Page 171 of Those Who Are Bound

Lucy was biting her fingernails as she watched him pace. He was holding up pretty well, considering his girlfriend—girlfriend? The title was in question—was in the hospital and had refused to see him.

Refused. He was thanking God every other second that she was alive, but the dagger in his heart at the rejection was a palpable thing.

The nurse had returned to the waiting room and informed him that Elliott refused to see her pastor—denied having one—gutting him. Of course, he knew she didn’t believe in any of it, but it was the only way he had to get back to her, not being related. And he needed to see her, to touch her. He’d also expected that she’d want someone with her.

Despite the denial, he refused to leave. Thus, his pacing and Lucy’s consumption of her nails. What he expected to happen, he didn’t know. Hehopedthat Elliott would change her mind and ask for him, and he wanted to be here for her.

He was hoping—wanting—Elliott to ask for him not as her pastor, but as her boyfriend. But his heart was further destroyed with every second that passed.

“Do you want anything?” Lucy asked.

Hewantedto be with Elliott. He wanted for none of this to have happened.

She must have read that on his face, so she rephrased, “Do you want something to eat? A coffee?”

He shook his head.

“Maybe she doesn’t have her phone. I mean… she was thrown off the bike. Maybe it was damaged or lost. She could be in an Uber right now, for all we know.”

Jonah tossed her a look letting her know she was being ridiculous; there was no way the hospital would send her home in an Uber. No matter what her injuries were—and Jonah was only able to get a few details at the scene, with his clergy card—an Uber wouldn’t be taking her home. Besides, she’d need her phone to order an Uber. Taxi, maybe.

What they knew, from first responders at the scene, because her pastor would need to know these things in order to administer to her: she survived, she sustained survivable injuries, she was conscious at the scene, and she was taken to KU Med.

What they also knew: Josh did not survive.

“Maybe she called Killion?”

Damn, Luce. He swallowed hard and looked away. He didn’t want another man to take care of her. This was tearing him up, his incompetence.

Lucy’s phone suddenly jingled brightly. She jumped. Jonah tossed her an annoyed look at the cheerful blast of music.

Grabbing the offending item to quickly silence it, she grimaced. She sent him a doubly apologetic look as she answered, “Elliott, my god, how are you?”

Jonah stopped his pacing. He stared at her phone as though he could divine the woman on the other end if he looked hard enough. He wasn’t certain he breathed.

Lucy made a face of impatience. “Yeah, I know. So are we.”

She listened, giving Jonah a look of confusion. “Because of you, because of the accident. We followed you here.”

Making another face, Lucy tapped her head. Jonah didn’t know how to interpret it.

“Absolutely. Where are you? We’ll be right there.” Lucy jotted down the information and hung up. She looked up at Jonah. “She didn’t know we were here. Or she forgot. I don’t think she knows you’re here.”

The realization that she hadn’t sent him away was accompanied by a rush of relief. The nurse must have either been mistaken or misunderstood something. But the feeling quickly passed. Because he looked at the phone still in Lucy’s hand. She’d called Lucy, not him.

Lucy stood up, giving him another apologetic look. “Let’s go get her.”

Elliott had been placed in a room by herself in the bowels of the hospital. It wasn’t a normal hospital room, and it wasn’t a part of the emergency room. And although he wanted to get to Elliott, he pushed the door open, holding it for Lucy to precede him into the room.

Elliott looked up from the exam table she was sitting on, her faltering smile falling completely when she saw him. Her countenance turned to hardened steel, tracking his entry into the room.

Taking a cue from her expression, he chose not to approach her. She watched him as he moved to a wall opposite her and leaned against it, folding his arms. Disquiet filled the room, and it was a tiny room.The animosity she’d thrown his way that morning was back tenfold. And even though it looked like she’d gladly take up a scalpel right now and mark him up, he could only look at her with concern; he loved her and hated seeing her hurt. Even if she did look remarkably good for someone whose riding partner didn’t walk away from the same accident.

All he wanted to do was grab her up and hold on to her. Being this close to her without being able to pet away the hurt… he was dying inside.

She was wearing hospital scrubs. He assumed her clothes were destroyed in the wreck. Her right leg was in an Aircast—well, foot, ankle—all the way up to her knee. Her right arm was bandaged but not broken. Her chin was bruised and had abrasions. Her hair was a disheveled mess, but she was alive, so she looked stunning to him.

“Stupid question,” Lucy said into the tension of the room. “How do you feel?”

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