Chapter 25
Trick/Jase
I hadn’t meant to say the words out loud and didn’t even realize I’d done it until Lauren gasped and sat up in her bed.
I kicked the footrest down on the recliner so I could stand up, then reached for her hand again. In the dim light filtering in through the window, I could barely make out her features, but I could tell she was staring at me in disbelief.
I dropped my head, then reached over and flipped the switch to turn the small light on over her bed.
“Jase?” Her voice was raspy and filled with uncertainty.
“Don’t talk, Lauren. Just listen to me for a minute, OK?”
She nodded, wide-eyed, and gripped my hand tightly.
“I’ve been attracted to you since the first time I heard your voice.” I inwardly winced as soon as I said it, hoping she didn’t realize I was talking about the night she saw me in the hallway with Melina, but based on her pointed glare, she’d connected those dots.
Dammit, I was fucking this up already.
“Then I saw you in the common room, talking to Jagger, Molly, and Ella, and I thought you were the most stunning woman I’d ever seen.
When I told Everly the story about Prince Jason and Lady Lauren, everything I said was true.
I was absolutely fuckin’ captivated by you, and I desperately wanted to get to know you better.
That’s why I made a damned fool out of myself by flirting with you every chance I got, even though you shot me down every damned time,” I chuckled.
She smiled and ducked her head, then peered up at me again.
“Just when I thought I might be making headway with you, you told me about Beau, and how you’d had reservations about getting involved with him because he was a total player. I knew that you saw me the same way.”
She started to object, and I silenced her with a finger over her lips. She huffed, then nodded her agreement, so I dropped my finger.
“When I looked at myself through your eyes, I was ashamed of the way I acted in the past – I am ashamed of it – but I can’t change it. All I can do is promise you that I am nothing like Beau in any other way that matters.”
“You are the only woman I want, the only woman I need, and the only woman I’ve ever felt this way about. I’m in love with you, Lauren darlin’, and I’m begging you to give me a chance to prove that to you.”
Tears welled in her gorgeous green eyes, and she gave me a tremulous smile.
“You’ve proven it already, Jase. You opened up and shared the deepest parts of your soul.
You trusted me with things you’ve never told anyone else.
You protected me and made me feel safe when my world was turning upside down.
I’ve never felt this close to anyone else.
” She swiped at the tears running down her face and laughed softly.
“I was attracted to you from the beginning, but I started falling for you when you introduced me to Prince Jason. I felt like I was seeing the real you, for the very first time.”
She looked up at me, and my heart surged in my chest.
“I’m in love with you, too, Jase,” she whispered.
I reached to cup her chin, stopping abruptly when I caught sight of the redness and bruising around her throat.
I cursed under my breath, then carefully cradled her face in my hands.
I leaned over and kissed her tenderly, pouring as much love into it as I could.
It was more intimate than it was passionate, and it was the best damned kiss I’d ever had.
When I pulled back, I glanced around the room and had to laugh.
“Jesus,” I muttered. “I told you that I didn’t want to hide our relationship while we were in the shower, and now I tell you that I’m in love with you in a fuckin’ hospital room.
There’s not even room for me to get in bed and cuddle with you.
I’m sorry, darlin’. I promise I’ll pick more romantic spots from here on out. ”
She laughed out loud, then winced. I immediately reached for the water on the bedside table and handed it to her. She sipped it gratefully, then handed the cup back to me.
“I’m going to buzz the nurse to see if it’s time for you to have more pain meds,” I told her.
When the nurse responded a few minutes later, Lauren mentioned that she needed the restroom as well.
I offered to help her, but she gave me a look that let me know that wasn’t going to happen.
I raised my hands in surrender and sat back down while the nurse helped her maneuver the portable IV unit into the bathroom.
Once Lauren was back in bed, the nurse injected more meds into the IV and changed out the bag of fluids before leaving us alone again.
I frowned as I noticed how exhausted Lauren looked, the dark circles under her eyes standing out even more against the extreme paleness of her skin.
“You need to sleep, Lauren. We can talk more in the morning.”
She nodded, then settled back against the pillow. I turned off the light, then lay back in the recliner, hiding my groan as I was reminded how uncomfortable the fucking thing was. It actually made me miss the damned twin bed in Lauren’s guest room.
“I love you,” she rasped, and I smiled into the darkness, feeling more at peace than I’d ever been before.
“I love you, too, darlin’.”
Lauren dozed fitfully at first, until the pain medication fully kicked in and she fell into a deeper sleep.
I drifted off, only to wake up in a cold sweat with my heart racing.
Every time I closed my eyes after that, I saw that motherfucker with his arm wrapped around her neck, and the stark fear in her expression as she struggled to get away.
Sheer exhaustion pulled me under around five in the morning, and I woke again two hours later when the nurses changed shifts, and the new one came in to check on Lauren.
He showed me where the coffee pot was in the corner of the waiting room. “It’s not the best,” he shrugged, “but at least it’s caffeinated. There’s also a gourmet coffee place on the first floor if you want to run downstairs.”
I didn’t want to leave Lauren alone long enough to do that, and I was used to bad coffee, since the stuff at the clubhouse often tasted pretty shitty depending on who’d made it that morning.
I had a few cups over the next couple of hours as I fielded texts from everyone in the club, except Ace, of course.
Lauren was restricted to soft foods for the next two days, and she wasn’t impressed with the bland scrambled eggs and applesauce from the cafeteria.
I promised to make her something much better as soon as we got home, then asked if she wanted to stay at the clubhouse or go back to the duplex.
She barely hesitated before telling me she wanted to go back to the duplex.
“I’ll have Rod pack up all the cat’s shit and take it back home for you, that way we only have to worry with getting your personal things once you’re released.”
When she asked if I’d be packing up my things, too, I said, “I told you that evening in the diner that I was ready to go home with you anytime you wanted. I wasn’t joking, darlin’.” I grinned and gave her a wink.
“I’ve missed that,” she said wistfully. When I cocked my head and looked at her in confusion, she explained, “you winking at me. You haven’t done it in a while.”
I raised a brow. “That’s because I was told that you thought I had some kind of medical condition that caused my eye to twitch. If Jagger lied to me about that, I’m gonna beat his fuckin’ ass,” I growled.
Lauren blushed and hid her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking as she tried not to laugh. “I’m so sorry,” she said, between giggles.
“So you did say that?” I clarified, my lips twitching as I watched her trying to control herself.
“I’m afraid so. You were driving me crazy with all the flirting, and it just came out when I was talking to Molly. I really am sorry,” she said earnestly, then ruined it by giggling again.
“When you’re feeling better, I’m gonna make you pay for that,” I warned her. Judging by her impish grin, she wasn’t too worried.
My phone rang, and I saw that Ella was calling me via FaceTime. I answered and almost dropped my damned phone when Viking’s face filled the screen instead.
“You aren’t Ella,” I accused. “You damned near gave me a heart attack, old man.”
“She called you for me from her phone ‘cuz I couldn’t figure out how to do this fuckin’ FaceCall bullshit from mine.”
He was holding Ella’s phone way too close, so my entire screen was filled with a close-up of his face. It was not a good look.
Knowing that he was calling to talk to Lauren, not me, I flipped my phone around and handed it to her, then told her I was going to run down the hall to check on Tony while they talked.
I was relieved to see that he was looking much better than he had looked when they loaded him into the ambulance the night before. “They’re gonna discharge me around noon,” he said, then asked about Lauren. I gave him an update, and he apologized for not protecting her.
“That’s not on you, man. JD fooled every damned one of us. I trusted him, too.”
After assuring him that Lauren didn’t blame him at all either, I hurried back to her room. She and Viking were just finishing their call, and she promised him that we would stop by to visit with him as soon as she felt up to it.
“Good. I need to see for myself that you’re OK, girlie, and this bullshit FaceCallin’ just ain’t cuttin’ it.”
She was laughing as she ended the call, then handed my phone back. A text from King came in a few minutes later.