Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Anthony walked her to the elevator and then to the fifth-floor room in the South Patient Tower, where Carson had been moved after being released from ICU in the Saperstein Critical Care Tower earlier in the week. He’d made a joke about “graduating” from ICU.
His hospital stay had been extended because his erratic blood pressure had required more extensive monitoring than what was provided outside the ICU. Now, after four days of a normal BP, he was cleared for release.
Although she was thankful for everything the medical staff had done to save Carson, she wanted to get him out of this place and never come back for the rest of her life.
When she walked into his room, he was seated on the bed, wearing a pair of the joggers he’d been living in at the hospital, along with a long-sleeved T-shirt.
He’d been plagued by chills since the surgery and had been wearing long sleeves and sweatshirts to stay warm.
He was still far too pale for her liking, but his gorgeous brown eyes lit up with pleasure, as they did every time she walked into the room.
“There you are.”
“Here I am. Are you ready to get the heck out of here?”
“So ready. The nurse said to let him know when my ride was here.”
“I’ll go tell them, boss,” Anthony said.
“Thanks.” Carson held out his arms to Cresley, and she walked into his embrace. “Couldn’t wait to see you.”
She ran her fingers through his thick, dark hair. “Same.”
“How’s Ty?”
“He was mad that he couldn’t come to pick you up, but he said to tell you he’ll be home at three twenty-two and will get you anything you need.”
Carson chuckled. “Three twenty-two, huh?”
“And not a minute later.”
“I’ll look forward to that.”
They were still holding each other when Anthony returned with the nurse and the wheelchair that would take Carson to the exit.
“I really don’t need that,” he said of the chair.
“Hospital policy, my friend. We see you safely to the exit, and you take it from there.”
“All right, then.”
Cresley was glad the nurse insisted, because despite what Carson thought, there was no way he could walk all the way to the exit.
Watching him grimace in pain as he moved from the bed to the chair made her heart hurt the way it had every time it’d happened over the last week.
Despite his assurances that this was in no way her fault, she still felt responsible for every ache and pain he’d experienced.
Because he’d refused all narcotics, managing the pain had been a huge challenge.
Over the last two days, however, he seemed to have turned a corner, with the pain finally letting up somewhat.
She hoped that wherever he was, Marlon was experiencing a fraction of the agony he’d caused for Carson—and her and Ty by extension.
Escorted by Anthony and two of Carson’s other guys, they made their way to the lobby.
Anthony had sent another guy ahead to get Carson’s SUV, which was idling at the curb when they emerged into bright sunshine.
“Hey, you got the car fixed!” Carson said.
“Cresley took care of that,” Anthony said.
Carson glanced at her. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Please, it was the least I could do,” she said with a shy smile.
“It looks good as new, boss,” Anthony said as he held the passenger door for Carson.
“I want to sit in the back with Cresley.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Anthony and Cresley helped Carson up and into the vehicle, a process that left him sweating and gasping.
Cresley’s stomach turned in sympathy. “What do you need?”
“Just a second to catch my breath.” He glanced at her. “Don’t worry. I’m okay.”
He said that a dozen times a day, even at times when he was most definitely not okay.
Cresley went around the vehicle to get in the other side. “Can I put your seat belt on?”
“I’ll do it.”
He moved slowly and painfully to stretch the seat belt across his body and fasten it, wincing when it pressed against his healing wounds.
“Would you be safer without it?” Cresley asked.
“Nah, it’s okay, but don’t hit anything, Anthony.”
“You got it, boss.”
She reached for his hand and noted that his palm was sweaty, which happened when he was hurting.
As Carson put his head back and closed his eyes, she noticed he was paler than he’d been in days.
With a second to spare, she pulled out her phone to check the statement that Teagan needed her to approve.
A statement from Cresley Dane on the events of last week…
For some time, I’ve been locked in a dispute with my son’s father, Marlon Beckett, who has repeatedly demanded money in exchange for not contesting the long-standing court decree that gave me full custody of our son.
Recently, I had stopped paying him and had received a restraining order that required him to stay away from us while we waited to resolve the matter in court.
Over the course of twenty-four hours, Mr. Beckett violated the restraining order and committed numerous crimes.
He entered my yard without permission at night.
The next day, he ran his truck into the SUV I was riding in, pushing that vehicle into traffic, where it was hit a second time.
He left the scene of the accident and went to our son’s school, trying to sign him out.
Thankfully, he was stopped by the school staff, who knew he wasn’t authorized to remove my son from the school.
Later that night, he again breached my yard, activating the motion-sensitive lights.
My friend Carson Remington went out to confront him and was stabbed by Mr. Beckett.
Mr. Remington underwent five hours of emergency surgery and has spent the last week recovering from serious injuries at Cedars-Sinai, while law enforcement has searched for Mr. Beckett.
Needless to say, my son and I have been traumatized by these events as well as the devastating injuries to Mr. Remington.
At this time, my sole focus is on my friend’s recovery and the well-being of my son.
I want to thank everyone who has reached out with care and concern during this difficult time.
I’ll have nothing further to say about this incident, and all questions about the case should be directed to the LAPD.
Cresley figured that Teagan had gotten the details from the police reports since Cresley hadn’t talked to anyone but Marlene about what’d transpired that night at her home. She texted Teagan. The statement is good to go. Thank you.
Will get it right out, Teagan replied.
“Everything okay?” Carson asked without opening his eyes.
“Just taking care of a little bit of business.”
“You don’t have to spend every minute with me, you know. You’ve got a business to run.”
“That’s all on hold for now. Don’t worry about it.”
“I will worry about it.”
“You need to only focus on resting and getting better.”
He reached for her hand. “That’s not all I’m focused on.”
“It should be.”
“Well, it isn’t. I’m focused on you and Ty, too.”
“I’m expecting to hear from school that he was useless today because he’s so excited you’re coming home. Well, it’s not ‘home’ exactly, but we’ve been enjoying it. Did I tell you Cass Elliot used to live there?”
That got him to open his eyes. “What? That’s where Isla had been staying? In Mama Cass’s house?”
“Yep, there’s all kinds of cool memorabilia.”
“I can’t wait to see that.”
“Isla told me that Julian totally geeked out about it when he first saw it and introduced her to Cass’s music and other artists from Laurel Canyon’s musical heyday. She’s now a huge fan.”
“We were weaned on the music from that era. Our grandmother was a singer and songwriter who was friends with them all. I can’t believe you’ve been staying at Mama Cass’s house and didn’t tell me.”
“I’ve had a few other things on my mind.”
“Just so you know for the future, something like that would be headline news in my world.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Headline news is you’re out of the hospital and on the road to a full recovery.”
“I’m sorry this has been so stressful for you. I hate that I put everyone through such an ordeal. I’ve seen more of my mother in the last week than I have in the last year.”
“You scared the hell out of us, but as you tell me, it wasn’t your fault.”
“It’s weird to suddenly be a victim of a violent crime.”
“I know. I feel like my whole world was turned upside down by something completely outside my control, and I wasn’t even the one who was stabbed.”
“This happened to both of us, and to Ty. I totally understand feeling undone by it.”
“I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to go back to that house that I once loved so much. All I can see when I think about that place is you, lying in the grass, covered in blood.” She shook her head, wishing that she could erase the horrifying memory.
“We’ll find a new place.”
“We will?”
“Yeah. As soon as I can get around without a problem, we’ll deal with all the challenges, including where to live. We have to take it one step at a time, though. Let’s get through today, and then we’ll see what tomorrow brings.”
Cresley wanted to remind him of how he’d told her, way back in the beginning…
What was that, like two weeks ago now? That he didn’t want to be involved in anything that smacked of a dreaded relationship.
Yet, with everything he said and did, they became more enmeshed in something that was starting to feel an awful lot like that.
In the midst of all the pain of the past week, she was afraid she was also setting herself up for massive heartbreak since her feelings for him had gotten bigger with every passing day.
And it wasn’t only due to the trauma or the fact that he’d taken a knife to protect her and Ty or anything other than being with him made her happy, even when they were curled up together in a hospital bed.
The more time she spent with him, the harder it became to picture a future that didn’t include him front and center in her life and Ty’s.
But he’d told her he didn’t want that—and he’d meant it.