Page 62 of Forever Your Touch

“Knock, knock.”

Her entire body tensed at the sound of Mason’s voice. She looked up to see him standing at the door, holding two cups of coffee from Starbucks.

“Hey.” Even her voice sounded strained.

“You okay?” He looked so concerned. Why had Ray never looked at her with that much care? It wasn’t fair.

“Yeah, just a rough morning.”

He walked into the room and sat down, handing her one of the cups. “Just the way you like it with all that junk in it.”

“Thanks.” She took the cup and sipped. Her favorite mocha. Mason always remembered.

“You feeling better? I can get the nurse to get you more pain meds if you need them.”

“No, no more pain meds. I don’t want to get hooked on that stuff.”

“I don’t think a few doses during the first couple days can hook you.”

“Yes, they can. My friend Abby’s brother was hooked in less than a week. Drug addiction is nasty stuff.”

“Well, how about some high-powered Motrin or something?”

“I’ll tell the nurse when she comes in.”

Mason frowned. She was being weird.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked again.

“Yeah. Just tired and in some pain.” The smile she offered was watery at best. “I heard about the baby. I’m sorry, Mase.”

He took a deep breath, trying his best not to think about the baby. He’d seen her earlier, and as soon as he was out of Dimitri’s sight, he’d locked himself in the bathroom and lost his shit. Ava was so small, barely three and half pounds. Hooked up to wires and machines. She had to make it. For all their sakes.

“Thanks, Josephine.” He took a sip of his coffee and stared at the blank wall. “Ray called my phone while I was getting coffee.” As much as he hated letting her know, he had to. She’d get mad if she found out later. Pulling it out, he tossed it to her. “Go ahead and use my phone to call.”

“No, I don’t think so.” She picked up the phone and placed it on the foot of the bed. “He didn’t bother coming yesterday, so I’m not going to bother to return his calls today. If he wants to talk to me, he can get his ass down here.”

Mason wasn’t sure whether he should be surprised at her backbone or be damn proud of her. Maybe both. Either way, he liked this new sassy side to her, even if she was acting weird.

“Want to see pictures of Sasha and Ava?”

That brightened her up. She sat up and let out a hiss. “Damn, that hurts.”

Mason grabbed his phone and pulled up pictures of a very healthy Sasha and showed it to her. “This is Sasha.” Then he scrolled to Ava’s photo in the “toaster” with all her tubes and wires. “Ava is hanging in there. She’s our little fighter. I think I’m gonna nickname her Rocky.”

“She needs a tough name. Rocky’s good.”

“Becca didn’t think so.” Mason chuckled, remembering her horrified reaction when he said he was going to start calling her that.

“Well, Becca is her mom, and moms can get a little testy about these things.”

“She’ll get used to it. I called one of my frat brothers, and he’s going to bring over my gaming laptop for you to use while you’re stuck in here. At least you’ll have something to do.”

“You don’t have to, Mason. I have my own laptop.”

“True, but I’ve seen your laptop. It’s shitty. Mine’s an ASUS Republic of Gamers laptop. Seventeen-inch display. You’ll bow down and worship at my feet later.”

“Hardly,” she scoffed. “I’ll just beat the high scores on your shit.”

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