Page 197 of Grand Love

“Mase.”

I jolt awake, my eyes flicking open to find Elliot standing in front of me. A nurse is hovering at his side, smiling softly at me. I sit up in a rush, my neck jolting in pain from the unnatural way I’d been sitting. I remember Lucy on my lap and slow my movements, grasping her upper arm to steady myself.

“What is it?” I rush out. My heart is pounding. Adrenaline has my eyes flicking wildly between them.

“It’s Nina.” A grin stretches wide across his face. “She’s awake.”

* * *

“You said she was awake!”I whisper-shout at Elliot as we stand outside of Nina’s hospital room. The doctor arrived at the same time we did and the nurse informed us all that Nina had gone back to sleep. They’re in her room now, doing an assessment on her.

“She was! I spoke to her,” Elliot says.

“What?” I snap. “What did she say?!”

“She told me I was beautiful,” he tells me proudly, a smirk on his face.

“Fuck off!”

“Straight up. She said, ‘You’re so beautiful, Ell.’ Then I ran to get you.”

Fuck! I just need to see her. “Why won’t they let me see her?!”

Lucy gives me a hopeful look. “It won’t be long now. Try and stay calm.”

“Never in the history of life has someone stayed calm after being told to stay calm, Lucy!”

The back of Elliot’s hand meets my chest. “Don’t speak to her like that.”

Not being able to wait any longer, I walk to the door and push it open. I try to calm my movements, not wanting to rush into the room like the maniac I feel, but my entire body vibrates as I stand on the threshold.

All eyes in the room flick to me. All the eyes. But my gaze is stuck on the most perfect—captivating of them all. Nina is lying back in the bed, her head turned to the side as she looks towards me in the doorway.

She smiles.

She fucking smiles, and it’s just about all my heart can take.

“Hey, Bossman,” she whispers, her lips barely moving.

Raising my hand, I rub across the ache that threatens to crack my chest in two. She’s okay. My shoulders drop, relief pouring out of me with every step I take towards her. I crouch at her bedside, my forehead dropping to hers. Tears fall from her eyes, but still, she smiles. It might not be the big dimple popping smile I crave on the daily, but to think no more than twelve hours ago she was sprawled on her apartment floor dying and now she is here, eyes open and fucking smiling at me.

“Jesus Christ, Angel.”

* * *

Nina

Mason’s handis clutched in mine, his eyes locked tight. I search his face, not being able to take my eyes off him. “Mase,” I whisper, a tear sliding into the line of my mouth. I roll my lips, sniffling as he takes a sharp breath in. “Mase, look at me.”

I remember when I first met my Mase. Leant against the top of his flashy car, staring up through that low brow at me—cocky smirk in place. His eyes were so clear and sure. A man who knew exactly what he wanted. Smoothing my finger over his dark, looming brow, I glide it down to skim his cheek and swipe a tear away from his jaw. His eyes aren’t clear, nor sure. His eyes are sad, scared, and broken, and I want nothing more than for him to say something filthy and give me that cocky smile that I so desperately love.

“It’s okay, baby. I’m okay,” I promise him.

His mouth opens, another tear sliding down his face as he looks at me helplessly. It’s as if he’s afraid to speak in the fear that he will break. I can see him breaking.

“Can we have a minute?” I croak out, looking down at the nurse who is speaking with a doctor at the end of my bed. I wince when I get a stabbing pain in my side.

“You need to rest now, Nina. Just a few more minutes and then we are going to need you to leave, Mr Lowell. I’m sorry.”

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