24. Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jaylen
" I really am sorry for my bitchy comments towards you," Jess says as she wheels me out of the elevator and through the corridor. "I was out of line."
"Jess, I've already told you, you don't need to apologise.
I completely understand why you said what you did, and I'm going to work on fixing things.
I've been too focused on my assigned work, and I let that get in the way of what really matters.
I promise, I'm going to make it up to you," I tell her, glancing over my shoulder.
"You can be a real sappy bastard at times, you know?"
"Well, I was raised around women, what do you expect?"
"Fair point," she says, laughing. "Although so was Dominic, and I haven't seen a sappy side to him in years."
"That's because he puts on an act. He has to, especially now. It's expected of him."
"You say that, but Uncle Michael has never acted like that."
"That's because Aunt Lou has him by the balls."
When we get closer to my room, I stretch my legs out, groaning at the ache the movement creates in my body.
"Go on, I'll push the door open for us. "
"Such a gentlemen," she snorts, pushing me forward until my feet bump into the door, pushing it open.
My amusement dissipates instantly when I see Rory curled up on the floor with her head in her hands, crying, and visibly shaking.
"Rory! What's wrong? Are you okay?" I ask in a panic, quickly glancing around the room looking for anything or anyone that could've caused her to be in such a state.
When I see nothing, my eyes drop back to her at the same time she lifts her head from her lap and stares up at me with a panicked, tear-stricken face.
"Oh, thank God!" she croaks, standing up and quickly moving towards me. "Thank God you're okay."
Her arms wrap around me as she literally sits on my lap, sobs wracking her body as she clings to me.
I'm frozen in shock until Jess pushes the wheelchair forward so that we're all now in my hospital room and closes the door behind her.
My arms circle around Rory, holding her as tightly as she's holding me and I rub my hands along her trembling back while her tears soak my hospital gown.
"What happened, darling?" I ask, bracing my hands on either side of her face and pulling away from her slightly, sweeping her tangled hair out of the way so that I can look at her face.
She sucks in a deep shaky breath as her tortured gaze connects with mine and she shakes her head, her lips trembling and her brows pulling down in a frown as more tears trickle down her cheeks.
I let her nuzzle her head back against my chest and I continue rubbing her back .
"It's okay. I've got you," I whisper, placing a gentle kiss against her head.
Jess silently walks into my eyeline and awkwardly waves to garner my attention.
"I'm gonna go," she mouths.
I nod in response and wait until I hear her leave the room.
Once the door closes, I pull Rory impossibly closer to me as I listen to her breathing slowly return back to normal.
"You doing okay?" I ask.
She hesitantly nods against my chest and mumbles, "Sorry."
"Why are you apologising?"
She shrugs as a choppy breath causes a shudder to run through her body.
She's still clinging to me, and as much as I'm enjoying it, this wheelchair is really uncomfortable and I'm pretty sure I've got a metal pole poking me in the arse.
I loosen my arms from around her and drop my hands to the wheels either side of me, rolling us to the side of the hospital bed.
The movement seems to jolt Rory out of the vacant place she's been locked in because she lifts her head from my chest, looks around the room and then awkwardly clambers off me, apologising again as she moves herself over to the chair beside my bed.
I place my hands on the arm rests and grunt as I push myself up, putting a slight amount of weight on my legs so I can hoist my body onto the hospital bed.
Taking a moment to have a breather before I move myself further onto the bed into a comfy position, I watch Rory, taking note of her pale skin and her sullen eyes as she stares at her lap, silently chewing on the inside of her cheek and picking at the skin around her fingernails.
I scoot myself up the bed, fluffing up the pillows so that I can lean against them.
"Come here," I tell her, making a space beside me on the bed.
Her head shoots up and her eyes dart back and forth between me and the space beside me before she shakes her head.
"Rory, come here."
She sighs and stands up, standing beside the bed as she hesitates.
"I shouldn't," she states, glancing at the door to my room. "I can't."
"Yes, you can. I want you to, and I think you need to, so please, Rory, just lay down with me for a minute."
Finally, she gives in and climbs onto the bed beside me.
I loop my arm around her, pulling her against me, and when she releases a deep breath and I feel her body relax against mine, I smile.
We lay there in silence for a few minutes, and when she's finally calmed down, no more shaking, or sobbing, or tremors, I decide to break the silence.
"Are you okay now?"
"I'm getting there," she mumbles, nestling her head deeper into my body as her arm loosens around me. "Was that Jess that you were with?"
"Yeah," I sigh.
"So you took my advice and decided to focus on trying to sort things out with her?"
I chuckle.
"My aunt and uncle came to see me yesterday, and I mentioned what Jess had said.
My aunt spoke to her and then she turned up here this morning.
We both agreed to talk things out and we went on a walk outside, hence the wheelchair and the reason I wasn't in here," I tell her, smoothing my hand down the length of her arm.
"I'm glad that you two are going to sort things out."
"Yeah, me too."
We fall back into silence for a few minutes until she wiggles away from me to peer up at me.
Being this close to her, the golden specks in her eyes stand out against the dark brown that surrounds them.
"You ready to tell me what was wrong?" I ask, swiping my thumb against her damp cheek.
She takes a deep breath and sits up, leaving me cold and aching for her to be close to me again.
"It's stupid really—"
"Let's not start with that," I say, interrupting her. "No matter what happened, I guarantee it wasn't stupid. You're entitled to feel things, darling. Start again, but don't belittle yourself and invalidate your feelings."
She looks at me, shock evident on her face at my response and the corners of her lips tilt up as she nods.
"I walked in here, and when I saw your bed empty, my first thought was that you'd made a miraculous recovery and been discharged, but obviously that was an unlikely event."
My teeth clamp down on my lower lip to contain the laugh bubbling up inside of me because according to Markus, that wouldn't be such a ridiculous thought with how well I seem to be coping with the recovery process so far .
"When I saw all of your stuff still here, and the unmade bed, I just, I don't know…
I spiralled. I couldn't help it. I immediately assumed the worst, and I thought that something had happened to you.
I kept thinking that you'd been taken and were probably being hurt in some way, and I knew that if that was the truth, then it'd be my fault. "
She blows out a deep breath and fidgets beside me.
"I was in such a panic, and I couldn't think logically. There was so many horrible scenarios swarming around inside my mind, and it was just, it was—"
"Crippling?"
She looks up at me, tears swimming in her eyes.
"Yeah," she sighs. "It was crippling. I knew deep down that you were most likely fine, but I can never stop myself from automatically assuming something terrible. I guess I'm just used to experiencing the worst, so now it's always what I expect."
The torment on her face has a stabbing sensation running through my chest, and her words break my heart.
"You were worried about me?"
She nods, and glances away from me as a flush creeps up her neck.
"So, is this the part where you admit that I'm your favourite patient?" I ask, hoping to lighten the mood and put a smile back on her face.
My goal is achieved when she rolls her eyes and swats at me lightly with her hand while a smile breaks across her face.
"Don't flatter yourself, King."
"Come on, you can admit it, darling. I promise I won't tell anyone."
She laughs and shakes her head .
"Yes, you are," she admits. "But it's not like you have much competition considering I only have one other patient and he's still comatose."
"See, I knew it! I mean, it was obvious anyway. I'm always the favourite."
"Wow, okay, so you're just going to ignore the rest of what I said then are you?"
I smirk and shrug.
"All I needed to hear was you admitting to it," I tell her.
She looks at the small space between us and sighs.
"I should probably go and clean myself up."
"Why?"
"Because I look a mess."
"No you don't," I tell her, sitting up so that we're face to face. "You still look breathtaking to me."
Our eyes clash, and I'm positive we both lean closer towards each other.
"You really mean that, don't you?" she asks, surprised.
"Of course I do," I tell her, my eyes tracing every inch of her face. "You're beautiful, Rory. I've never in my life—"
My words are abruptly cut off when she leans forward and presses her lips against mine.
It takes a second for my brain to register what is happening, but as soon as it does, I reach my hands up, cupping her face and drawing her closer to me as I kiss her back.
The kiss is tender, and the softness of her lips against mine has me groaning against her mouth .
Instantly, she pulls away from me and gasps, slapping a hand over her mouth as she peers at me with wide eyes.