Page 82 of Trick
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 nurseinjected 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 theclubhouse 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.”
