding how worried I was about you.” A blush spreads over his stubbled cheeks.
“The guys?”
“Jasper, Dane, Ritter, Blake, Everett, Doyle, Griffin, Theo.”
The guys.
Over half the team, and Theo.
The cat’s out of the bag.
“They know we’re together?”
Swallowing, he nods.
“Are you okay with that?”
“Zac, I’m more than okay with it. For the first time in my life, I don’t have to hide who I am.” His hand sweeps around my neck and he closes the distance between us, pressing a chaste kiss to my chapped lips, sending the heart monitor crazy again as my heart skips a beat.
“We’re guaranteed to cop shit from them for a while, especially because of the lying,” he says with a chuckle when he pulls away, “but it’s worth it to be able to tell everyone I belong to you.”
“Fuck,” I groan, squeezing my eyes shut and breathing heavily as my dick kicks to life at his words. Mine. Noah Bentley is mine.
“Are you okay?” Concern coats his tone.
“Fine,” I grunt, taking his hand and guiding it down to my bulge. “You just can’t say shit like that while I’m lying in a hospital bed desperate to fuck you.”
He buries his head in my neck, sucking the sensitive skin. “You want to fuck me?”
“So bad,” I admit. “Is that something you might be into?”
“I’m into anything and everything when it comes to you.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Now I’m rock hard and throbbing for him.
Feeling my predicament, Noah laughs and removes his hand, causing me to mutter another curse. Easing himself up, he presses another kiss to my lips, then carefully climbs off the bed.
“I better go before things become indecent.”
“They’re already indecent.” I curse him, biting my lip and trying to think of anything other than my aching dick.
He laughs again. “Get some rest so I can take you home and let you do dirty things to me.”
“Fuck, Noah,” I groan, my heart practically galloping now. “You’re killing me.”
“I’ll be back later.”
When he leaves, I take long, deep breaths, forcing my hand to stay away from my cock and my mind to stay out of the gutter. Eventually, my heart rate returns to a steady rhythm, and the beeping of the monitor lulls me to sleep.