Crazy Stupid Bromance
Page 28
“Drive faster,” he growled at Colton for roughly the ten thousandth time since they’d left his house. They were still fifteen minutes away from the transplant center, and if things were on schedule with the surgery, then she would be going into pre-op soon.
And once that happened, he wouldn’t be able to see her until afterward.
The thought of her going into surgery without knowing how much he loved her made him want to puke. Or maybe that was Colton’s driving stirring up the remnants of last night’s liquid dinner. He grabbed the oh shit handle above the passenger door and held on as Colton screeched from lane to lane to get around traffic.
The Russian moaned in the back seat. “I am feeling carsick.”
“Open a window,” Mack said next to him. “Breathe in and out through your nose.”
“If he pukes in my car, I will kill all of you,” Colton said. He whipped into another lane and back again. A minivan blared its horn.
“There’s no point to any of this if we die before we even get there,” Mack grumbled.
Noah closed his eyes. “Just fucking get there.”
* * *
* * *
A nurse walked into the room and introduced herself. She ran through the standard safety protocols—verifying Alexis’s name and birth date, quizzing her on why Alexis was there and all the things that were meant to prevent the wrong person getting the wrong organ removed, or something. She explained that they’d be moving into pre-op soon with Elliott.
Candi bit her lip, hands knotted at her waist. Alexis opened her arms, and Candi let out a relieved breath as she leaned down into the embrace.
“Thank you, Alexis. I won’t ever be able to repay you for this.”
“Just get me something good for Christmas.”
Candi’s surprised laugh broke the tension in the room. She gave a final squeeze and then straightened to leave. “See you when you wake up.”
An orderly wheeled Alexis’s bed down a long hallway and through a set of automatic doors. Down another short hallway, they turned the corner and then backed into a room twice the size of the one she’d been in before.
Elliott was already there. He was half reclined in the bed, arm extended as a nurse checked his blood pressure. He hadn’t shaved, and the salt-and-pepper whiskers made him look older than his years.
He smiled when he saw her. “There she is.”
“Were you afraid I wouldn’t show?”
“Not for a minute.” He held out his hand. Alexis stared at it for a moment, speechless and emotional in a way she never expected. She reached over and let him wrap her fingers within his.
* * *
* * *
Colton screeched to a stop in front of the hospital entrance. “Get out. I’ll park the car.”
Noah was out and running before Mack and the Russian had even slammed their doors.
“We can’t run in a hospital!” Mack argued, catching up just before the double doors slid open.
Noah flipped him the bird over his shoulder. “People run in hospitals all the time. There are emergencies.”
The Russian’s feet sounded like cannon booms on the floor. “And this is grand gesture! We always run for grand gesture!”
Noah’s sneakers skidded on the slick floor as he came the end of the hallway and turned the corner. He careened into the wall, rattling a framed drawing of some dude who’d donated a bunch of money to have the wing named after him. Mack grabbed Noah and tugged him upright before giving him a shove to keep moving.
An orderly pushing a cart of dirty towels yelped and jumped out of the way. “Hey! You guys can’t run in here.”
“It’s grand gesture,” the Russian said, panting. “We have to run for grand gesture.”
“We need to get to the fourth floor,” Noah said, racing past the elevator because it would take too long.
Mack whined when he realized they were taking the stairs. “Dude, really?”
Noah took the stairs two at a time. Behind him, he heard someone fall, and the Russian swore in his native language. Mack wheezed as he tried to keep up.
At the landing for the fourth floor, Noah threw open the door and stumbled into a bright hallway.
He flattened his palms on the counter and tried to catch his breath. “Alexis Carlisle,” he panted. The nurse typed something into her computer, and Noah bit his tongue to keep from cursing. He knew before she even looked up that it was too late.
“I’m sorry. She’s in pre-op. No more visitors.”
Noah’s knees went weak. “No. You don’t understand. I have to see her.”
Mack finally caught up, sweaty and out of breath. “It’s true,” he wheezed. “He screwed up really bad because he’s total tool and he has to tell her he’s sorry.”
The nurse’s mouth dropped open. “Well, I’m sorry to hear that, but I can’t let you see her.” She pointed to a large waiting room on the opposite side of the nurse’s station. “You’re welcome to find a seat, and we will provide regular updates.”
Mack grabbed Noah’s elbow and tugged him away from the counter. “Come on. We might as well sit.”
The elevator dinged, and when the doors opened, Colton walked out holding an ice cream sandwich.
He approached the group, oblivious. “Dude, they have an ice cream vending machine.” He blinked at everyone’s silent stare. “What? Were we too late?”
Noah clenched his fists at his sides. “Yeah, we were too late.”
“That sucks. We should’ve taken my helicopter.” He once again blinked at the silence. “Now what?”
“You have access to a helicopter?” Noah barely recognized his own voice.
“Yes,” Colton said slowly.
“And you’re just fucking telling me this now?”
“You asked me to drive you.”
Noah’s expression must have been murderous, because Mack immediately stepped in front of him. “Why don’t you go eat your ice cream over there,” he told Colton, pointing to the far opposite corner of the waiting room. “Or better yet, go buy the Russian some ice cream.”
The Russian’s face lit up. “Ice cream.”
Mack pushed Noah toward an open chair and then sat down next to him.
Noah braced his elbows on his knees and lowered his face into his hands. “I can’t believe I was too late.”
“It’s okay, man.” Mack patted him on the back.
“It’s not okay. I should have been here. She was alone. I promised her she wouldn’t have to go through with any of this alone, and I couldn’t even keep that promise.”
“Noah?”
He lifted his head. The Vanderpools—minus Elliott—had just walked into the waiting room. Candi walked over, smiling much more brightly than anyone should at that early hour and certainly not before a family member goes into surgery.
“You are here,” she gushed. “I knew you’d be here. I told her you would.”
He shot to his feet. “You saw her?”
“Just before they took her back for pre-op.”
“How was she? Was she okay? Was she scared?”
“She was okay. But I know she’ll be better when she wakes up and sees you here.”
“I want her to see me now,” he groaned, running his hands over his mop of hair.
And then his own words brought him up short as a memory invaded. I want you to see me.
“What’s wrong?” Candi asked.
He shook his head and looked down at Mack. “I need to find a barber.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Someone was touching her.
That didn’t make sense, though, because Alexis was swimming. Floating in thick, dark, warm water that lapped over every limb and dulled her senses in the most soothing, soundless way.
But someone was there. Touching her hand and speaking s
oftly.
Alexis heard a moan, and suddenly the water was gone. One eye peeled open, and then the other, and she found herself thrown from warm, dark silence into cold, stark brightness. She squinted and rolled her head.
A nurse with a wide smile and gray hair stood next to her bed doing something with an IV bag. Her name badge read NINA B. The woman looked down and smiled. “Hi, Alexis. I’m Nina, and I’m going to be taking care of you while you’re in recovery. How’s your pain?”
Alexis braced her palms against the mattress and attempted to shift higher on the pillows. A stitch in her side made her wince. Nina tut-tutted and told her to hold still. “Too soon for that, honey.” She pushed a button on the arm of Alexis’s bed to lift the upper half a few inches. “Better?”
Alexis nodded and tried to swallow. It hurt. Bad. “Is it . . .” She swallowed again. If anyone had told her a sore throat would be the worst part of donating an organ, she never would have believed it, but her throat was on fire. “Is it over?”
Nina smiled again. “It’s over. On a scale of one to ten, can you tell me how your pain is?”
Alexis tried to focus. Things hurt, but she was still too fuzzy to know where and what and how badly. “Six, seven. I don’t know.”
“We’re going to take care of that for you, okay?” Nina said.
“Elliott?” Her voice was a croak.
“He’s good. Everything went fine.”
She winced at a sharp pain in her gut.
“Okay, honey,” Nina said. “I’ve given you some more pain medication.”
“Noah . . . ,” Alexis whispered.
The warm, dark water washed over her again. But just before she went under, she heard Nina’s voice. “He’s here, and he loves you.”
* * *
* * *
The next time she woke up, she was in a private room and alone. Long shadows stretched along the wall and bathed her white blanket in an orange glow from the sinking sun.
The fire in her throat had eased only to be replaced by a painful cramp in her gut. Both paled, however, to the ache in her heart. He’s here, and he loves you. Nina’s message had been a dream. Her imagination. Wishful thinking.
Alexis let her eyes drift closed again, not from the pull of pain medications but the tug of regret.
They flew open again at the sound of a toilet flushing. Alexis turned her head to the right as the bathroom door opened. A man emerged, silhouetted in the bathroom light. Alexis squinted and tried but failed to sit up. Who the hell—
He stopped short. “Shit. I’m sorry. Did I—Did I wake you up?”
The heart monitor recorded the skip of her heartbeat. “Noah?”
He stepped out of the shadows, and Alexis gasped. It was Noah.
But not.
His beard was gone, revealing a youthful smile and baby soft skin. And his long hair was now short, cropped and styled tightly against his scalp. But his eyes were the same—warm and soft—as he stopped at the edge of her bed and gazed at her.
A tear rolled toward her temple. “Oh my God.”
His smile slipped. “That bad, huh?”
“No,” she choked. “You were right. It is too much male beauty.” A suppressed sob broke free, and she clutched her stomach against the assault of emotion on tender incisions.
“Shit.” Noah looked panicked. “Did I hurt you? Should I get the nurse?”
Alexis shot out her hand and grabbed his arm. “No. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll just think I’m dreaming.”
Noah bent over the arm of the bed and lowered his brow to rest on hers. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I just wanted you to see the real me when I groveled for forgiveness.”
A watery laugh escaped her sandpaper throat. It quickly became a cough, which caused another sharp pain in her stomach. Alexis winced. “Don’t make me laugh.”
“I wasn’t trying to.” Noah stood and reached for a disposable cup with a lid on the table next to her bed. He brought the straw to her lips. “Here. The nurse said you’d need it.”
She sucked down the cool drink with a sigh. “Thank you.” She blinked. “What happened to your cheek?”
“It’s a long story that I’ll save for another time.” Noah returned the cup to the table, and then his finger traced a gentle line from her ear to her jaw. “How do you feel?”
“Better now that I know you’re really here and I’m not just hallucinating.”
His eyes pinched at the corners. “I’m so sorry, Lexa. I tried to get here. I had a big grand gesture planned to swoop in just in time and tell you how sorry I was before you went in, but I was too late.” His throat worked against a swallow. “I didn’t know . . . I didn’t think you were going through with the surgery. I should have been here with you.”
“You’re here now.”
His lips thinned. “That’s not good enough.”
Alexis turned her face into his hand and kissed the tip of his thumb. “It is.”
“You’re interrupting my groveling.”
She met his eyes. “You don’t need to grovel, and I don’t want you to grovel. I want you to kiss me.”
Noah lowered the arm of the bed and gingerly sat down next to her. He reached one arm across her body and pressed his hand into the mattress. “I have to say this first.”
Alexis sighed and settled into the pillow beneath her head. “You really don’t.”
“The things I said to you were cruel and inexcusable.”
“Are you forgetting what I said before that?”
“It doesn’t matter. You tried to apologize, and I threw it back in your face. And when I did that, I not only betrayed you, I betrayed our friendship.”
His words were a skewer through the thin membrane that remained around her emotional stability. Tears turned his face into a shimmery blur.
His jaw jutted sideways. “I let my own anger blind me to the fact that you were hurting and you needed me. And so I hurt you worse.”
She cupped a hand along his smooth, clean jaw. “Okay, what do I have to say to get you to shut up and kiss me?”
He blinked. “I’m being serious, Lexa.”
“So am I. You’re obviously not going to stop all this unnecessary apologizing unless I say something in response—”
He managed to look offended. “Unnecessary? I practically threw you out of my house!”
“Because I accused you of doing something you didn’t do.”
“But you had every reason to think I’d do that!”
“Are you seriously going to argue with me right now? I just had an entire organ sucked out of me through a hole smaller than my belly button.”
His skin turned ashen.
“If you want something to be upset about, consider the fact that we can’t have makeup sex for, like, six weeks. So you’d better kiss me before the nurse gives me more pain meds and I pass out again.”
The smooth contours of his face softened. “God, I love you.”
“I know. And I love you too. I’ve loved you since the day I met you, and I will love you until the day I die. You are my best friend, Noah Logan. Forever.”
He gave up the fight, bent his head, and covered her lips with his. Gently at first. Wet and soft against her dry and scratchy mouth. But then a groan emerged from deep within his chest, and she wrapped her hand around the back of his neck to hold him, cradle him, forgive him.
He pulled back and hovered atop her mouth. “I’m sorry, Lexa. I’m so sorry.”
“Shhh.” She tucked his face against her neck. He arched over her, careful not to press on her tender abdomen. “Everything is okay now. The surgery is over, and you’re here, and that’s all that matters.”
A knock at the door brought him upright, but Noah remained on the bed, one arm draped across her. “Come in,” he responded, voice suspiciously thick.
“How’s Elliott?” Alexis asked.
“So far so good. He’s asking about you too.”
“Tell him I’ll come see him tomorrow.”
Candi nodded and got that hesitant, shy look on her face that Alexis now recognized. “What is it?” she asked.
“My, um, my mom wants to come see you. Is that okay?”
“Sure, um . . . yeah.” Alexis looked at Noah. “Can you help me raise the bed a little?”
Noah found the remote attached to the bed and pressed the button that lifted her top half into a semi-sitting position. A moment later, Lauren walked in looking as undone and disheveled as Alexis had ever seen her. Her makeup-free face bore the traces of too little sleep and too much worry. Her hair, normally a perfect bob along her shoulders, was now twisted atop her head in a messy bun.
Her smile was forced, but not in the way Alexis had come to expect. This was from pure weariness, not insincerity. “How are you feeling?”
“Not too bad. Tired.”
Her footsteps inched closer, and that’s when Alexis noticed that she held something in her hand. A small red box. “I have a present for you.”
Alexis traded a surprised look with Noah before returning her gaze to Lauren. “You didn’t have to do that.”
Lauren extended the box, and Alexis accepted it with trembling fingers. As Noah hovered at her side, she lifted the lid. And then blinked, holding her breath. Nestled in the velvet cradle was a ring—a deep emerald surrounded by a spray of tiny, sparkling diamonds.
“Lauren, this . . .” Alexis looked up. “I don’t know what to say. This is too much. I can’t accept this.”
“It belonged to Elliott’s mother. Your grandmother.” Lauren glanced at Candi. “We want you to have it.”
Alexis shook her head. “I appreciate the gesture, but this is a family heirloom. It should go to Candi.”