Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 97592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
“H-how long have I been out?”
“A few days.”
“A few days?” I question, and when I spot the ball of fur sitting near Brooke’s feet, a million concerns flit through my mind. “Has anyone checked on Dolly? And Kara, oh my God. Has someone talked to Mary? What about the boys, Sammy? Are they okay?”
“Dolly is good. She’s been staying at our place,” Brooke answers.
And my attention goes straight to Sammy when she replies, “We’ve talked to Mary, and she’s been on standby for updates. Everything is good with Kara. And the boys are with Chase and my parents.”
God, she looks beautiful. Even in a fucking hospital gown, she looks beautiful. And the urge to pull her into my arms and never let her go is so strong that I can’t deny it.
“No, Noah,” Brooke says, and her hand is gently pushing me back again. “You need to stay put. Dr. Hopkins is on her way to see you.”
“Here, Brooke, you should sit down,” Ashley says as she drags a chair closer to the foot of my bed. Brooke smiles gratefully at her and, with her hand pressed deep into her lower back, waddles over to the chair to sit down.
“You should probably sit down too,” Brooke tells Ashley, and Sammy is quick to chime in.
“Yeah, Ashley, you really should get off your feet for a little bit.”
“Says the girl who just got out of a coma,” Ashley teases her and Sammy laughs. She actually laughs.
The whole scene makes my brain rattle inside my damn head. All three of these women are acting like they’re friends. My eyes catch sight of Ashley’s rounded belly as she sits down in a chair beside Brooke, and an instant rush of nausea grates at my stomach. Fucking hell. She’s pregnant with my child. My child.
I start to scrub a hand down my face, but when my fingers bump into some kind of bandage on my forehead and a spark of pain rolls down my spine, I groan. Shit.
“Tell him.”
I look up to find Brooke staring at Ashley, even nodding encouragingly at her.
“Just tell him,” she repeats.
Ashley’s gaze flits from Brooke to me to Sammy.
“You should tell him,” Sammy whispers, but I can still hear her.
Tell him? As in, tell me?
I move my gaze around the room, looking at each woman and trying to understand what in the hell is happening right now, but the only thing I end up feeling is more confused.
Brooke and Ashley are sitting beside each other—Brooke is even holding her hand now—like they’re the best of pregnant friends. And Sammy, while still standing at my bedside, isn’t the least bit upset that the woman who is pregnant with my child is in this room. This is not at all how I left things, and I have the cab-induced injuries to prove it.
“What’s going on?” I ask, and all three women’s heads jolt to me.
All three of their mouths open and close like gaping fish, but no words come out.
“What do you need to tell me?” I question again, focusing now on Ashley alone.
At first, she averts her eyes, but then, she meets my steady gaze. “Noah, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but the—”
“Noah!” Kendall greets as she walks in the door, her gait a near run I just know I’d barely be keeping up with. Ashley shuts up immediately.
Dressed in scrubs with a white lab coat over top, Kendall makes her way over to my bedside, her radiant smile bigger than I’ve ever seen it before. “I’m so glad to see you’re finally awake.”
“Yeah.” It’s all I can say at this point. I mean, the room I’ve woken up to hasn’t exactly made my brain feel any less muddled.
“Everyone’s been worried about you,” she states as she steps up to my bedside. She grabs a penlight from her pocket and starts to check my pupils. Even lifts an index finger in front of my face and tells me to follow it with my eyes. “Do you know where you are, Noah?”
“St. Luke’s, but apparently I’m a patient this time.”
“That’s correct. You basically threw yourself in front of a cab,” she adds and glances over at Sammy before meeting my eyes again. “The things men do for the women they love.”
“Is she okay?” I ask, my attention moving to Sammy.
“Sammy is good. Probably shouldn’t have gotten out of bed without a nurse.” Kendall grins. “But right now, we’re all just going to focus on you, okay?”
I could give two shits about myself, if I’m honest, but I’m kind of powerless at the moment, stuck in this fucking bed.
“Even though you sustained a pretty severe concussion, your MRI and your EEG looked great,” Kendall updates. “You have some fractured ribs. A pretty nasty wound on your head that they sutured in the ED. And a small bleed in your spleen, but that was easily fixed in surgery. Truthfully, Noah, I’m shocked your injuries weren’t worse than they are.”