Page 6 of Complete Me

Swallowing past the unexpected lump in my throat, I manage a reply. “It’s good to see you, too.” In fact, it’s wonderful to see him.

“So, what’s up? Why are you here?”

He asks like I dropped by on a whim. Okay, it might have been a whim. There had been a hard-fought battle with myself over opening closed doors and leaving well enough alone, but I didn’t put up much of a fight. “You were stabbed. According to the news, you almost died on the way to the hospital. And yes, I know, it’s the press, but when they kept you in the hospital for a few days, I knew it was serious. You’ll be pleased to know that I held off visiting until I thought you might be up for company.” Bjorn’s expression is all dopey affection. He’s tiring, or the medication he mentioned is kicking in. And as much as I’d love to, I shouldn’t stay longer. “This is a brief visit, though. I have class, and you look like you need some sleep.”

He rolls his head back and forth on the pillow, like a small child. One with a heavy five o’clock shadow. “Nooo. You only just got here.” He pulls my hand toward him and rests it on his chest. “I want you to stay.”

I glance toward the door, thinking of Kaino. “No one will mind?”

He furrows his brows and frowns. “Who would mind?”

“I thought perhaps Kaino…”

I trail off at Bjorn’s chuckle. “No. Kaino came by to see how I was doing, too. Although they didn’t berate me. Much. But we’re not together. Not now, anyway. It’s been years since I’ve seen them.” I note the pronouns, though I doubt I’ll have a need to remember them. “We dated a handful of years ago, but we broke up. Schedules didn’t mesh, and our focus was on our careers. Gunnar was also going through a bad patch, and I just couldn’t give a relationship my full attention. It was an amicable split.” He attempts a wink, but his eyelids won’t cooperate, so it’s more of a slow blink. “Sounds familiar, huh?”

“A bit.” Okay, maybe more than a bit. “Though it seems the two of you were more mature about things. Our breakup wasn’t my finest moment.”

I try to ease my hand from his, but he clings to it with a surprising amount of strength for someone lying in a hospital bed. “Breakups are rarely anyone’s finest moment. You and I eventually parted on friendly terms, so it all worked out.”

“Please. Have you had a hostile split with anyone? Ever?” Bjorn is almost always even-tempered and amiable. One might even say he’s more of a jokester, if dad jokes count. The only person I’ve ever seen him lose his temper with is Gunnar. I’m sure there’ve been others, but it’s so rare as to be almost inconceivable.

To his credit, he gives my question due consideration. “No? I don’t think so. As you frequently told me, I’m too empathetic for my own good.”

Groaning, I cover my face with my free hand. “God, why do you remember all of my worst moments?”

He presses my palm against his cheek, his stubble scraping against my skin. “Mmm. Your hand is soft. And I don’t think it was your worst moment.” His grin is wide, and if he were more awake, he’d probably be laughing.

“Thank you for that.” I’m positive he misses my sarcasm.

Leaning into my hand, he closes his eyes. “If you keep things amicable, it makes running into exes so much easier. There aren’t any unnecessary conflicts to tiptoe around.” I don’t doubt he’s left a trail of broken hearts behind him.

“You have enough stress from your job and Gunnar.” That seems to make him pause, and for a moment, I wonder if I’ve overstepped. We haven’t seen each other in years, though from how things are going, you’d never guess. Being with Bjorn was always easy. We just never seemed to have time.

He settles deeper into his pillow. “My job, yes. Gunnar, not so much anymore. We’re working on things.”

“That’s good.” And it is. They both deserve some peace after everything life has thrown at them. Bjorn yawns widely, and that’s my cue to leave. He’s wiped out, and I need to get to class. “If it’s alright with you, I’d love to catch up when you’re not quite so sleepy.”

He hums, leaning harder into my palm. “Yeah. I’d like that.” He yawns again. “Need your number.”

“I can make that happen.” I stay still for another minute, letting the quiet settle around us, soaking in the moment as he drifts into sleep. Carefully sliding my hand from under his cheek, I ease myself off the bed and grab a pen from my pocket. Looking for a notepad or something to write on, and finding nothing, I scrawl my name and number on the paper hospital menu, then circle it, leaving it for him to find when he wakes up. With one last, fond look, I quietly slip out the door.

4

Bjorn

Erik throws my Range Rover into park and jumps out. Gunnar was supposed to pick me up at the hospital, but he had some last-minute thing he needed to take care of and sent Erik instead. I’m disappointed, but not surprised. Although he’s been much better lately, Gunnar always was a bit unreliable.

Erik hurries around the front end of the Rover to help me out like I’m an old man. He means well, and I probably should let him, but I’m a bit out of sorts, and so damned tired of the whole being injured thing. I want my independence back. And I can manage to get out of the car on my own, thank you. I reach for the door handle, but Erik puts one palm against the glass, holding it shut, waving me off with the other. “Wait.”

Getting grumpier by the minute, I’m about to tell him what he can do with his mother henning when the front door opens and Pita comes barreling out of the house. He jumps into Erik’s arms, licking him all over. Then Pita catches sight of me, and my heart breaks. My baby whines and scrambles to get out of the arms he just vaulted into, desperate to reach me. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I slowly push the door open. “Hey bud. It’s okay.” If Pita had seen me first instead of Erik, I’d be on the ground, most likely with torn stitches and in massive pain. We’re going to need to work harder on eliminating that behavior. Pita pushes up onto his hind legs, front paws on the seat, and leans into my leg, trying to lick any part of me he can reach. Scratching behind his ears, I meet Erik’s eyes. “Thanks. That could have been bad.”

“No problem.” His self-congratulatory smirk is warranted, so I let it slide without comment.

I’m about to ask for help moving Pita out of the way when Jules comes out of the house, and just like that, Pita races over to plaster himself against his favorite person. Erik laughs and nudges me gently. “You’ve been replaced.”

“I can see that. Geeze. I spend a few days in the hospital after being stabbed, and this is my payback.” I’m only slightly serious. Pita’s reaction stings a bit, but I’m glad Jules has the support he needs. “You know, I still can’t get over how protective Pita is of Jules. I mean, it’s great, and I don’t mind at all. But it’s not what he’s being trained for. Maybe he has a problem with paw-thority.”

Erik ignores my joke and continues to watch my dog love on his fiancé. “Not all dogs have the temperament for police work. Maybe you ought to rethink his training goals.”

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