12. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
Rory
M y eyes flick back and forth between my phone that's clenched tightly in my hand and the men sitting in the car that's idly driving beside me as I walk down the street.
I outright refused to get in the car with them and told them I'd be walking to work. I expected them to leave after that, and I was hoping I could then jump on a bus, but instead, they got into the car and are now following along beside me, trying to convince me to get in the car.
Before leaving my apartment, I turned my location on for Chrissie and told her that Kaleb Rossi had been at my door and to check in with me in half an hour to see if I got to work safely, but at this rate, I won't make it to work on time.
Since I've been walking, Chrissie's messaged me sixteen times and tried to call me as well, but I haven't answered because I'm genuinely terrified of the men who are with me and I wouldn't want them to hear Chrissie talking to me, especially if she accidentally slips up with my name again.
These people are obviously already doing a deep dive on me, trying to find out any information that they can, and I can only hope that the fake identity Chrissie and Nathan set up for me will satisfy them and not ring any alarm bells .
I don't need them seeing something suspicious and digging even deeper.
It would usually terrify me to know that people are investigating me, but I can understand where Sophia is coming from.
I could see how much she cares for Jaylen in the short time that I was with her in his room, so I'm honestly not surprised that she wanted to do a little background check on me.
What does surprise me is the fact that she had someone follow me home and then proceeded to tell her boyfriend and his friend to take me to work.
I glance over at the car as I see the red light ahead of them and I work hard to cover the smirk, knowing they're going to have to stop following me.
This may be my chance to ditch them and get on a bus so that I can make it to work on time.
My shaky breaths even out slightly and I wipe my clammy hands against my scrubs as I have a conversation with myself in my head to keep me calm while I speed up, walking past the red light and quickly crossing the road.
A horn sounds behind me, and I turn around, expecting it to be Kaleb beeping at me because they're stuck at the red light, but when my eyes clash with his through the car window that's still beside me, I realise that someone else was beeping at them because they continued through the light and kept by my side.
"Can you get in the damn car now?" he shouts out the window, a scowl firmly set on his face. "I'd rather not kill someone in broad daylight just because you're being stubborn. "
I chew on the inside of my cheek as I glance around, seeing people in the street staring over at us due to the commotion. When I peek down at my phone, seeing that I only have five minutes until I have to be at work, I huff and reluctantly open the back door and slide into the back seat.
My phone vibrates in my lap with another text message from Chrissie, I sneakily glance down at it.
Chrissie:
I swear to God, if you don't reply to me soon, I will be sending Nathan over to London and will have him rain hell down on that family until someone tells me what the fuck is going on!
A giggle escapes me and Leo whips his head around from the passenger seat, his dark eyes staring at me intently.
"Sorry," I mumble, flipping my phone face down and turning to stare out the window.
He's one scary motherfucker.
"Don't let him worry you, he's harmless," Kaleb chimes in.
Leo snorts and shakes his head, making me think that Kaleb's words aren't true.
"You shouldn't lie to the poor woman."
Kaleb turns to Leo with a glare.
"Stop trying to scare her. Sophia will have us by the balls if she turns up to her shift shaking like a leaf," he snaps, his eyes connecting with mine for a moment in the mirror before he turns his attention back to the road.
"Soph would say the same thing I just did."
"Stop calling her Soph. You don't get to give my wife a nickname. "
"She's not your wife," Leo retorts, smirking at an infuriated Kaleb.
I roll my eyes as they bicker and threaten each other, blocking them out as we drive up to the hospital's entrance.
As soon as the car stops, I grab my phone and my bag, and jump out of the car, muttering a quick "Thank you" before running off in to the hospital, putting as much space as I possibly can between myself and the two psychopaths who dropped me off.
After dropping off my things at my locker, quickly calling Chrissie to calm her down and speaking to Markus about the shifts he wants me to do, I hurry out of the room so I can busy myself with work and hopefully forget about the weird morning I've had.
I walk towards Jaylen's room at a leisurely pace whilst my heart begins to beat faster inside my chest with the anticipation of what might be awaiting me in his room.
I reach the door and take a deep, calming breath before pulling down on the handle and pushing the door open.
"Oh, Rory! I'm so sorry about this morning," Sophia says, jumping up from her seat with a grimace on her face. "I know it was probably really weird for you, and likely shocking as well, and I'm so sorry. I would've come myself, but Kaleb wouldn't let me go, so we compromised."
"You do what Kaleb tells you to do?" I ask, genuinely surprised.
Both Jaylen and Sophia make a scoffing noise as she shakes her head and retakes her seat beside her cousin.
"God no. I do anything I can to disobey that man, but he's currently acting overly protective, and I don't really have much choice in the matter." She nibbles on her lower lip as she awkwardly glances around the room. "Anyway, as I said, I'm really sorry."
"It's fine," I tell her, moving over to Jaylen's bedside and checking everything I need to before picking up the clipboard and jotting down some notes. "It was weird, that's for sure, but I was more concerned with the stalking part."
Jaylen's eyes slice over to his cousin and the muscles in his jaw tick before his lips part, indicating he's trying to say something, but no actual words come out.
Sophia smiles sadly at him and rests her hand atop of his.
"Calm down," she says, gently patting his hand. "I just wanted to find out more about her, so Leo followed her home, and when he called me to tell me she took the bus home and walked down the streets by herself, I knew I had to intervene."
"Do all of you make it a habit to talk about people as if they're not in the room with you?" I ask.
Jaylen's eyes flicker to mine, his gaze swimming with amusement.
"It's a bad habit I seem to be picking up on," Sophia mutters, scrunching up her nose.
I shrug it off and choose to focus on Jaylen, considering he is my patient, and I'm meant to be in here doing my checks.
Placing the clipboard back, I walk over and wait for his eyes to connect with mine .
"Is it okay if I check your stitches and rebandage them?" I ask, wanting permission from him to do so in case he's not comfortable.
He stares at me for a moment, then glances over at Sophia.
I watch as she nods at him with an encouraging smile and a gentle squeeze to his hand.
His eyes move back to mine and then instead of blinking in response to my question, he jerks his head up and down, nodding at me.
My eyes widen and I'm pretty sure my jaw drops slightly as I stare at him in surprise.
"You nodded," I state, disbelief evident in my tone.
His lips twitch as they slightly tilt upwards and he nods again.
"Holy shit!"
I slap my hand over my mouth as soon as the words are out and Sophia laughs at me.
"Sorry," I mumble.
"It's a great improvement, isn't it?"
"It's amazing," I tell her, still staring at the devastatingly handsome man who's lying in the bed in front of me, watching every little move I make.
"I came in this morning and Markus told me that Jaylen has started to regain some more muscle movement. He can now control both his hands, his head, and he even started wiggling his toes."
My brows raise and my eyes drop to Jaylen's right hand that's resting on the bed beside me.
After a moment, his fingers twitch as he folds them inwards, scrunching his hand into a fist before relaxing them again .
The movement is slow, but it's definitely a huge improvement, especially considering it's happened over night.
"They're going to be working on his speech soon and sort out a physiotherapy schedule for him. My mum's wandered off somewhere with Markus to speak about it."
I'm not sure what to say or do in this situation, so I just smile and nod at her before my gaze rests back on Jaylen.
He's still staring at me. Honestly, I'm pretty sure his eyes haven't left me since I entered the room.
I smile softly at him before remembering what I'm meant to be doing, so I gently pull the hospital blanket away from his body, folding it down at his face.
My eyes flit up to his face as untie to top of the hospital gown, looking for any sign of discomfort.
He watches me with a crooked smirk painted on his face and I feel my cheeks heat when my eyes connect with his.
Jesus, Rory.
You shouldn't find your patient attractive.
You certainly shouldn't be blushing just because he's watching you.
I pull the gown down to his hips and drag my eyes away from his, focusing on his bandaged torso instead and shaking my head slightly in the hopes of ridding the pink tinge to my cheeks that I know is there.