Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Evie
Today went downhill fast.
Everything had started on a high note. Waking up next to Nick and Matthew, cuddling, eating breakfast. But then I’d friend-zoned the man I’d been in love with for years and he maybe, according to the crowd that had gathered around Nick, had pushed my sort-of boyfriend off a roof?
I didn't know what to think. June drove so fast, we got to the hospital at the same time as the ambulance.
The ER was completely empty aside from us and the receptionist. It smelled sharply of alcohol pads, and the lights were bright and yellow.
June held my hand, and my leg bounced up and down nervously as I waited for news.
It couldn’t be true. There was no way.
Seeing Nick on the ground nearly gave me a heart attack.
I’d immediately texted Matthew to give him a heads up, then everything started happening at once.
The ambulance, the asshole screaming they’d been arguing and blaming Austin for Nick’s fall, everyone whispering as Mateo pushed Austin toward his truck.
As far as I knew, I was the only woman that Nick and Austin would ever argue over. God, I hoped it wasn't true.
There was no way he pushed Nick. There was no way. I knew Austin. I’d known him forever. I knew that he would never do something like that, and yet I'd asked because I had been so frightened that it could have been true.
Fuck. This was a nightmare.
I ran my hands through my hair, fighting back tears. June rubbed my back, glancing around us.
“I don't think Austin would've done that,” she said softly. “I really don't. I'm sure it was an accident. I know what it looked like, but I think that guy was just causing a scene. We know Austin.”
“I just . . . The two of us had just had a conversation,” I whispered.
“And we agreed to be friends. And then I hear screaming and I run out and I see that Nick is on the ground and Austin's up on the roof and I don't even know what to think. Those two fight, they hate each other. Maybe they started fighting and he fell off.”
“No,” she said again. “No, there's no way. There's absolutely no way. We'll find out, but regardless, Austin looked like he was about to have a fucking heart attack.”
I’d never seen Austin’s expression look like that. The moment I said the words to him, I ripped my own heart out. I was so scared, and I lashed out at him. He didn’t deserve it. I was so mad at myself on top of everything else.
“I fucked up,” I whispered. “I shouldn’t have asked him that. I’ve never seen Austin react like that.”
June squeezed my hand again. “He’ll be okay. Mateo’s got him, I’m sure. I’ll stay here with you until we find out what's going on with Nick. I'm sure Matthew will take care of him, he's a good doctor.”
He was a great doctor. More than that, he was a great person.
“June, I had a threesome with them last night,” I whispered. “And Sunday night.”
Her mouth dropped and she spun in her seat, grabbing my shoulders. “What? Oh my god, oh my god. It’s happening. With Nick and Matthew?”
All I could do was nod. “But now I'm worried that keeping him up so late may have caused problems. I don't know. Am I to blame for this? Is this my fault? What if this whole situation is my fault?”
June shook my shoulders. “Don’t be ridiculous. This isn’t your fault.”
“But what if it is?”
She snorted and sank back in her chair. “If they were fighting on a roof, then that's their own damn fault.
And honestly, I wouldn't even be surprised. But I know Austin would not have done this on purpose, I know Nick would not have fallen off a roof on purpose, and I know that if they were arguing about you, it was probably just an excuse to bicker with each other.” She gave a slow nod, narrowing her eyes.
“I grilled Dallas the other night about Nick and Austin.”
“Really? Anything?”
“I mean, the two of them fought so much in school. I think they used to be friends? Dallas is convinced Austin doesn’t like Nick because Nick liked to fuck with his ego, which . . . having met Nick, it checks out. I don’t remember him too well from when we were in school.”
“I remember him a little,” I said.
I frowned, trying to shuffle through memories of that time. I remembered my mom was friends with the school counselor and overheard gossip about Nick. But I couldn’t for the life of me place what it’d been about.
“Who knows what their beef is. But again, it's not your fault.”
“I friend-zoned Austin,” I said. “I didn't want to. I don’t want to just be friends with him.”
“Of course not.”
“But I didn't know what to do. Everything is happening so fast with Nick and Matthew, and I don’t even know what the three of us are looking for? It feels serious but also maybe it’s just sex to them .
. . What if I’m misreading everything?” I leaned forward and pressed my face into my hands. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”
I didn’t want all of this to just be great sex. I wanted it to be falling in love and great sex. I wanted to feel seen. Wanted. Cared for. And I wanted to do that for them too.
God, I was really diving off the fucking deep end with all of this.
“You're going to wait for news about Nick, and then you're going to play nurse to your really hot sexy boyfriend who apparently has cock piercings? Did I hear that right?”
A smile feathered my lips. “Yes, you did.”
“What does that even feel like?”
Despite the horror of everything, I laughed. I laughed until tears sprung to my eyes, and I blinked them back. “It's really, really good,” I choked out.
The doors to the back swung open and a nurse appeared. I recognized her as one of the women in a wine and book club with my mom. She walked over to us with a big smile and a clipboard in hand.
“Hi Evie,” she chimed. “Hi June. Sorry to see you both here.”
“Hi Angel,” I sighed. “Is Nick okay?”
“They’re getting him situated. Not supposed to say anything specific, but I think he’ll be okay. He’s strong.” She wiggled her brows as she handed me the clipboard. “Dr. Jacobs has asked me to relay to you to not worry about him. In the meantime, do you think you could fill this out?”
I looked down at the form. It was all information to fill out for Nick, but I didn't know any of this about him. I didn't know who I was supposed to call when he was in trouble. Did he have family members? Someone I needed to reach out to? Oh god, what about his cat?
“Don’t fret, darling. Just do what you can,” she said. “Are you gonna be around this Sunday at your parents’? We’re reading a new book.”
“Probably not,” I said. “I may try and swing by, though.” That was a lie. I loved my parents, but I had plans that did not include listening to people gossip for four hours.
“Perfect. Well, just fill out what you can, give it to Beth at the desk, and we’ll do what we can. All right?”
“Thank you,” I said.
Angel smirked and leaned in like she was telling us a secret. “He's quite handsome. I remember that boy from years ago. He was a troublemaker then, but he seems to have turned out just fine.”
“Nick is wonderful,” I said.
June raised a brow at Angel as she kept going on.
“I’m assuming you're the woman that he was supposedly fighting with Austin Whynot about . . .”
Oh god. Was the news really spreading that fast? Fucking small towns. My temples throbbed, but June interjected.
“Angel, that’s just gossip,” June said. “You know how people talk.”
“All right, all right. But all of you keep dating each other, so I guess I wouldn’t be surprised if those two were dueling over you.”
“This is not Medieval Times,” June quipped. “There will be no duels.”
Angel was unfazed by June’s scolding tone. “Mm-hmm. We’ll see. Lucky guys. I’ve been telling your mom forever that all the single men in this town are stupid. You’re such a catch.”
“Okay,” I exhaled. “Thanks, Angel. I’ll fill this out.”
She winked and left us. The moment she was out of earshot, June and I looked at each other.
“For fuck’s sake,” she muttered. “I love Whynot.”
“And I hate Whynot.”
She nodded in agreement. “Yep.”
I blew out a breath as I read over the form. “If he has to stay overnight, I’ll need to go by his place. He has a cat named Lucky.”
I hadn’t met Lucky yet, but I was good with cats. I loved them.
June’s brows shot up. “You've known him for a week, and you already want to take care of his cat?”
“Shut up,” I hissed under my breath.
“Been one hell of a week.”
“It sure has.”
“Is your burn doing okay?”
“Yeah.” We both looked down at my forearm and the dressings wrapped around it. “No more hospitals for the rest of the year, I hope.”
“Me too.”
The last few days really had been a whirlwind, but she was right. I’d cat sit for Nick in a heartbeat, no questions asked.
I went through the form, filling everything out that I could.
His phone number, his last name, his address.
That was almost everything I knew about him aside from the fact that he was extremely sexy, too sweet, and really fucking good in bed.
And very good at picking out wine and making Matthew blush.
The doors to the emergency room slid open and Avery rushed inside, Levi right behind her. Her brows pulled together the moment she spotted us, and she looked pissed.
She stopped right in front of us. “There’s no way he did it on purpose,” she immediately said. “That fucker at the hotel is lying. Austin would never push someone off a god damned roof, and I will defend him on that.”
“Okay, whoa,” June said. “Why are you coming in so hot?”
“Because I heard that Evie thinks he did.” She looked directly at me and my mouth dropped.
“You’re mad at me?” I asked.
“If you think Austin did that, then yes, I am.”
Levi grimaced behind her, clearly unsure what to do with himself.
“Everyone is already talking,” Avery said. “It’s all bullshit. But you should know better.”
“I don’t know what to think right now,” I said. “I had a conversation with Austin before this where we agreed to just be friends and then I heard shouting and ran out to see Nick on the ground.”
She planted her hands on her hips. “Evie, I love you so much, but he’s my brother. And god, I know that man is rough around the edges sometimes, but he’d never do this. You know him.”
My chest ached as I looked away.
Avery crossed her arms. “Think about all the times he’s caused an accident and the way he carries guilt around. He still apologizes to us about what happened when Levi, Mateo, and I started dating and it’s been years at this point. No one carries the world on their shoulders like he does.”
“I know,” I breathed out. “Fuck. I don’t think he did it, I just heard that guy talking, and—”
“Austin thinks you think he did it,” Levi butted in, his tone serious. “Mateo has never seen him like this. He’s a complete wreck. I don’t think he’s okay.”
Well, fuck. Fuck. I blinked back tears.
“People talk fast in this town,” June said. “So, I think we need to do some damage control, since everyone and their mother knows him. Angel, the nurse here, already asked us if Nick and Austin were dueling over Evie. And there’s some folks here who hate you guys, Avery.”
Her expression hardened. “I’m this fucking close to burning down the whole town.”
“Okay,” Levi said, putting his hands on her shoulders. “All right, let’s take a deep breath.”
“Don’t deep breath me, Levi Rayburn,” she growled. “I’m losing my mind right now. I feel like everything is falling apart. Why are people so mean?”
Tears immediately sprang to her eyes, causing June and I to exchange glances. This wasn’t like Avery. She was passionate, yes, but she never jumped to conclusions. Something was up.
I stood up and went to her, pulling her into a big hug.
Avery sniffled and slid her arms around me. “Oh god. What is wrong with me?”
I glanced up at Levi, who looked like he was about to melt into the tiles with panic. Is she pregnant? I mouthed.
His eyes went wide and he turned three shades paler. Oh god, was he going to faint? I wasn’t sure I could handle another emergency right now.
I drew back from Avery and looked her in the eyes. “I will talk to Austin and I’ll apologize to him. There’s so much happening right now, and I just didn’t expect this.”
She wiped away hot tears, her cheeks splotchy and red. “I don’t know why I’m a mess. It’s not like I’m the one that fell.”
“It’s okay,” I said gently.
“It is,” June agreed. “How about you go check on Austin? Evie and I will stay here. We’ll have a meeting later all together.”
“Okay,” she exhaled. “Okay. I’m sorry. I love you guys. Levi?”
He grunted, his blue eyes still wide and face pale.
“You good?” she frowned at him.
“Yeah. Sure. Uh. Okay. Let’s go.”
June and I watched Avery sail back out the door, Levi right behind her.
“What in the fuck?” June whispered.
“Didn’t she say she missed her period the other day?” I asked.
June’s mouth dropped and she turned to face me. “Do you think?”
“I mean.”
“Oh my god.”
“Like I don’t want to assume. She had a right to be mad, but I don’t think she’s ever spoken like that to either of us.”
“Agreed.” June shook her head. “Something in the air right now, Evie. I don’t know what.”
I shook my head and sat back down next to her. At least the waiting room was quiet. There was never too much going on in Whynot, which was a good thing. Except for the fact it meant June was right and everyone would be talking about Austin. “Fuck,” I mumbled.
I pulled out my phone and typed out a text to Austin.
Me
Hi, I am so sorry. I should not have reacted the way I did. I don’t think you hurt Nick. Can we talk again soon? I don’t feel like we really said what we both wanted to this morning, then things got out of hand.
June read over my shoulder and shook her head with a sigh. “I’m ready for the two of you to have mind-blowing sex then get your happy ending like me and Avery.”
“It’s not that simple,” I mumbled.
Austin read my text, but didn’t respond. I swallowed hard, wishing I could find more words. I didn’t even know where to start with him.
“Thanks for staying with me,” I whispered.
“Of course.” June gave my hand a squeeze. “You know Avery and I are always here for you. Always.”