Page 13 of Burned By Love

The ambulance eventually stopped.Jonathan blinked his eyes open in time to see the back doors open.West stayed by his side as Jonathan was unloaded and brought into the hospital.

“What happened to you?”a nurse asked as she reached Jonathan and West.She looked West up and down, clearly alarmed.

“Fire at the grocery store.I’m fine,” West reassured her.“But Jonathan needs to be checked out.He inhaled a lot of smoke, and a shelf fell on top of him.”

Jonathan glared at West.“You don’t have to tell everyone that.”

“Marcy’s a nurse.She needs to know what happened to you.”

More nurses arrived, along with a doctor.They all seemed to know West, which wasn’t a surprise considering his job.West told them everything they needed to know about Jonathan and what had happened to him.Jonathan didn’t miss how focused West was on him.It made him feel flustered and made his heart race.

It wasn’t a good idea since he was hooked up to a heart monitor.

The beeping increased, alarming everyone.Jonathan tried to take a deep breath so he could calm down, but the only thing that happened was that he ended up coughing.

It was harsh and wracked his chest.It felt as if he was about to cough up one of his lungs, and he reached out, grabbing West’s hand and squeezing it tight as he tried to get through it.

A nurse placed an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose.Someone was rubbing his back, and from the touch, he could tell it was West.He had no idea how he could guess, but he was sure of it.

“Breathe,” West said.

“I’m trying,” Jonathan wheezed.

“Try harder.”

Jonathan glared, but West had managed to snap him out of it.He was careful when he sucked in a breath, then another, and finally leaned back.

“West, you’re going to have to leave,” Marcy, the nurse, said.She looked apologetic but firm.

For a second, Jonathan panicked and clung to West’s hand.He didn’t want to let go.He didn’t want to be left alone, even though no one here would hurt him.

“Can I stay?”West asked, giving her puppy eyes.“He’s my fiancé.”

Jonathan arched a brow.He’d been upgraded from boyfriend to fiancé?He didn’t even have a ring.

Marcy and the doctor exchanged a glance.The doctor nodded.“You can stay.Your man doesn’t seem to be too badly hurt.There’s definitely something up with his lungs, so we’ll have to check that.I’d like to keep him here for a few hours, maybe the rest of the day.I want to keep an eye on him.”

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t go anywhere.He’s a runner,” West teased.

Jonathan glared at him.He wasn’t a runner.Hell, he could think of nothing worse than running.He’d never understand why people did it willingly.

Everything went quickly after that.Jonathan was tired, and his eyes slid close a few times.He tried his best to stay awake because the sooner he was out of there, the better, but eventually, he was placed into a room, and he allowed himself to doze off.

“Where is he?”a loud voice asked, waking him up.

Jonathan blinked at the ceiling and realized he and West were still holding hands.West gently pulled away just in time for the door to open.

Caleb rushed in.His eyes were wide as he looked around, frantically searching for Jonathan.Jonathan raised his hand and waved at him, and Caleb’s eyes narrowed.“You’re waving at me?”

“What else am I supposed to do?”

“You almost burned to death, and you’re waving at me?”

“I didn’t almost burn to death.There was a fire, and it’s a little hard to breathe, but I’m fine.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”He rushed to Jonathan’s side and hovered there, looking Jonathan up and down as if trying to find wounds Jonathan hadn’t mentioned.

“How did you know to come?”Jonathan asked.West had taken his phone away earlier, so maybe he’d called.

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