Chapter Nineteen
Colton
I lay in the emergency room, the pain finally easing thanks to the medication they’d given me. I’d had my MRI and was just waiting for the results. Aurora had already gone to see if she could get them a little quicker, when I looked over at the door.
I wasn’t sure if it was the medication that was causing me to hallucinate, but I was certain I saw Emma standing there. Then she took a step forward and held her hand up in a small wave.
“Is it really you?” I questioned.
“Yeah, it’s really me,” she said. “Can I come in.”
“What are you doing here?”
She took another small step inside and placed her purse down on the chair on the other side of the room, then took a couple of steps toward the bed.
“Well, last night Dylan and Aurora came over to the office to bring a thank you card, and they gave me a ticket to come see tonight’s game. I wasn’t going to come but then decided that it might be fun to watch you guys play one last time.”
“Alright, but then you’d be at the game?”
“I would be, but when I got there, you were already on your way out and they wouldn’t let me in. Aurora told me what happened, so I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m good, just a little knee injury,” I said, shifting in the bed, trying to fix the pillow.
“Want some help?” she asked, stepping up beside me, adjusting the pillow behind my back so I was more comfortable.
“Thanks.”
“I know you probably don’t want to see me, but I couldn’t stay at the arena knowing you were hurt,” she said, taking my hand in hers.
I looked down at her hand, and then up at her, my eyes locking with hers.
“I tried messaging you after the article—”
I shook my head. “Emma, please…”
Her cheeks flushed as she stared into my eyes. I wondered if she thought she had crossed an invisible line that could never be redrawn.”
“I don’t know how we got to this point,” she whispered.
I reached over, placing my hand on her cheek. “Listen, I got angry that night at the restaurant. I lost my temper. I am sorry. I lost it again over the article. Had I not broken my phone into literal pieces, I’d have been able to respond to your message before now.”
“You mean you would have messaged me?”
“Yes. You see, I never fully admitted to myself how much you meant to me. Having you back in my life made me so afraid of losing you, I held on to you too tight. When I look back on everything, I realize maybe I pushed you away. I did the exact opposite of what I wanted to do. The night Mark showed up, I was about to ask you not to come back here, but to move in with me. The thought of a long-distance relationship made me sick to my stomach because I was so afraid you’d come back here, and he’d get his hands on you and convince you that you should be his, I didn’t realize that I’d literally pushed you to him by doing what I did. ”
“You didn’t push me to him.
“Well, that is a good thing.”
“I don’t think I ever really loved him. Our entire relationship was a lie. Seeing his behavior toward you made me realize exactly what type of man he was. However, seeing your behavior toward him scared me equally. I don’t want to be afraid to move around you.”
“You don’t have to be afraid of moving around me.”
The space between us grew quiet as we both sat there looking at one another.
No matter how difficult I was, or how much I tested her, something in me still wanted to believe she wanted to be with me.
In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t imagine my life without her.
If only I could go back and erase time, especially the dinner where I allowed my emotions to take over, because I regretted everything that happened that night in the restaurant.
“I want to apologize to you. I didn’t mean to send the information. It was a mistake, and even though it’s one I know you’ll never be able to forgive me for, I need you to know how I feel.”
“Let me guess, you are sorry?”
She nodded. “I am. You know that I’d never do something intentionally to you when I know how you felt about keeping that a secret.”
“I know.”
She looked up at me and frowned. “Colton, why aren’t you angry with me?” she questioned.
I shifted over on the bed and slid the pillow that was under my knee to support it a little more in my new position, then patted the bed beside me. “Sit down.”
The moment she did, I took hold of her hand. “I’m not angry with you.”
“Why not?”
“Well, sometimes the things we are afraid of the most have a way of surprising us.”
“I don’t understand?”
“I had my reasons why I didn’t want the news about the foundation shared. I was so afraid of the negative publicity, and I didn’t want people asking questions or nosing into my business. Which, honestly, as I look back now, I realize it was stupid.”
“Colton, you’re reasoning isn’t stupid. Please don’t think that.”
“No, I do, because you were right. Putting that out there changed things for the better. In ways nothing else could change them.”
“What do you mean?” she questioned.
“Well, remember when you told me that allowing people to know about the foundation would grow my image?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you were right. In the first twelve hours of the article being posted, the foundation had more calls from people wishing to donate. Donations more than tripled, which means more people can get the treatment they need.”
“Colton, that is amazing. Your mother would be so proud.”
“She would be proud of you, not me.” I continued. “With the publicity surrounding the foundation, not only are donations continuing to flood in, but so are the recipients. I learned that people only thought they could use the foundation if they could partially pay for their treatment.”
“Colton, that is amazing. You must be so proud.”
“No, not completely.”
“Why not? What’s holding you back?”
“Well, while all the other areas of my life are going well, there is one that isn’t complete. The one you were in. I have little to say except…I want you to be with me.”
She sat there for a moment, and I wondered if she was thinking about everything like I was, about all the time that had been wasted because we hadn’t been together. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life without her.
“So what are we going to do?” I asked.
“Well, you’re in Vancouver, I’m here in New York. My job is here. Your job is…well, your job is everywhere.” She shrugged.
“Well, I’ve been thinking about that.”
“You have?”
“I have. I’d planned to come and see you before I left. While I don’t want you to give up your job, I know for a fact I don’t want to do the long-distance thing either. I have been in talks with Larson and Pamela, and they would be more than happy to employ you to come work for the Dominators.”
“What? Seriously?”
I nodded.
“When would I start?”
“Well, Pamela said she’d have an opening in the new year, so I’m guessing mid-January.”
I could see her thinking it over, trying to decide what she wanted.
“You don’t need to give me an answer now,” I said, wincing as a sharp pain shot up my leg.
“I don’t need to think about it. I know what I want.”
“You do?” I questioned.
She nodded her head, leaned forward, and pressed her lips to mine.