Page 10 of Let Me Love You (Excess All Areas 5)

Ben shrugged. “They’re still running tests. We just don’t know yet. Mum’s just talking with the doctor.”

A young nurse in blue scrubs bustled through the corridor. “You can’t have all these people waiting for one patient, you’re…oh…you’re Ben. And Luke. Oh. I…”

Luke held out his hand, and the nurse shook it. “Yeah, I’m Luke. And we’re going to need a really big favour. Because none of us are going anywhere. So, we’re going to have to find a way to make this work.”

Willow hugged Ben. “Let him figure this out for you all. He’s terrified too.”

Ben nodded. The idea of their family without Nan in it was more than he could deal with. He looked down at Zale, the happy chap was babbling away, as if the rug hadn’t just been pulled from underneath them all. Zale looked up at him and stretched his arms out.

Ben realised he’d probably lose his shit and cry if he bent to pick the little guy up. And right now, he needed to be strong. He was the eldest. Everyone relied on him to fix things. Their cars. Their finances, when they’d all been broke and he’d worked every minute of overtime to keep them on their feet. Their dripping taps. Fixing Nan and fixing the worry and heartbreak on everyone’s face was going to be so much harder.

He wasn’t sure how he was going to do it, but it was up to him.

He’d caused it.

Shit, he’d even left her house a mess. Too busy pulling his still-damp clothes out of the drier so he could follow Nan in the ambulance. At some point, he’d go over there, once he knew she was going to be okay, and fix up the whole damn place for her.

And he was going to set aside some of his cash so he could pay for her to go into sheltered accommodation if that’s what she required. Get her the care she needed to recover.

Tears stung his eyes at the thought of there not being a “Nan’s house”. A safe place for all of them to go to.

Jesus.

He rubbed his face as Alex and Zoe stepped out so Luke and Willow could go in.

“Are you okay?” Zoe signed.

After seven months of learning sign language so he could communicate with Zoe, he understood the basics. He nodded once. She slipped her arms around his waist and hugged him.

The double door pushed open, and the person he needed most in the world stepped through it as Zoe stepped away.

“Ben,” Chaya said, walking towards him in the pretty red sundress she’d bought to wear the night before her graduation. When he’d taken her to dinner at the Ivy as a surprise for doing so well. They’d shared a bottle of red and he’d listened all evening about her plans to become a surgeon.

She opened her arms, and he fell into them. Burying his face into her hair, wrapping his arms so tightly around her his ribs screamed. He had to lean down, being nearly a foot taller than her, but never complained. She reached around him and hugged him tightly, one arm rubbing a line up and down his back.

He fisted her hair, inhaled the scent of her. Miss Dior. Roses. Couldn’t smell it without thinking of her. The feel of her body against his gave him immediate comfort. His heart rate slowing for the first time since he’d heard the smoke alarm.

Since Christmas, they’d barely spoken. Texts had dwindled. Response times slowed. Availability to meet for anything had evaporated. All because of Asher’s insecurities, and words from Chaya’s father all those years ago. The threats.

And Asher was everything Chaya wanted and needed, but stepping out of the picture was like trying to swallow balls of cotton wool.

Impossible.

Choking.

Stupid.

Just holding on to her, he felt stronger. The feel of her, in his arms, up against his chest, caused his heart to explode. They were closer in that moment than every moment that came before. The hold was intimate.

Knowing she was here, by his side, and that she’d not hesitated to come help, reminded him of who she was to him.

The other half of his whole.

“Fuck, I’ve missed you,” he muttered against her neck, his lips brushing her skin. It was an accident, or subconsciously deliberate, but it was all he could have of her and he knew it, no matter how tempting it was to slide his lips along her jaw and press them to hers.

They’d hugged. All the time. Fun hugs where she’d just jump on him and he’d carry her in the direction he was going, like when he stepped off stage at a gig. She never cared how sweaty he was. There’d been hugs of support when times were tough, and when med school exams were hard. But this one reminded him that the idea of a life without the two of them was more than he had the capacity to deal with right now.

“I’m glad you came,” he whispered, his voice hoarse.

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