Page 17 of Trustfall
She placed her hand on my arm, and when I lifted my chin and looked into her eyes, I suddenly found myself standing in front of someone I hadn’t seen in a hell of a long time. I could hardly believe who my eyes were seeing.
No. Fucking. Way.
“Lily?” I questioned.
She nodded timidly.
“It’s been forever, does my?—”
“Jameson,” she interrupted, raising her hand, “can we hold off on this for now? Arizona is struggling. She hasn’t slept since her dad was admitted, and I’m really worried because she was at—” She stopped herself from finishing her sentence. “Anyway, what I’m getting at is the doctor won’t wake him from sedation until late tomorrow morning.” Her body language shifted, becoming more closed off as if she questioned whether she was overstepping her bounds. “I realize you’re not exactly?—”
“What is it? There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her,” I snapped.
“Do you think you could get Ari out of here? Even if it’s only for a few hours.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I can do that.”
“Here’s my number.” She quickly scribbled her number in pen on my forearm. “Text me when you can so I can call if anything changes here.”
I stood in shock momentarily as she quietly slipped back into Dustin’s room. Once I regained my composure, I hurried to the nurses’ station, hoping someone might have caught a glimpse of where Ari went. Knowing her, I guessed she wouldn’t have gone far, and I was right when the nurse at the nearest desk pointed toward the supply closet.
I pushed the door open, and my breath caught in my throat. Ari was sitting on the floor, her head resting against a stack of sealed bed linens, fast asleep. I fished my phone out of my pocket and stepped back into the hallway. Once I booked a room at the hotel next to the hospital, I gently lifted the sleeping angel into my arms, all the while silently pleading for her not to be angry with what I was about to do.
After carefully maneuvering her, I exited the hospital and walked to the hotel. With the manager’s help, I made it to the room without waking Ari, the girl I’d walk through hell for, peacefully asleep in my arms. While we were forty-five minutes from Sutton River in the closest city, Rockwood, I was thankful for the familiar face from high school at check-in; otherwise, I would have undoubtedly faced an unpleasant line of questioning when I walked into the lobby with a sleeping woman in my arms.
Sitting in an armchair across the room from the bed, I scrolled through my phone after updating my parents, Jaxon, and Ford on the situation. I was restless and weary like a fish out of water, fearful of the venom that would probably be directed at me when the beautiful spitfire tucked beneath the covers stirred awake.
I had lost all sense of time since I’d closed the blackout curtains, but one thing was sure, my ass was numb. I stood and stretched before moving into the bathroom, where I splashed some water on my face. Just then, my attention jerked back to the room when the sound of Ari whimpering in her sleep had me on high alert.
I moved toward the bed and weighed my options. No matter how I approached the situation, things wouldn’t be pretty once she realized where she was. The last thing I wanted to do was wake her, and yet I also wasn’t sure I could stomach witnessing her in distress either. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she seemed to settle.
The weight of the situation had finally caught up to me as I struggled to resist the urge to close my eyes. Night had fallen, and watching the city below no longer served as a distraction. Instead, I stared up at the ceiling because if I watched Ari—no, I couldn’t go there because I’d just be spinning in circles, much like the oscillating ceiling fan above on an endless loop of indecision.
I was completely consumed by my thoughts, desperately yearning for Ari to see me and recognize that I wasn’t the person she believed me to be. It was all just a front to hide her persistent dismissal. Then, without warning, she jumped out of bed next to me, her eyes wide and brimming with an intense anger directed straight at me.
The calm before the storm felt like a distant memory.
“What in the actual hell?”
I pushed up from my chair and prepared for the verbal lashing I would undoubtedly receive.
“Ari—”
“Arizona,” she snapped with a clenched jaw. “Why? You know what, it doesn’t even matter.” She waved me off, pushed past me, and prepared to dart for the door.
I reacted by wrapping my arm around her waist and drawing her back flush to my chest. The delicate scent of fresh peonies, albeit soft and barely there, drew me in as I lowered my chin to her shoulder and breathed her in.
“Seriously, Jameson.”
I dropped my arm like she was a Hot Pocket and scolded myself internally.
“I will deal with you another time, I need to get back to the hospital.”
“Ari—Arizona,” I corrected myself, “they aren’t waking your dad until late in the morning.”
That caught her attention and brought us toe to toe.
“So, you just thought you’d bring me here without my permission?” Her brows pinched in abhorrence.
