by Shaw Hart
Roman
I wake to sunlight streaming right into my eyes. I roll over, my hand already reaching for Aspen. When it only encounters cold sheets, I bolt up in bed. Flynn grumbles as the movement wakes him up.
“Aspen?” I call out.
When I don’t get an answer or hear any movement, I throw my legs over the side if the bed and go in search of her. Flynn is hot on my heels as I make my way out of the bedroom and down the hall. None of the lights are on and I push the bathroom and other bedroom doors open to see if she’s in one of those rooms. Dread pools in my stomach as we continue to search the house and come up empty. We jog down the stairs to check the bottom level but as soon as I see the clock on the wall, I know that we won’t find her.
“It’s 7 am.” I tell Flynn as he calls her name once again.
“Flynn, she left.” I try again when he keeps looking for her.
“Why would she just leave. Do you think we hurt her?” He asks and I can see the fear to the answer of that last question in his eyes.
“That was the deal remember? 5pm to 5 am and then she had to go to work.”
“So, she’s at work. Let’s go get her then.” He says, already marching back up the stairs.
I follow after him because I’m dying to see our girl again too. I need to make sure that she’s alright. That she feels good about last night.
I know what the deal was but I guess some part of me was hoping that after she spent some time with the two of us, that she would see how good we all are together. That she would see that she belonged with us and that she was made for us. That could still happen, I think as I pull on clean clothes and head back downstairs. She has to work for a living, I reason. That’s why she left.
I follow Flynn outside and into the waiting car. Jack doesn’t even ask where to anymore, just heads right for the coffee shop.
“She had a good time last night, right?” He asks as we pull away from the curb.
“I think so.”
“It was perfect. Wasn’t it Roman?” He asks me as he stares out at the morning traffic.
“Best night of my life.” I answer honestly.
We’re about to pull up to the coffee shop when my phone rings. I dig it out of my pocket and see that it’s Aspen calling. I flash the screen at Flynn and smile as I hit answer and bring the phone to my ear.
“Kitten. We were just coming to look for you.”
“I’m at the hospital.” She sobs into the phone. “It’s Adeline.”
Chapter Fourteen
Aspen
I sneak out of their apartment at exactly 5:05 am and head home to change before my shift. I can feel the tenderness between my legs with every step but the slight discomfort just makes me smile.
Roman and Flynn were so sweet to me last night. It was even better than I ever could have imagined. I was never able to even get close to coming by myself, but with the two of them I came so hard I almost blacked out.
They told me they loved me. I smile as I replay the three of us laying in their bed tangled together. I love them too and now, in the morning, I wish that I had told them so last night. We just haven’t known each other that long and with everything going on with Adeline, I’m scared of moving too fast.
I get back to our apartment and jog up the stairs. If I don’t hurry, then I’m going to be late for work. I shove my key in the lock and push the door open. I’m halfway across the room to the dresser when I notice Adeline is still in bed. She must have overslept; I think as I rush over to her and shake her.
“Adeline! It’s 5:30, you have to get up or you’ll be late for work.” I say shaking her harder.
When she doesn’t wake up, I try again, shaking her harder this time. Still nothing. Panic courses through my body and I scream her name as I frantically try to wake her.
Finally, my brain starts working and I hurry to pull my phone from my pocket, dialing 911 immediately.
“911, what is your emergency?”
“My friend. I can’t wake her up.” I cry into the phone.
“What is your address?”
I rattle off our address as I try to check Adeline for a pulse.
“Is she breathing?” The operator asks, after she assures me that an ambulance has been dispatched to our apartment.
“Yeah and she has a pulse. I just- I can’t get her to wake up.”
“The ambulance should be pulling up any second Miss. They’re going to take care of her.” The operator assures me.
I hear sirens as the ambulance pulls up outside our building. After that everything happens in a blur. The paramedics come in and check Adeline for a pulse and look in her eyes. They put her on the cart and wheel her out as I explain to them about her tumor and how she’s been acting the last couple of days. They wheel her outside and into the back of the ambulance as people stop and stare. I push past them, not letting Adeline out of my sight. I climb into the back of the ambulance and sit in a daze as they work on Adeline as the ambulance speeds towards the hospital.
We pull up to the hospital and everything is in motion once again. The paramedics and nurses yank the back doors open and they jump out, pulling Adeline out after them. I try to keep up with them but the nurses stop me when we get to a door marked employees only. The nurse stops me and directs me to a waiting area a few feet away.
“Someone will let you know more soon.” She says kindly.
I walk over to a waiting room chair and collapse into it. I must sit there in a daze for over an hour and still no one has told me what’s happening. My phone rings in my pocket and I pull it out to see it’s Bianca.
“Hello?” I say numbly.
“Aspen? Where are you?” She asks, worry clear in her voice.
“Adeline. I-I couldn’t get her to wake up this morning. They took her to the hospital and I’m here now but no one has told me what’s going on. Sorry. I should have called. It’s just been a-”
“Whoa! Don’t apologize Aspen. I was just worried when you didn’t show up. I’ll cover for you today. Let me know if you need anything and when you find out about Addy.”
“I will. Thank you so much Bianca.” I say honestly.
I can hear disgruntled customers in the background so I let her go and hang up. I sit there for another few minutes before I pull my phone out once again.
He answers on the first ring.
“Kitten. We were just coming to look for you.”
“I’m at the hospital.” I sob into the phone. “It’s Adeline.”
Chapter Fifteen
Flynn
“She’s at the hospital. It’s Adeline.”
The euphoria I had been feeling only moments before evaporate at those words. I lean over the seat and shout to take us to the hospital at Jack before I pry the phone from Roman’s hand and put it on speaker so I can hear too.
“What happened, Kitten?” I ask.
“I went home this morning to get ready for work and I couldn’t wake her. I had to call 911 and they sent an ambulance. We just got to the hospital like an hour ago and she’s back in surgery but no one can tell me anything and I don’t know what to do.” She says as her voice catches again and I can tell that more tears are streaming down her face as she tells us what happened.
“It’s ok. Roman and I are on our way.” I say.
“Yeah, we’ll be there soon.” Roman says.
“Do- oh god. Do you think that she’s going to die?” She asks and her voice is so small and scared that it breaks my heart.
“No. No, kitten. She’s going to be ok. Just hold on, we’re only a couple of minutes away now.”
“Ok.”
I hear someone call her name in the background and she pulls the phone away to talk to them.
“Aspen?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” She says after a second.
“We’re pulling up now. What floor are you on?”
“The seventh.” She says.
“Ok. We’re walking in now. See you in a second ok?”
“Ok.” She says before she disconnects the call.
I throw my door open and the two of us race inside, running for the elevator and hitting the up button over and over again until finally, the doors slide open. We wait for a few people to get off before we hit the button for the seventh floor and wait impatiently as the lift slowly rises.
The doors finally open and we’re racing down the hall until we see a familiar head of brown hair.
“Aspen!”
At the sound of us calling her name, her head snaps up and watery blue eyes stare up at us. My heart breaks even more at that look.
“Have you heard anything yet?” I ask, already looking around for a nurse that I can flag down and demand answers from.
“No, just that she’s in surgery. They’re going to take the tumor out today instead of Thursday. They said it will be hours until they’re done so I guess maybe no news is good news, right?” She asks and I can tell she’s trying to be brave.
I sit down on her right and Roman takes the chair on her left. We both scoot in closer to her and wrap her up in our arms.
“It’ll be ok. They’ll get the tumor and she’ll be fine. I know it.” I whisper in her ear as she wraps her arms around us and holds on tight.
We stay like that for a couple of hours until one of the nurses comes in and hands Aspen some paper work. She starts to fill it out when suddenly she freezes.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“I- They’re asking how I’m paying for this. After last night it doesn’t feel right to take money from you guys.” She says as she stares down at the form, rolling the pen back and forth between her fingers.
“Hey. We would have given you the money even if you never went out with us. We were just desperate for you to give us a shot. We love you Aspen. Anything you want, it’s yours. You just have to ask for it and we’ll make it happen.”
Roman nods and I can see more tears form in Aspen’s eyes. He tugs her into his arms and I slip the form from her hands as she cries on his shoulder. I fill out the payment part of the form and text Jack, asking him to bring my checkbook from the house to the hospital. We’ll pay for the surgery and ambulance ride today so that our girl doesn’t have to worry about it anymore.
We sit in the waiting room for hours. We order food but none of us seems to be very hungry, instead just picking at our sandwiches. Aspen stares off into space for a little bit or gets up and paces for a while but for the most part she sits sandwiched between us. Finally, around 8 pm she falls asleep with her hand wrapped around mine and her head resting on Roman’s shoulder.
When the doctor walks in an hour later, asking for Aspen, I hate to wake her up but I know she’ll want to know what he has to say.
“Family of Adeline Monroe?” He asks.
“Yes.” Aspen says, leaping from her seat.
“How is she?” I ask, wrapping my arm around Aspen’s shoulders.
“She’s stable now. We were able to remove the tumor and we believe that we got all of it.
She’ll have to go back for regular checkup for a couple of months but barring any regrowth, she should be great.” He says with a smile.
Aspen’s whole-body sags with relief and she cries as she thanks the doctor.
“When can I see her?” She asks.
“It might be an hour or so before she’s awake. She’s been in observation for a while now. We wanted to make sure she was stable before we came and talked to you. You can go back to her room now though if you like but only one visitor at a time for right now.”
Aspen nods and he tells her the room number and to limit the number of visitors, that Adeline will be tired and weak for a couple of days still. We thank the doctor again and tell Aspen that we’ll be waiting right here for her and for her to take her time. She leans down and brushes a kiss against both of our lips before she starts to head for her friend’s room.
Chapter Sixteen
Aspen
I don’t know what I expected to see when I walked into Adeline’s hospital room. When I walk in most of the lights are off, except for the lamp on the bed stand next to her. She looks so frail laying in the bed in her thin hospital gown. She has white bandages wrapped around her head and IV’s running into her arm and hand.
She looks so pale but I’m hoping that it’s just the lighting in here. I look over her and am comforted by the steady beeping of the monitors next to her and the rise and fall of her chest.
I move around the side of the bed and drag the chair closer to her bedside. The sound of the chair legs scraping across the floor is loud in the quiet room. As I settle into the chair, reaching forward to hold her hand in mine, I see her eyelids start to flutter.
“Hey, Addy.” I say softly.
She groggily blinks her eyes open and tries to focus on me.
“Hey.” I say again softly when her eyes meet mine.
“What happened?” She asks, clearing her throat.
I reach over and grab the cup of water that the nurse left on the table for when Adeline woke up. I bring the straw to her lips and explain to her what happened.
“When I came home this morning, I couldn’t get you to wake up. I had to call 911 and they sent an ambulance. They couldn’t wake you either and they think the tumor grew too big and pushed against your frontal lobe. They had to do the surgery today but the doctor just talked to us and said they think they got it all. It’s gone, Addy. You’re going to be ok.” I say and relief washes over Adeline’s face as I give her the news.
“It’s gone?” She asks.
“Yeah.” I say as it finally sets in for me and tears start to stream down my face.
“Oh, Aspen.” She says.
“Oh god, Adeline. I was so scared. I didn’t want to lose you; I was so scared that I was going to lose you and be all alone.” I cry into her shoulder.
“I know. I was scared too. I thought I was going to die.”
She holds me and cries with me.
Finally, we’re able to calm down and I reach over to hit the button to call the nurse. She comes in and checks over Adeline’s vitals before she leaves to get the doctor.
“So, Roman and Flynn are here.” I say once she’s gone.
“What? Here?” She asks excitedly.
“Yeah, I called them this morning after I got here and they’ve been here with me all day. They wanted to meet you but the doctor said one visitor at a time for right now.”
“Get out! Get out and send them in then.” She says, waving me towards the door.
I laugh as the doctor comes in to check over Adeline and make sure that everything is looking ok. I stay with her while he asks her a few questions and double checks her vitals. He finally tells her that she’ll need to stay in the hospital for a couple of days so that she can be monitored but then she’ll be cleared to go home. We thank him and he tells me that visiting hours are ending soon as he leaves.
“Go get your men.” Adeline tells me.
“They’re not my men.” I say and I can feel my cheeks heat.
“Why not? I know you like them and they obviously like you too.”
“They told me they love me.” I say quietly.
“Do you love them?” She asks.
“Yeah. I do.” I finally admit.
“Then be with them.”
I think about what she said. Can I be with them? Can I handle what people will say or think about me when they see the three of us together? I think about them spending the whole day with me in the hospital, about them paying for Addy’s surgery and care, how they loved my body last night, and how sweet they were in the weeks when they were just coming into the coffee shop to see me every day. Then I think about how I slept on them without a second thought. How I held their hands and kissed them both in public and how perfect and natural it felt to be together with both of them.
Adeline must see me reach my conclusion because she smiles at me.
“Good. Now go get your men so I can make sure that they’re good
enough for my sister.”
Chapter Seventeen
Roman
Flynn and I bolt to our feet the second that Aspen comes into view.
“She’s smiling. That has to be a good sign, right?” Flynn asks under his breath.
I just nod, not willing to take my eyes off our girl. These last fourteen hours have been so hard on her and I want nothing more than to bundle her up and take her home where we can keep her safe but right now, we need to be focused on helping her with Adeline.
“How is she?” I ask as soon as Aspen is within hearing distance.
“She’s good. She’s awake and she wants to meet you two.” She says before she holds her hands out to us.
I don’t even hesitate, slipping my palm against hers as Flynn does the same. She turns us and heads back down the hallway towards Adeline’s room.
“The doctor said that she’s really weak right now so we can’t stay long but I’ve been telling her about you two and she’s been dying to meet you both.”
She lets go of my hand to open a door and walks through smiling at the tiny girl laying in the hospital bed.
“FINALLY!” Adeline says as soon as we walk through the door.
I can’t help but smile at her for that but what really makes me happy is the look on Aspen’s face when she looks at her friend. Thank god she’s ok. I couldn’t imagine how our girl would take losing her best friend.
I step forward and offer Adeline my hand.
“I’m Roman and this is Flynn.”
“Adeline, but I’m sure you already knew that.” She says with a wink at us.
Flynn steps forward and shakes her hand too.
“We did. It’s nice to finally meet you. Aspen talks about you a lot.” He says.
“All good things, I’m sure.” She says with a sideways look at Aspen.
“Of course.”
“She’s told me a little about you two, too.”
Flynn and I both beam at Aspen when we hear this.
“Oh really?” Flynn says with a sly smile.
