Page 86 of Check the Halls
He frowns and looks at his watch, irritation written all over his face. He glares at me like he’d like to say something before turning back to the nurse. “I want you to call me as soon as she’s awake.”
Asshole.
“Like I said,” nurse zero-fucks says as she crosses her arms in front of her chest. “You aren’t listed as an emergency contact.”
“She’s my fiancée.” He sneers at her.
The fuck she is.
“Shewasyour fiancée,” I clarify, speaking clearly so he doesn’t misunderstand. “Past tense.”
Derek glances around the unit, making sure no one heard he was dumped. When he speaks again, his voice is much quieter. Threatening. “What are you doing here?You could have anyone. Why are you wasting your time on someone like Madelyn?”
The world around me goes silent as I stand there staring this poor excuse for a man down. All the time I stayed away thinking she was better off. All the time I spent imagining that Maddy was with someone who deserved her. All the hours I spent wondering what kind of man he was.
I take a small step forward, just enough to make him shrink back. “Anyone who thinks time spent with Maddy could be considered wasted in any way, shape, or form not only doesn’t know her, they don’t fucking deserve to. You should leave. I’ll tell my girl you stopped by.”
He flinches but stands his ground. “You can’t make me leave.”
“Excuse me, miss?” Austin leans on the nurses’ desk, giving the woman old enough to be his mother a smile usually reserved for the melting of panties. “What’s your name?”
“Lisa,” she answers, her tone much sweeter than it was for me.
“Such a pretty name. Tell me, Lisa, do you have a policy regarding people who refuse to leave when a patient doesn’t want them here?”
“We would be forced to call security,” she answers, her eyes flitting between the two men.
“Amazing.” Austin winks at her before turning his grin on Derek. “So to summarize, should an individual be lawfully instructed to vacate hospital premises and willfully refuse to comply, such conduct may constitute trespassing, thereby justifying the intervention of hospital security to forcefully remove them. And if that were tohappen, hypothetically speaking, and say it was live-streamed to a wildly popular hockey player’s two million followers on Instagram, that could possibly have long-standing ramifications to the offending party, don’t you think?”
Holy shit.
Derek once again looks around like he’s being observed in an embarrassing situation. After a few moments he makes the right decision and stalks out the door without a word.
Stunned, I turn to Austin who’s already gone back to flirting with nurse Lisa.
“Where did you learn all that legal terminology?”
“My mom’s a lawyer,” he tells me with a smirk. “Which you would know if you spent as much time with her as you claim to.”
Son of a bitch, I want to hug him again. “Thank you,” I say instead.
“That’s what friends are for.” He shrugs.
The phone at the nurses station rings and Lisa picks it up. After a mostly one-sided conversation, she sets the receiver back in its cradle and turns to me.
“Madelyn is out of recovery. She’s asking for you.”
I almost knock over a lunch cart and two staff members in my haste to make it to her. The hospital room is dimly lit, but it doesn’t matter. Maddy’s dopey smile lights up the entire wing.
“Hey,” her voice is raspy, like she needs a drink of water. I want to get her one, but I’m not sure what the rules are.
“Hey, Madness,” I don’t bother to pull a chair over, instead choosing to just drop to my knees by her side,gently picking up the hand that doesn’t have an IV in it and pressing my lips to it. I hold back tears, but just barely.
She’s pale, but she’s here. Breathing, talking, simply existing.
“Heyyyy,” she says again. Her speech is slurred a bit, either from the lingering effects of anesthesia or whatever pain meds she’s on. “Are you okay?”
I huff out a laugh. My girl just came out of a potentially life-saving surgery and she’s worried about me. Classic Madness.
