Page 53 of Dirty Little Mistake

I curled my fingers into a fist instead. No. If this was real—if he meant everything he'd said—then he needed to show me with more than just words and heated touches, even if every cell in my body screamed at me to open that door.

Chapter 26

Camryn

Ice scraped against blades. A flash of sequins. Then the sickening crack of a body meeting unforgiving ice, crimson red pooling across pristine white ice...

I jolted awake, my neck screaming from hours curled in the hospital chair. The nightmare lingered, but the worst part was knowing it wasn’t a nightmare. It was real.

"Camryn." Trystan's voice anchored me back to reality, as gentle as his fingers on my shoulder. I forced my eyes open, wincing as fluorescent lights stabbed through my skull. He knelt in front of me, close enough that I could see the stubble shadowing his jaw, and the worry etched in the creases around his eyes.

"Kaia?" The name escaped my lips as I bolted upright, my stiff muscles protesting.

The muscle in Trystan's jaw tightened. My fingers dug into the chair's armrests, plastic cool against my sweating palms. "No change." The words fell between us like stones, and my shoulders slumped under their weight.

When I told Trystan if he wanted to see me again, he'd have to work for it, this wasn't what I'd had in mind, but I was so thankful he was here.

Three days ago, Kaia had a horrific skating accident that brought everyone home. Her dad and stepmom made it back to the States within twenty-four hours, and Trystan was home within hours. She'd been practicing with her partner, Parker, and something went really wrong, and now she was lying in a hospital bed sleeping. She'd been sleeping for days... And there were no signs of her waking up.

"Come home with me." He reached for my hand, his thumb tracing circles on my palm. "Just for a shower, some sleep. Food. I'll bring you right back.

I pulled away, wrapping my arms around myself. "I'm not leaving."

"Cam." The roughness in his voice made me look up. "You've been here for days." His fingers ghosted over the dark circles I knew haunted my eyes. "You're exhausted, and Jax promised to call if anything changes." My gaze held his. I really didn't want to leave, but he was right; I was exhausted. "I promise I'll have you back before sunset."

"Okay," I sighed, lifting to my feet. "But just a shower and food. Then I want to come back." My gaze shifted to the chair beside me, where Owen was still sleeping. "Give me a sec."

I ran my hand down Owen's arm, startling him.

"Kai?" Owen jerked upright, nearly knocking over the half-empty coffee cup by his feet.

"She's still sleeping." I touched Owen's shoulder, his wrinkled shirt telling its own story. "You should go home and get some rest."

Owen blinked, still caught in that hazy space between sleep and waking. His bloodshot eyes found Trystan's. "Yeah." Hispalm rasped against three days of stubble. "I could use a shower, and then I'll come back."

"Jax told Trystan he'd call if anything changed."

Owen's gaze drifted toward Kaia's room. "He hasn't left either."

Trystan shifted his weight, the leather of his jacket creaking. "He won't go. I tried."

Owen nodded. "I'll check on him again before I go."

Trystan's hand settled at the small of my back, possessively. Owen rubbed his eyes before pushing out of the chair and heading to Kaia's hospital room and Trystan led me out of the hospital to his bike.

"Here," he handed me a helmet before pulling his on and throwing his long leg over the seat. He straightened the bike as I climbed on.

The bike rumbled to life beneath us, its vibration thrumming through me. My arms tightened around Trystan's waist as we merged into traffic, the wind whipping at my clothes and carrying away the sterile hospital smell that had seemed permanently burned in my skin. He eased to a stop at a red light and dropped his feet to the asphalt, leaning back as his arms hooked over my thighs and his hands found my legs, thumbs tracing circles.

God, I missed him.

Even though we'd talked every day, sometimes multiple times a day, we still hadn't figured out how we fit into each other's lives. Or at least, I wasn’t sure yet, but that was a worry for later. Right now, I was worried about my friend.

The city blurred past, morning traffic parting around us like water. I pressed my helmet against Trystan's back, letting the rhythm of the bike and his solid presence lull me into something close to peace. Too soon, we were turning into his neighborhood.

The garage door groaned open, and Trystan cut the engine. In the sudden silence, my exhaustion crashed back like a wave. The helmet felt impossibly heavy as I lifted it off, my trembling fingers barely managing to set it on the seat.

"How long are you here for?" The question escaped before I could stop it.

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