“Yeah,” I grunt as Luke comes tearing across the waiting room.
“What the fuck is going on? What happened?” he questions as he looks between me and Lexi, probably wondering why the hell we’re together.
“Nothing, man,” I say, holding up my hand. “Just a little accident. I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine,” Lex demands before looking up at Luke. “He cut his hand really bad while trying to make our anniversary dinner. There’s blood all through the kitchen. You should have seen it.”
A softness that Luke only ever reserves for Lexi comes over his face before he grins down at her. “You had him cook dinner for our anniversary?”
“Well, I was trying to and then I was going to take all the credit for it,” she explains.
He leans forward and places both his hands on the armrest of her chair before bending down into her. “I fucking love you,” he tells her before kissing her.
“Ugh,” I groan. “Enough of that bullshit,” I tell them. “Remember we’re here because of me.”
With that, Luke straightens himself up and focuses on me. “You’re cleaning my kitchen,” he tells me in all seriousness.
I roll my eyes. I should have known that was coming. “Fine,” I say, “But only if they give me some painkillers. This is starting to hurt like a bitch.”
The second I mention a little bit of pain, Luke walks back over to the nurses’ desk and questions them on how long it’s going to be. Ever since Luke’s last tour where he was held captive, he hasn’t been able to handle seeing other people in pain, and it’s fair enough, the kinds of things he experienced in Iraq were shocking, hell, I still have trouble wrapping my head around it.
He comes back and lifts Lexi up out of her seat before taking her place and seating her on his lap in the busy waiting room. “She said there are still a few more people before you,” he tells me. “Maybe if you take the bandages off and let blood go everywhere, they’ll see you faster.”
“Hmm,” I grunt, wanting to get out of here. “Good plan.” I reach for the bandage only to have Lexi slap my hand away.
“Don’t be an idiot,” she tells me. “Both of you dickheads need to learn a little something about patience.”
Both Luke and I roll our eyes before he grins at me behind her back. He loves messing with his woman and I must admit, I quite enjoy it too.
After the longest half an hour wait, my name is finally called and I’m taken back into a room where a nurse named Gigi indicates for me to take a seat on the hospital bed.
“We’ll wait out here,” Luke tells me from the doorway as he pulls his phone out of his pocket and starts studying the screen.
“Thanks, man,” I say before he closes the door.
With that, I pay attention to Gigi as she starts unraveling the mess of bloodied bandages while we wait for the doctor to come in and stitch me up.
Chapter 19
Cami
It’s been another huge day at Style me Crazy. We’ve had shopper after shopper coming in and had to restock the shelves and put in new orders to the designers. It’s ridiculous. Since the store reopened two weeks, it’s been the local shopping hotspot and I absolutely love it.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was already a popular store, but the past two weeks have just been insane. I hope it remains that way, but then it could just be the excitement of the new store. It will fade a bit, but I kind of hope it doesn’t. Besides, the store is making a lot of profit at the moment and I’ve got three months of being out of business to make up for.
I say goodbye to the girls who are all exhausted after a huge day and I lock the doors behind them. Today is the day that I finally get to crack open my new sewing machine and finally start to build my collection.
I feel giddy and excited, like a kid going to big school for the first time. I have all my materials out in the back room and a massive desk set up so I can spread out. It’s going to be great.
Over the past few months while I waited for the store to be put back together, I went through all my designs and tweaked them to make them that much better, well, by better, I mean elegant. I was wanting my first line to be all about long lines and neutral colors. Very sophisticated. The second line which I’m hoping to bring out in spring next year will be the fun one, all about color and dresses. I can’t wait.
I leave the lights on in the store as the thought of having a repeat of last time still kind of haunts me. I mean, to experience all that smoke trying to suffocate me again… no thanks. I’ll pass.
I leave the music on and head to the back room. “Alright,” I say to the sewing machine and fabric. “Let’s make some magic.”
I get stuck straight into it and start measuring out the fabric which happened to cost a bomb. I reach for my scissors and am just about to make the first cut when my phone starts going nuts on the table beside me.
I put the scissors down as I look at the caller ID. Luke. Why the hell would Luke be calling me?
I grab the phone and press answer. “Hey, Luke. What’s up?”
“Cami,” he says in a tone filled with nothing but urgency. “It’s Jace. He’s been hurt. I’m at the hospital now, but you need to get down here.”
My heart sinks to the bottom of my stomach. “What?” I demand. “What happened? Is he ok?” Shit. Please tell me he’s ok.
I fly out of my chair and grab my car keys off the table. Before I know it, I’m running through my store with hundreds of images of Jace going through my mind. Please. Please be ok.
“Just get here,” Luke says before the line goes dead.
Fuck.
I launch myself into my car and screech out of the parking lot. Shit. My Jace. What the hell happened?
I can barely think in a straight line as I get to the hospital in record time. As I abandon my car and run through the doors of the emergency room, tears are streaming down my face.
I look around but don’t recognize anyone before running up to the nurses' desk. “Jace King,” I tell her.
The nurse looks at her computer screen but my name coming from the opposite side of the room has me dashing away. I turn to find Luke standing by the door that leads down to the hospital rooms. “Hurry,” he tells me.
I pick up my pace and run to him while trying to wipe the tears off my face. “What happened?” I ask. “Is he ok?”
Luke doesn’t respond just rushes down the hallway. I see Lexi sitting by a door with an apology in her eyes but I don’t have time to dwell on it. I need to get to Jace.
We come to the closed door and Luke stops me as he reaches for the door handle. “I’m really, really sorry, Cami,” he tells me. “Please forgive me.”
With that, he pulls the door open, practically throws me inside the room, and slams it closed behind me.
What the hell?
I look into the room to find Jace sitting up in a hospital bed, gawking at me in confusion as some doctor works on his hand. “Cami?” he grunts. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he questions in confusion before taking his half-stitched hand from the doctor and jumping down from the bed. He hurries over and runs his thumb on his good hand across my cheek, wiping away the tears. “Why are you crying? What’s wrong?”
“W-what?” I say as I study his face, still checking that he’s ok. My eyes travel down his body and take in the blood covering his shirt. I reach for it and pull it up to check the wounds beneath. Only, there’s isn’t any. His skin is as perfect as I’ve always remembered. “What happened?” I ask.
He pushes the hair back off my face and wipes the new tears away. “I’m fine, babe,” he says, pulling me into him. “What are you doing here?”
“Luke… Luke called. He said you were hurt. He said I had to hurry.”
“Shit,” Jace groans as he looks up at the door to see Luke staring into the room. “What the fuck, man?”
“I’m sorry,” Luke calls through the door. “I had to get you two in the same room. She wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t a
n emergency.”
“Fuck,” Jace grunts as his hands rub across my back and I do my best to wipe the wetness on my face off onto his blood-stained shirt. “What were you thinking?”
He just grins back at us. “I was thinking that you two need to sort out your shit,” he tells us. “And don’t even think about leaving. I’m not opening this door until you two can kiss and make up. Nobody in. Nobody out.”
“Ahh…,” the doctor says. “Can I at least finish stitching his hand first?”
“Oh… um, yeah,” Luke says with a chuckle.
With that, Jace takes me by the hand and walks back over to the bed before getting back on and giving his hand back to the doctor. I watch as the doctor continues working on his stitches, and I must say, I’m absolutely horrified.
This shit makes me feel sick. I mean, it’s a needle going in and out of his skin for fuck’s sake. Either way, I’m just happy he’s not on his deathbed. But as soon as I walk out of here, Luke will be on my shit list. I don’t know how and I don’t know when, but I vow to myself that I will get him back for this.
The second the doctor finishes with the stitches, I release Jace’s hand and step back. Jace watches me as I go but turns back to the doctor when he starts wrapping his hand in bandages and goes over the care instructions.
Before I know it, the doctor is walking to the door and waiting for Luke to let him out.
The second the door closes behind him, I find myself lost. I don’t know what to say and I don’t know where to look, so I take another step back and drop down into a chair, all the while Jace hasn’t taken his eyes off me.
“I’m sorry Luke scared you like that,” he tells me.
I press my lips together and nod my head. “He’s a shit head. It sucked.”
“I bet,” he says. “I would have knocked him out by now if it was the other way around.”
I don’t respond, just let out a sigh and push myself to my feet. “Maybe I should go,” I say, hesitantly.
“Wait,” he says sliding off the edge of the bed and walking towards me. “Don’t go. I just… Luke’s right. We have a lot of shit to sort out.”
“We do,” I agree. “But not now. I can see that you’re not ready. This conversation is only going to end with me getting hurt again and I’m not sure that I can handle that.”
“Babe,” he says as he reaches out and takes my hand. I look down at them and realize my heart is already breaking. He hasn’t denied that he’s not ready. He pulls on my hand and I fall into him before he wraps me up in his warm arms.
I bury my face into his chest and breathe him in. A few weeks ago, he had said those words that I still repeat in my mind every single day. ‘You will be.’ It gives me hope, but the way he hasn’t said a word about us is beginning to tear that hope down.
He holds me close and rubs his hand up and down my back. “I’m sorry,” he murmurs. “I’m not there yet.” I nod my head into his chest. I knew it was coming but it doesn’t make it sting any less. “Are you ok?” he asks after I’ve been quiet for a little too long.
I nod again, scared that my voice will come out broken if I was to speak. I take a few slow breaths and get myself under control. I consider pulling out of his arms to ask my next question, but I don’t want to see the look on his face when he answers.
“Where are you disappearing to every few days?” I mumble into his shirt, making his back stiffen. “If you’re seeing someone, you should just tell me already. Like a band-aid.”
He lets out a sigh. “I’m not seeing anyone,” he finally tells me.
At that, I find the balls to pull back and really look at him. “Then where are you going?”
He looks away as though he’s ashamed of himself. “I’ve been going to therapy,” he tells me.
My mouth practically pops open. “Are you serious?” I question. The Jace I know doesn’t get help, he doesn’t discuss his problems, and he sure as hell doesn’t admit to seeing a therapist.
He nods his head as he leans back against the hospital bed. “Yeah, babe. You told me it was time I forgive myself, so that what I’ve been trying to do.”
I remain where I am but I don’t dare take my eyes off him. “And… how’s it going?”
He groans before reaching forward and pulling me into him again. “Don’t make me talk about it,” he begs. “I fucking hate it.”
I nod my head and get lost inside my own head for a moment. “What about the other thing?” I ask as the curiosity gets to be too much.
“You mean the blackouts?” he questions.
I nod my head into his strong chest. “Yeah,” I say quietly.
I listen to the steady beat of his heart as I wait for his reply. I become anxious as the blackouts is his main reason for us not being together. He doesn’t trust himself after what happened with his father, and I get that, but if there was some way the blackouts would stop, then there’s a chance that this man could be mine.
“I’ve been seeing a doctor who confirmed it’s PTSD. So, when I blackout, my mind takes me back to being in a war zone, which is why I attacked my dad,” he finally tells me. “The doctor put me on some medication, and so far, I haven’t blacked out in over a month, but I don’t trust it yet.”
“What?” I gasp as I look up at him and search his eyes. For once, I see hope shining back at me. “What does this mean?”
“It means,” he says as he raises his hand to run the back of his knuckles down the side of my face before he slowly leans in and gently presses his lips to mine. “That I’m finally coming home to you.”
I latch onto his lips that hover just above mine and kiss him with all I’ve got. His hand wraps back around my waist and he holds me as tight as he can while emotions take over both of us.
After a moment, he pulls back and rests his forehead against mine as we both catch our breath. “You’re coming home,” I say, repeating his earlier words and trying them out for myself.
“Yeah, babe,” he says. “I’m just not quite there yet.”
With that, I close my eyes and just stand here, being in the moment with him until the time starts to pass. “I better go,” I tell him. “I left the store wide open.”
“Ok, babe,” he murmurs before pressing his lips against mine just one more time. “Do you want me to walk you out.”
“No,” I smile. “I’ll be alright, and besides, you need to be there for Luke after I kick his ass.”
“Alright,” he laughs as he laces his fingers through mine and walks me towards the door. “I’ll see you later, ok?”
I nod as I look up at him. “Don’t take too long,” I tell him.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
A smile breaks across my face and I make my escape out of the room before I make a fool out of myself. though, I manage to give Luke the look of absolute death as I pass him. “You watch your back, Luke Hayes,” I tell him. “I’m coming for you.”
“I don’t doubt it,” he says.
I stop by Lexi’s side and give her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m sorry,” she tells me. “I couldn’t stop him.”
“It’s ok,” I say. “Jace and I needed that more than you could know.”
“So… is it all good then? You don’t look like he just tore you apart again.”
“Trust me, if it was all good, I’d be underneath him right now screaming his name, but it’s on the way to being all good.”
“Thank god,” she says.
“Tell me about it,” I smile before narrowing my eyes at Luke once again. “I have to go, but tomorrow night, you’re ditching your douchebag boyfriend and were having a girls’ night. I’m in the mood for celebrating.”
“You’re on,” she says. “I’ll call the girls.”
With that, I double check my car keys and phone are in my pocket and I walk out the doors of the hospital while narrowly avoiding getting a parking ticket.
I get back into my car in an extremely different mood than the last time I was in here. I mean, Jac
e just turned my whole world upside down and put it back into place in the space of ten minutes. He made my heart beat again and gave me hope for the future that I’ve been dreaming about for the past two years, and I swear, I could explode with happiness right now.
With a smile on my face and love in my heart, I get back to my store and put all those emotions into my designs.
Chapter 20
Jace
How the hell did my day go from cooking someone else’s dinner, to getting stitches in the ER, to feeling on top of the fucking world?
I watch that perfect ass as Cami slips out the door and I groan as I resist going after her.
I couldn’t believe it when she walked through the door. I think I was in shock, or maybe I’d just lost a bit too much blood, but either way, she walked in here looking like she’s just lost the most precious thing to her and all I could do was stare. It took me a few moments to pull my shit together and realize that my girl was standing before me in tears.
I hate those fucking tears. It’s like they exist only to torture me. I had no choice. I had to go to her, and when I did, it felt so fucking right. Every day I go through life knowing I’m missing something and it only ever goes away when I’m with her.
Knowing that those tears were there and she was such a mess because of my so called best friend had me nearly in a fit of rage. I mean, how could he do that to my girl? I get it though, he wanted us to talk, but surely, there must have been a better way.
If she hadn’t been such a mess, I’m sure I would have stormed right out there and put the fucker in his place, and even though the conversation between us went well, I still want to hate on him. He’s always been an opportunist and usually it’s a great thing, but right then, I’ve never hated it more.
I mean, if he wanted us to talk so badly, he could have dragged me over to her place kicking and screaming before locking us in her apartment. He didn’t have to scare her.
The door closes behind Cami and I watch through the little window as she eyes off Luke and says a quick hello to Lexi. As she passes by them Luke cringes and pushes himself to his feet. He walks down to the room and barges his way through the door.
Jace: Rebels Advocate (Book 4) Page 15
