Bowen was at the reception desk, his white T-shirt soaked and clinging to his muscular back, his hands balled into fists at his sides. Aaron was beside him, his jaw twitching at the hinges.
“Hey!” I called, jogging over. “What’s going on?”
“Fuck,” Aaron rumbled, pulling me into a hard hug. “Jesus, Remi. What the hell? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” I looked at Bowen, but he just stood there, staring at me like he’d seen a ghost. His face was the perfect picture of desolation.
“Where have you been?” Aaron snapped as he released me, giving my shoulders a firm shake.
I kept my gaze locked with Bowen’s, my mind swirling as I tried to figure out why there was a dark void in his honey-brown eyes, and answered my best friend. “Katherine fell out of her wheelchair. Tim was working a few hours away, so he called me to go over there. I followed the ambulance here and waited for him to arrive. I was just about to leave. What…are you two doing here?”
“Looking for you. You weren’t answering your phone, so this guy showed up at the house, losing his mind. And then I lost my shit when I tracked your phone only to find out you were at the hospital.” Aaron dragged me in for another hug, but I was limp in his arms.
All of my attention was focused on the man I barely recognized who still hadn’t moved an inch, and as far as I could tell he hadn’t so much as blinked, either.
I shook my head, stepping out of Aaron’s embrace. “I left my phone in the car.” Reaching out, I hooked my fingers with Bowen’s. The tremble in his hand was as alarming as it was heartbreaking.
Suffocating devastation rolled off him. I could barely breathe as I moved in closer. On the outside, he was cold—emotionless, even—but as I rested my hand over his heart, it slammed violently against my palm.
“Are you okay?”
As if he needed to truly consider the question, he slanted his head, his first voluntary movement since he’d seen me. “I don’t know,” he rasped, but even that was strangled.
He gave my fingers a sudden tug, pulling me off-balance and crashing me into his chest, his wet shirt soaking the front of my pale-pink dress. A rumble filled with agony escaped his throat as his arms folded around me so tightly that it was almost painful. I didn’t complain though as he buried his face in the curve of my neck, his shoulders hunched, cocooning me as if he were trying to absorb me.
“Jesus, Remi,” he choked out. Yes. Choked. My strong, stoic man crumbled right in front of me.
Why? I wasn’t sure yet, but it was a punch to the gut all the same.
After wiggling my arms from between us, I wrapped them around him, the muscles on his back taut and straining. “It’s okay. I’m fine. Everything’s fine.” I glanced around the waiting room.
Tim and Aaron had formed a huddle off to the side, but all eyes were aimed at us. Bowen didn’t strike me as a particularly proud man, but whatever was going on inside him didn’t need to be witnessed by a room full of strangers.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here.” I looked at Aaron. “Did you drive here?”
He shook his head. “I rode with him.”
“Good. Then take my car back to the house. I’m going home with Bowen.”
Aaron swallowed hard and then nodded, the turmoil of the day showing in the lines on his forehead.
“Hey, I’m really sorry,” I told him. “I should have called. I wasn’t thinking.”
He offered me a tight smile. “Just take care of him. I’m good.”
I gave Bowen a squeeze. “Let’s go home, baby.”
He groaned again, reluctantly releasing me, and I paused long enough to dig my keys from my pocket and toss them to Aaron. He insisted on following us out to make sure I got my phone from my car before we left.
Bowen was still quiet and robotic, refusing to release my hand, so I offered to drive his truck. The scowl and side-eye he gave me were my only real hope that he was going to be okay.
As we drove back to his place, I felt like a total asshole. My guilt magnified when I saw the dozens of missed calls and texts from him. When I’d gotten to Katherine’s house and found her on the floor, her arm clutched to her chest, calling to tell Bowen I was going to be late was the last thing on my mind. Naïve as it was, I’d never considered he would be so worried. I also hadn’t realized it was as late as it was, either.
In hindsight, it was dumb. Epically so. But I was trying to do the right thing. Katherine was hurt and scared. I hadn’t wanted to leave her alone.
