Page 34 of Breaking Conviction
“Okay, yes, maybe Kourt’s my fave, but that’s just because she does whatever the eff she wants.”
Wes leaned into Naomi, his chest just an inhale away from hers as he whispered. “She does this all the time.” His warm breath caressed her ear. That, plus the combination of them still holding hands, sent delicious shivers down her spine. “She’s here nearly every day. Talking to him… like one day he’ll talk back.”
Naomi waited, listening a little longer before answering. “Maybe one day he will.”
Wes pulled away and Naomi got lost in his piercing blue eyes, so full of sincerity and compassion.
“I hope you’re right.” He spoke at a more normal volume, as if meeting her gaze made him forget they were supposed to be quiet. She couldn’t help but lean closer, drawn into the need to comfort him—
“You guys can come in, ya know. Drake and I can feel the sexual tension from here.”
Nora’s observation splashed over her and Naomi jumped back at the icy cold shock of panic in her veins.
“There’s no tension! None,” she called out before realizing she was still holding Wes’s hand. The grip suddenly felt less innocent than it was, and she snatched her hand away before muttering to him. “Sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”
Ugh, don’t apologize to him, just don’t freakin’ throw yourself at him anymore, damn.
Naomi pushed her hair back from her forehead as she tried to gather her wits. Finally, she leveled Wes with a look she reserved for chastising Thea.
“We shouldn’t be all over each other in the hallway. It’s inappropriate.” At Wes’s snort, she scoffed. “What’s so funny?”
“Holding hands is far from being all over each other.” A dark look clouded his face. “But either way, I’m sure yourfiancéwouldn’t have liked us as close as we were.”
Naomi flinched. She hardly even thought of Dean that way anymore, hadn’t worn the ring in months and even had to remind herself on multiple occasions of her relationship status when she drooled over Wes. Hearing him say it was damn painful.
“Come on,” he passed by her and citrus-cedar washed over her as he turned to enter the room, again not giving her a chance to reply.
“My frandssss!” Nora raised her arms in a cheer. “Drake, we’ve got guests. Isn’t that marvelous?”
Wes chuckled, likely at Nora’s nineteen-fifties television accent, but didn’t he see it, too? The pain written all over Nora’s face was obvious to Naomi, as the poor woman held up the mask of false happiness like a shield.
Her posture was slouched, although she leaned against the bed as if to play off her exhaustion. Bottle green eyes were dull behind sparkling rose gold glasses as she watched Wes and Naomi enter the room, and her smile wasn’t much more than an upward swipe on her face. No emotion, just a facade. Everyone always joked about how positive Nora was, but Naomi was starting to wonder if they saw her at all.
Like recognizes like.
Nora’s somber voice echoed in her head, completely at odds with the one that chirped in out loud. “Have a seat, you guys. Drake and I were just in an intense debate about the Kardashians.”
Drake, or Draco as she’d also heard the others call him, laid prostrate on the hospital bed, his eyes closed. The man was ginormous, and intimidating as hell, even in a coma. It was like the blond Viking was only resting before he was brought back to rain thunderbolts all over the world. Still, walking into the hospital room reminded her an awful lot of one of the sterile tombs, or Norse funerals she’d seen on the History Channel with Thea.
Naomi searched her mind for any suitable conversation segue before she remembered how disastrous her first experience with a victim had started out.
“Um… sorry about that downstairs. I wasn’t expectin’ the victim to be a friend of mine. Or for her to shoot down the chance to get back at the jerk who did that to her.”
Nora waved her hand. “It’s fine. You shoulda seen Ellie the first time asurvivor” —she gave Naomi a pointed look— “said no to us. Our girl went ballistic and cried for days. Granted, that was before all her therapy to deal with her own shiz. She’s definitely gotten better, and you will, too. But it’s never easy.”
After an eternity of Naomi just nodding, she finally realized she should ask about the literal comatose guy in the room. She was going to have to majorly work on her damn people skills now that she was training to be a volunteer victim advocate for Sasha Saves.
“Thanks, so um… This is Drake? How’s he doin’?”
Nora had the grace not to point out Naomi’s awkwardness, just lifting a shoulder. She got up and moved magazines from the chair in front of the window and glanced back at Naomi before pointing to the seat, indicating she could sit there. Naomi glanced to Wes before grabbing it to do just that.
“It’s okay, I’m going to make a coffee run,” he explained. “Do you guys want anything?”
Naomi and Nora both shook their heads before Wes nodded and left the room.
Once Naomi had settled herself across from Nora on the other side of Draco’s bed, she waited for her new friend to speak.
“He’s doing the same.” Nora explained, finally answering Naomi’s question. “Doctors say he could come out of it today, or tomorrow, or...” Nora trailed off and swallowed hard as she sat back down.
