Page 160 of Unexpected

I was terrified she was going to hate me. I’d failed her in the worst possible way and spent hours after she’d woken up apologizing. That was until she all but yelled at me to stop saying I was sorry because it was making her headache worse.

She claimed there was nothing to forgive, but I didn’t argue. I wasn’t in a place to argue, nor was I in a place to not give her whatever the fuck she wanted. She told me that I was never allowed to apologize again, so I promised myself I’d spend my life apologizing and making up for it with my actions.

“Luke, you coming?” Josh asked. He’d parked in the visitor lot of the hospital, and I hadn’t even noticed. We’d all become used to the routine of staying with Hazel. Every day it was the same parking lot, riding the elevator to the third floor and waving at the nurses at the station just outside the elevator before heading down the hallway to the right and into the farthest possible room.

Once Hazel had been transferred out of the ICU, one of us stayed with her at all times. Between me, her parents, her sister, and Amanda, someone was always with her, but I was eager to get her home.

Josh and I took the same route, but when we approached Hazel’s room, the monotony of the routine came to a grinding halt. At the sound of raised voices, Josh and I both turned to look at each other in disbelief before breaking out into a sprint the rest of the way.

I pounded through the open door to find Becky sobbing. She was beside herself, trying to calm a belligerent Chris who was yelling at Hazel. She was sitting in her hospital bed with her arms crossed to the best of her ability.

“The fuck is going on here?” I asked in an authoritative tone that silenced everyone.

“We’re leaving. Right, Chris?” Becky said between sniffles.

He scoffed and nudged her out of the way. “Like hell am I going anywhere before I get some fucking answers.”

“Everyone, calm down. What are you babbling about?” I stepped between Chris and Becky, blocking him from a direct path to either woman. Although I wasn’t surprised to find Becky in Hazel’s room, I would have been surprised if she’d brought Chris along with her.

After Hazel woke up in the hospital, and once I finally located her purse and phone underneath the passenger seat of my car, Hazel had several missed calls and urgent texts from Becky. Even recovering from being shot, Hazel responded to Becky and let her know she could use her apartment for anything if needed, and Amanda offered up her time to watch Emmy. Hazel still hadn’t figured out exactly what was going on, but it seemed like she was preparing to leave Chris. Which was why I was surprised to see him.

“She’s the one that put ideas into my wife’s head,” Chris spat as he looked around my large frame to glare at Hazel. “She’s the reason Becky’s leaving me and taking my kid. Hazel left her fucking fiancé, so now Becky thinks she can do the same thing to me.”

“If Becky’s leaving you, then it’s no one’s fault but your own, Chris,” Hazel chimed in from behind me. I peered over my shoulder and gave her an incredulous look. Her eyes were still rimmed with darkness and her arm was hanging in a sling, but she was still ready to fight.

“Now look, Chris. I don’t think you’re going—” I began, trying to keep my tone calm in the hopes of diffusing the situation, but I watched the rage tear apart his features and his face reddened.

“Luke, don’t start throwing your weight around like you can do something with it. I’m going to figure out what that bitch told my wife to make her decide to move back in with her damn parents and take my fucking money and my kid.”

Bitch.The word lit my very short fuse.

“I know you probably won’t understand this because you like to yell and talk down to your wife, but the last thing you’re going to do is call the woman I love a bitch.Especiallywhen she’s lying in a hospital bed. Now, you can leave on your own, or I can make you leave. Which one would you prefer? Because honestly”—I shrugged—“I would be fine with either.”

He gulped and sucked in a long breath through his nose but didn’t let his angry expression waver for a minute. By the way his hands were fisted at his sides and his jaw clenched, I knew he would fight me on it. He was a man scorned and needed an outlet.

His closed fist reared back, and a smile crept across my face.

I think I heard Hazel, or maybe it was Josh, mutter a curse under their breath before Chris’s fist flew through the air, not connecting with anything. His expression dropped as I pushed my forearm underneath his chin and pinned him to the wall. The TV hanging above us bounced when his back thudded against the wall and he expelled a tiny grunt at the impact.

Just as I was about to begin my threatening well-rehearsed speech, hospital security darted into the room, looking more frazzled than I expected.

“Fucking finally,” Hazel sighed, slumping against the bed. “I’ve been pushing this damn button for the past ten minutes.” In her right hand, between the fingers that were not broken and bandaged, Hazel was holding the remote to her bed that also had several necessary buttons that could call the nurse or security.

They were both large men that had trouble catching their breath even as they stepped up to Chris and me. They each grabbed one of Chris’s arms, gripping them tightly around the thick material of his jacket and escorted him out of the room as he muttered curses and other things I didn’t hear.

“Now that that’s sorted, Becky,” Hazel said, turning as much as she could to the woman who had become her friend. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine. Honestly, it’s nothing new. I need to go pick up Emmy from my parents, though. Can we talk later, Hazel? Let me know when you’re out of here.”

Hazel’s brow furrowed, and she eyed Becky skeptically but ended up agreeing.

“I’ll walk you down,” Josh said as Becky tried to slip past him. She mumbled a “thanks” and waved to Hazel and me one last time before she rounded the corner.

“I swear, these fucking crazy men and—”

“The woman you love, huh?” Hazel said abruptly. I whipped my head to her, mouth agape.

For a moment, I didn’t know what she was asking, but I realized I had said those exact words out loud only minutes prior.

---