Page 109 of Beating Heart
He was a caretaker by nature, but only for the people that he loved, which were few.
And I was lucky to be one of them.
The door sprung open, and loud cheers filled the air around us. Saylor startled, and King pulled her in front of him as her head fell back in laughter. She held up her hand to show off the ring. “I’m getting hitched!”
Hayes was the first one to wrap his arms around his sister, and he spun her around before turning to Kingston. “Welcome to the family, brother. Hurt her, and I’ll kill you.”
Kingston barked out a laugh as he pulled Hayes into a hug, and we all took turns congratulating them.
There was food and drinks that Kingston had ordered ahead of time, and we moved to the area that we’d all helped decorate earlier, and listened as Saylor and Kingston retold the events.
“Don’t you worry, my friends. I had a professional videographer there, as well, so we’ll be watching the video for years to come,” Kingston said, his arm around his fiancée as she beamed up at him.
This was how it should be. Watching these two together—a love that was impossible to miss.
I didn’t even know it was supposed to be like that.
Yet I’d found a man that I looked at the same way.
And I wanted time to stand still right now because I was truly happy.
I woke up happy. I went to sleep happy. And I was happy in between.
I didn’t know life could be this good.
The night was so much fun, as we were eating and laughing, and we’d all been out on the dance floor having a great time.
Nash’s phone beeped, and he glanced down at a text before holding it up for me to read the message from J.T.’s father.
Jay
Can you have Emerson call us? J.T. just fell off the swing set, and I think he might have broken his arm.
I stepped aside to make the call and quickly assessed that he needed to get him to the emergency room right away. I could hear J.T. crying in the background, and I didn’t miss the panic in Cutler’s voice as he spoke to his best friend.
Nash and I said our quick goodbyes before hurrying out of the bar and driving straight to the hospital to meet them. I knew Cutler would be upset to see his friend in pain, and I wanted to be there for both him and J.T.
Because I may be Cutler’s girl… but he was definitely my special guy.
And if he needed me, that’s exactly where I wanted to be.
twenty-nine
. . .
Nash
J.T. had, in fact, broken his arm, and Cutler was sitting on my lap in the waiting area. Emerson had jumped into action the minute we walked through the doors. The hospital had him sitting there crying in a chair, while Jay and Susannah were trying to fill out paperwork, and they were both notably upset.
My girl took charge and got him back into a room with the on-call doctor, and she stayed right there with him. Cutler and I were waiting for her to come out when Jay strode through the doors and walked our way.
He had a smile on his face, but he looked exhausted. “Man, Emerson got things moving real fast back there.”
“I knew Sunny would take care of J.T. Is he okay?” Cutler asked, sitting up and looking exhausted himself.
“Yep. He broke his arm, and they’re almost done putting the cast on him now. He can’t wait for you to see it,” Jay said, rubbing a hand down his face. “Never a dull moment, huh? Sorry to pull you guys away from your night out. But man, that woman of yours sure did make things better for my boy a lot sooner than it would have been if she weren’t here. They weren’t in any hurry before she took charge.”
My chest puffed up with pride. My girl was a fucking rock star.
