If You Stay

by Courtney Cole

  Pull yourself together. If you need help, ask for it.

  I think you should move to Chicago, so you can be nearer to me. I’ll help you in any way that I can. Just because you have money, doesn’t mean that you don’t need emotional support. You can’t do everything alone.

  Think on it.

  And stay out of trouble.

  -Dad

  I fight the urge to laugh because I know it would hurt my banged-up ribs. What the fuck ever. The idea that my dad thinks he can offer me emotional support is too hilarious to take seriously. I don’t even think he has any emotions, not anymore. Not since mom died. She took the human side of Paul Tate with her.

  I toss the note in the trashcan, but it bounces off the rim and lands on the floor. Shit.

  I consider the notion of trying to get up and get it, but decide against it. I’m too sore and it’s just not that important. Housekeeping can pick it up later.

  However, before I can think any more on it, the tip of a shoe appears next to it. My gaze flickers upward and finds a girl standing there. She’s staring at me with clear, green eyes and she’s holding a vase of flowers.

  And she’s fucking beautiful.

  My gut immediately tightens in response. Holy shit.

  She’s small, with long dark hair draped over one shoulder and clear green eyes framed in thick black lashes. Her skin is bright and glowing. And why am I noticing her skin when she’s got such a great rack? I fight to keep my eyes away from her full, perky tits and focused on her face.

  She smiles a wide, white smile. A gorgeous kind of smile.

  “Hi,” she says softly. “I didn’t know you’d be awake.”

  There is gentle familiarity in her voice, as if she knows me.

  I’m confused. How fucked up had I been? Do I know this girl? My instincts say no. She’s not the kind of girl I tend to hang around. I usually keep the needy ones around, the ones who are willing to do whatever I want, just because I can give them what they need.

  This girl is not one of them. That much is blatantly apparent. She reeks of sunshine and wholesomeness. It’s foreign to me. And fascinating.

  I cock my head.

  “I’m sorry. Do I know you?”

  The beautiful girl blushes now, a faint pink tint along the delicate curve of her cheek. I immediately have the urge to run my fingers along the color, although I don’t know why.

  “No,” she answers and she seems embarrassed. “I know that this is probably weird. But I’m the one who found you on the beach. I came the other day to make sure that you were okay. And then I wanted to bring you some flowers because your room seemed a little bare. I’m an artist, so I love color. And now I seem like a stalker, don’t I?”

  She’s rambling. And it’s cute as hell. I smile. And as I do, I feel like the Big Bad Wolf and she’s little Red Riding Hood. My, what big teeth I have.

  I smile wider, especially when I realize that she’s even wearing a dark red shirt. And it’s stretched tightly across her perfect rack.

  “It’s okay,” I assure her. “I like stalkers.”

  Her head snaps up and her eyes meet mine, her gaze startled. I have to laugh again. Something about her seems so innocent. She’d truly be startled if she could hear my thoughts about her smoking hot body.

  “Thank you for the flowers,” I tell her, chuckling. “They’re nice. You’re right. The room can definitely use some color. You can set them over there if you’d like.”

  I motion toward my empty dresser. She moves in that direction, stopping to pick up the crumpled note from my father.

  “Is this trash?” she asks innocently. I nod and she drops it in the wastebasket.

  “Thanks,” I tell her. “That’s just where it belongs.”

  She looks puzzled, but she doesn’t question my words. Instead, she places the flowers on the dresser, then sits in the chair next to me. And stares at me.

  I stare back.

  “What?” I ask her. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  She smiles. “I’m just happy to see your eyes open. I know this is going to sound stupid, but you were in a bad way on Goose Beach. And I haven’t been able to get those images out of my head. So it’s nice to see you wide awake and perfectly fine. I’ll have something to replace those bad images with now.”

  Well, the idea that I’m perfectly fine is debatable. But I’m a little puzzled. She seems genuinely concerned, truly troubled. And she doesn’t even know me, so why should she care?

  So I ask her that.

  And she’s the one who’s puzzled now.

  “Why wouldn’t I be?” she asks, and then she pulls on her full lip with her teeth. My gut clenches again as I catch a glimpse of her pink tongue. “Anyone would be concerned. And it was the first time that I’d ever tried CPR. I don’t even know if I did it right. And it was the first time I’d ever seen someone overdose. I wasn’t sure exactly what was wrong when I first found you. But you didn’t seem like you were just drunk. I’m glad I called the ambulance.”

  I stare at her now.

  “You called the ambulance?” Interesting. I wonder what the hell happened to Jill? She probably left me to die, the fucking whore. You get what you pay for, I guess. A few snorts of coke apparently don’t buy much.

  Beautiful Girl nods. “Yes, I did. The girl who you were with wasn’t too happy about that. But I thought you needed it. And it turns out that you did.”

  Ah, so Jill was there.

  “There was a girl with me?” I raise an eyebrow, probing to find out what happened with Jill.

  Beautiful Girl shakes her head. “Not at first. She came while I was trying to decide what to do. She was mad at you for something- until she saw the condition you were in. And then she got hysterical. She left when the paramedics arrived.”

  That sounds about right.

  “Well, thank you for calling help,” I tell her slowly, eyeing her, taking her all in. “I’m Pax, by the way.”

  She smiles. “I know. Stalker, remember?”

  I smile back. “Well, you have me at a disadvantage. Because I don’t know you.”

  And that’s a damn shame.

  She holds out her hand and I take it. Hers is small and soft, almost fragile.

  “My name is Mila Hill. It’s very nice to meet you.”

  And it is.

  I know I should tell her to run far, far from me, but of course I don’t. She’s like a ray of sunshine in this bleak hospital room and I soak her up. She’s got good, healthy energy and I like the way it feels to talk with her.

  She’s like a breath of fresh air.

  I may be the Big Bad Wolf, but even wolves need to breathe.

  Chapter Four

  Mila

  I stare at the man in the bed, at this tattooed, hard man.

  Pax Tate is beautifully sexy in a very masculine way. There’s not an ounce of fat on him, he’s muscled and strong. I can see that from here. He’s got an air of strength about him, like nothing is too much for him to handle, although his recent overdose contradicts that notion. I feel like there’s a certain sadness to him, probably because his eyes hint at things that I don’t yet know about him, troubled things. His body is hard, his face is hard, his eyes are hard. Like stone.

  And even still, I am pulled inexplicably to him.

  I can’t explain it. It’s not logical.

  Maybe it is the vulnerable look hiding in his glittering hazel eyes; the eyes that almost seem warm, but contain too much past hurt to quite allow that, so they appear hard instead. Maybe it is the devil-may-care attitude that exudes from him. Or perhaps it is the jaded look on his face, the expression that tells me that he is simply waiting for me to show that I am only here because I want something from him, which isn’t true, and part of me wants to prove it.

  I don’t know why I’m here, actually.

  I don’t have a good reason.

  I reach over and graze his hand with mine, right in the spot where his thumb forms a V with his index
finger. There is jagged scar there in the shape of an X and I remember seeing it the other night.

  “How did that happen?” I ask Pax curiously, as I finger it. It’s clearly old, but it’s apparent that it was a really deep cut. The scar hasn’t faded much, but the edges have that fuzzy look that old scars get. He looks unconcerned as he shrugs.

  “I don’t know,” he tells me casually. “I don’t remember getting it. There are a lot of things in life that I don’t remember. It’s all part of it, I guess.”

  “All part of what?” I ask. I feel like he is baiting me, challenging me. But challenging me to what? It almost feels like I’ve been invited to play a game, but the rules aren’t going to be explained.

  “Part of what happens when you fuck your life away,” he tells me, his voice harsh now, cold. I feel the urge to shiver from it, but I don’t. Instead, I simply pull my hand away from his. His eyes meet mine. He notices my retreat.

  “Why do you think you’ve fucked your life away?”

  I have to make myself say the word. It feels so foreign in my mouth because it’s not something that I normally say. Pax smirks, almost as if he knows that, as if it sounds so out of place on my lips that it is funny. I fight the urge to scowl.

  “I don’t think it,” Pax answers tiredly. “I know it.” He settles back into the pillow of his hospital bed, wincing slightly as he moves, his face set determinedly as he tries not to show the pain. I remember the crack that his ribs had made on the beach when the paramedics were saving him and I wince too. It has to hurt him.

  “How many ribs are broken?” I ask. “I’ll never forget the sound.”

  Pax looks at me now, startled. “You saw it?”

  I nod. “I don’t know why I stayed. I didn’t know what to do, so I just stood there. I watched them work on you and load you into the ambulance. And then I stripped off my shirt and sweater before I drove home—because you puked all over me and I smelled like something died. I drove home in my bra.”

  Pax chuckles now, amused by this. As he laughs, his eyes do warm up; they flicker with something other than the jaded boredom that seems to normally live there. For some reason, that makes my stomach flutter. Maybe there’s warmth in there after all. Or maybe he’s just amused.

  “It sounds like I owe you a sweater, then,” he says, his lip twitching. I notice how he doesn’t apologize for puking on me, but then, for some reason that doesn’t surprise me. Pax Tate doesn’t seem like someone who apologizes.

  It’s my turn to shrug.

  “It doesn’t matter. I’ve got more.”

  I pretend to be nonchalant, although in reality, that’s the last thing I am. I’m a planner, which is contrary to my artistic side. I carefully plot things out, I plan my life. Although, I certainly didn’t plan for this detour. I would never have expected that I’d be sitting in this hospital room with a stranger.

  My thoughts must be showing on my face, because Pax notices. Apparently, he doesn’t miss much.

  “You don’t like hospitals much, do you?” he asks gently.

  The kind tone in his voice seems both foreign and familiar to him, as though he can easily change in a moment’s notice from apathetic to genuine. The idea that I stirred him into feeling something strikes a chord deep down in me and I shake my head.

  “No. My parents died a few years back. I’ll never look at hospitals the same.”

  Pax is interested now and he cocks his head again, examining me. I can’t help but notice his strong jaw and the way his brow furrows as he thinks. His natural good looks combined with his rebellious and dangerous attitude make him gut-wrenchingly sexy.

  “They died at the same time?”

  He asks this strange question, rather than offering his condolences as normal people do. I find his honest curiosity refreshing, so I nod.

  “Yes. They died in a car crash. It was a foggy morning and they were driving on a little two-lane highway along the coast. A semi swerved into their lane and hit them. They died at the scene.”

  I don’t know why I just told him that. I don’t like to talk about it, but normally I don’t have to. Our community is fairly small and anyone who lived here during that time knows about it.

  “If they died at the scene, why do you have an aversion to hospitals?” Pax asks, his gaze thoughtful. And still genuinely interested.

  I think back to that morning, how I was in a Humanities class in college. I was tired and blurry-eyed from lack of sleep the night before. The Dean himself had come to the classroom and pulled me into the hall. His face was twisted and awkward as he told me there had been an accident.

  I don’t know any specifics, he had said. But you should go.

  So I did. I rushed to the hospital and when I arrived, I somehow knew as I walked through the doors that something was very, very wrong. No one would meet my eyes, not the doctors or nurses passing in the halls and not my old neighbor Matilda, who had somehow managed to beat me to the hospital.

  She had wordlessly led me to an empty room; a chapel, I think, where she quietly told me that I wouldn’t find my parents there, that they’d been taken to the morgue. She had been so matter of fact. And then she had caught me when I had collapsed to the floor. I still remember my fingers releasing the leather handle of my purse, and how it had hit the ground, spilling all of its contents onto the blue carpet. My lipstick had rolled to Matilda’s feet and she had picked it up and handed it to me, her face white and solemn.

  I gulp now.

  And then I realize that I had just spoken all of this aloud.

  Pax is staring at me intently, the expression on his handsome face unreadable as he processes the details of the most painful day of my life.

  “I’m sorry,” he says quietly. “That must have been horrible for you. I didn’t mean to dredge up old memories.”

  His words are simple, his voice is not. He is a complex person, which seems to be all I can figure out. He’s difficult to read, but his complicated and seemingly contradictory nature is intriguing. I feel my belly twinge as I stare back at him, as the gold in his eyes seems to swirl into green.

  “It was a long time ago,” I answer simply. “I’ve put it to bed.”

  “Have you?” he replies, his eyebrow raised. “You must be talented. Sometimes, the past doesn’t want to sleep.”

  “That’s true,” I admit. “You’re right. Sometimes, at the least opportune times, the past is an insomniac, alive and well.”

  He nods as if he understands and I wonder if he actually does. But he doesn’t say anything more and I let it go.

  In fact, I stand up, picking my purse up off of another hospital floor.

  “I’ve taken up enough of your time,” I tell him politely. “Thank you so much for humoring me and letting me see that you are doing okay. You’re going to be just fine, Pax.”

  I don’t know if I’m trying to convince him or me. He looks like he isn’t sure either, but he smiles and holds out his hand. It is slender and strong and I take it. He shakes it, like we’re businessmen.

  “It was nice to meet you, Mila. Thank you for saving my life.”

  His voice is husky. I gulp and stare into his eyes and I can’t tell if he really means it. Somehow, it seems that he doesn’t really want saving.

  But I smile anyway and I turn around and walk away. When I am partway down the hall, I turn and glance back into his room. He is still watching me, his eyes intent and fierce.

  I swallow hard and turn back around, putting one foot in front of the other. Before I know it, I’m in my car. And I still don’t know what the heck happened.

  Chapter Five

  Pax

  A week in the hospital is one fucking week too long. That much is certain.

  I slowly curl up out of my pillows and sit perched on the edge of my bed. I wince a bit as the movement disturbs a cracked rib and I try to take shallow breaths so that it doesn’t hurt. The chest compressions from the paramedics did a number on my ribcage. I know they were trying to save my
life, but shit. Did they have to crack four ribs?

  Fuckers.

  As I wait for the pain to settle and for my eyes to adjust to the light of day, I stare out the windows at the large lake that looms in