by Shayna B
He put an arm around my waist and hugged me to his side. “Yeah, I told them about them. But I didn’t say what had happened to you.”
I let out a little breath. “You and Jared are the only ones who have really touched my back since the accident,” I said.
He turned and put his other arm around me as well. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
I shook my head. “No, I want to; it just caught me off guard for a moment when I realized that they would actually be touching me.” I pulled away and led him to the two tables just as the masseuses came back in.
I was a little tense as my masseuse started massaging me, but he didn’t mention the scars so I relaxed. Blake had a female masseuse and he had his eyes closed, looking completely zoned out. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched him. It was nice to see him so completely relaxed and carefree. It wasn’t something that happened all that often.
The massages lasted for forty-five minutes and my body felt loose and wobbly when we were done. Blake and I went back up to our hotel room and found a way to entertain ourselves that required very little clothing until it was time for dinner.
We went to the restaurant in the hotel for our meal and then we got into the limo once again. Blake still hadn’t told me where we were going; he only repeated that it was some sort of a show.
When we pulled up to a theater, I read what was on the sign and started smiling. “A comedy festival?”
“I figured this was something we would both like. I don’t really need to be able to see the comedians to enjoy them.”
“This is an awesome idea. I never would have thought of it,” I said.
“What can I say? I’m brilliant,” he replied with a grin.
I rolled my eyes and climbed out of the limo, choosing not to answer him. We went inside and I found our seats near the front. We sat down and about twenty minutes later the show started.
There were a few times throughout that I had to tell Blake what the comedians were doing, but for the most part we were able to just listen and enjoy it all. By the time the last comedian left the stage, my stomach hurt from laughing so much.
All in all, it was an amazing day and night, and I was in a great mood when we got back to the hotel. I decided I had to show Blake my gratitude by once again finding something to do that involved no clothing. He was more than happy to let me, and pretty soon we were snuggled up under the blanket on the bed for the night.
“Thank you for an amazing time,” I murmured.
“You’re more than welcome. And you can thank me like that anytime you want to,” he replied.
I laughed. “Figured you might say that.” I yawned and pressed myself into him a little more. “Good night Blake.”
We both fell asleep, only to be woken up three hours later by my phone ringing. We both jolted awake and I cursed quietly as I tried to find my phone. “Who the hell is calling me at this hour?” I grumbled before finally locating it. “Hello?”
“Hailey, he’s awake.”
Chapter twenty-two
I blinked a couple of times. “Huh?”
“Jake’s awake. The hospital just called the house to tell us,” Jared said.
It took a moment to sink in, but once it did, I bolted upright. “He’s awake?”
“Yeah, and apparently he keeps saying your name.”
“Holy crap! We’ll meet you at the hospital,” I said and then hung up the phone. I turned to Blake to see that he already had his phone to his ear. “He’s awake.”
“I heard, which is why I’m calling Jack right now. I’ll get him to pick us up.”
“Thanks,” I said then climbed out of the bed and got dressed quickly. I went around the suite and packed everything into our bags, not really caring whose stuff went into which one. We could sort it out later.
Blake came out of the bedroom, wearing his jeans and pulling his shirt on over his head. He made his way over to where I was just finishing zipping up the bags. “Jack should be here in five minutes.”
I straightened up and looked at him. “Thanks. I can’t believe this is happening.”
He closed the distance between us and pulled me into his arms. “How are you feeling right now?”
I pressed my face into his shoulder. “Overwhelmed. It’s been ten months and I really didn’t think he’d ever wake up. I’m also scared, because I don’t know what he’s going to be like.”
Blake rubbed my back gently. “Well you’ll find out soon enough, so don’t worry about it too much. Whatever happens, happens.”
I let out a breath. “I know. Promise that you’ll stay with me?”
“Of course I’ll stay with you. Now come on, Jack should be here very soon and I know you want to get to the hospital quickly.”
I nodded and bent down to pick up the bags. Blake took them from me and then grabbed my hand. We left the room and went down to the lobby to wait. We only had to wait for about a minute, and then Jack was there.
Once we were in the limo, I couldn’t sit still. I was bouncing my knee up and down and I kept shifting in my seat. After about five minutes Blake finally reached over and laid a hand on my knee. “Easy Hailey,” he murmured.
I took a deep breath and managed to get my knee to stop bouncing, but I still couldn’t sit completely still. Every few minutes I would move a little and Blake just let me.
The drive seemed to take forever, but in reality it was probably only about twenty minutes. As soon as Jack pulled the limo to a stop I jumped out, literally dragging Blake with me. I went directly to the elevators and bounced in place until it arrived. I pulled Blake on with me and pushed the button to take us to Jake’s floor.
When the doors opened, I saw Jared waiting outside of Jake’s room. When he saw me, relief washed over his face and he hurried towards us. “Thank god you’re finally here. He’s been asking for you and he’s getting agitated.”
I looked into the room and saw three nurses surrounding my brother. Jake was looking around wildly and every few seconds he’d mumble my name. I walked in and he looked in my direction, his expression immediately relaxing. “Hailey,” he said.
“Hey Jake,” I said as I went to his side. “You’ve been asleep for a long time.”
He opened his mouth and a garbled sound came out of him. He frowned and tried again. “Mom? Dad?” His voice was hoarse and the strain of speaking was evident on his face.
I shook my head as tears welled in my eyes. “They didn’t make it. They died in the accident.”
His frown deepened. “Happened?”
I tilted my head to the side slightly. “You want to know what happened?” When he nodded, I looked around the room. Jared and Blake were standing in the doorway and I could see Liam just behind them. “Why don’t you guys come in and help me explain?”
The three of them entered and the nurses left so we could have some privacy. Blake stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. Jake’s eyes zeroed in on the gesture, but he didn’t say anything. Jared, Liam and I took turns explaining what had happened. A myriad of emotions flitted over his face before settling on sorrow. He weakly raised a hand to me and I clasped it firmly. He looked up at me sadly. “Okay?” he asked me.
I nodded. “I’m okay now, though my back will never be the same. I wouldn’t have gotten through it without Jared and Liam though.”
Jake’s eyes focused on Blake and they narrowed slightly. “Who?” At least that’s what I think he asked. His words were becoming almost unintelligible.
“This is my boyfriend, Blake.” I frowned a little and turned to the nurse who was just outside the room. “Why is he having so much trouble talking?”
“I can answer that,” a man replied as he walked into the room. He had dark blonde hair and green eyes that seemed to sparkle. I knew who he was because I’d spoken to him many times in the past. “Hello Jake, I’m Dr. Schultz. I’ve been taking care of you since you got moved to this hospital five months ago. Since you’ve been in a
coma for so long, it’s not surprising that you are having trouble speaking. It’ll improve over time, but I don’t know exactly how long it will take. Your muscles will also take time to strengthen, though your friend here has helped with that a lot already.” He nodded to Jared. “He’ll continue to help you now that you’re awake.”
Jake didn’t look overly pleased with that news so I squeezed his hand. “Jared helped me a lot as well, even though I didn’t want him to at first. You’ll be better in no time.”
Dr. Shultz nodded. “It might seem like it’s taking forever, but in reality things will likely progress fairly quickly.” He turned to us. “I’m going to have to ask you four to leave now so we can take him down for some tests. You’re welcome to stay in the waiting area while we do so.”
We reluctantly left the room and headed to some chairs in the waiting room. They were bench style, so Blake took advantage of that and stretched out, putting his head in my lap and closing his eyes. I stroked a finger down his cheek. “Tired?” I asked.
He nodded. “A little. Aren’t you?”
“No, I’ve got too much adrenaline going through me right now. I’m sure once it wears off I’ll be ready to crash though. It’s a good thing we don’t have school today.”
The elevator doors opened at that moment and Amanda came rushing out, her blonde hair streaming out behind her. She came to a halt when she saw us sitting there. “What’s going on? Is he okay?”
“He’s fine, the doctors just took him to have some tests done,” I told her. “He’s having trouble speaking, but the doctor said that that’s normal.”
“Did he remember anything about the accident?”
“No, we had to tell him what happened. It was harder than I thought it would be.”
Blake found one of my hands with his and tangled our fingers together. “You got through it, though. And he’s awake, which is all that really matters.”
I smiled a little. “I know. And he was feeling good enough to give you the big brother warning look, so that’s a good sign.”
He snorted. “Maybe for you. I’m the one who’s going to end up getting a lecture from him eventually. I have a feeling he’s going to be as much of a pain in the butt as you were at the beginning.”
I narrowed my eyes and shoved his head off my lap. This had a more severe effect than I thought it would and he rolled off the seats completely and landed with a thud on the ground. I clapped a hand over my mouth to keep my laughter from erupting, but a snort escaped anyways.
Blake scowled up at me. “What is with you and making me fall off of things?”
“You shouldn’t have been a jerk,” I choked out, desperately trying to hold my laughter in still.
Blake’s scowl deepened. “Are you laughing at me?”
“No,” I said, but my voice was strangled and I couldn’t hold my laughter in anymore.
“I fail to see how this is funny,” Blake grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.
Jared, Liam and Amanda were all laughing as well, and that made it even harder for me to stop. “The fact that you’re lying on the ground and pouting isn’t helping,” I finally gasped out.
“I’m not pouting,” he grumbled.
“Yes you are.”
“Am not.”
“You’re such a child sometimes,” I stated after regaining control of myself. I reached down and grabbed one of his hands. “I’m sorry for pushing you off; that wasn’t actually my intention. It just kind of… happened.”
Blake grumbled a little more, but got to his feet anyways and sat back down beside me. He crossed his arms over his chest again and I giggled a little at his attitude. I leaned into him and squirmed closer until he gave in and put one arm around me. “Forgive me?” I asked.
“Whatever,” he said and then he got a little smile on his face, but didn’t say anything else.
“What are you thinking about?” I wanted to know.
“The last time you made me fall off of something,” he said absentmindedly.
A goofy grin stretched across my face as I thought about that and what had happened afterwards. “Oh yeah,” I replied.
Jared cleared his throat. “Okay children, get your dirty minds out of the gutter now.”
I just laughed. “Like you’re one to talk, Jared. How often have you and Laurel spent the night together?”
His cheeks turned a little pink. “That’s different,” he mumbled. “I’m older.”
I rolled my eyes. “That doesn’t make it different,” I retorted. “But whatever, it doesn’t matter.” I let my head rest on Blake’s shoulder as a wave of exhaustion suddenly hit me. I yawned and closed my eyes for a moment.
The next thing I knew, I felt myself being shifted around. I opened my eyes and saw that I was now in a different room and Blake and I were stretched out on a huge recliner. “What’s going on?” I asked tiredly.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. Jared helped me move you into here before he left so that we’d be more comfortable.”
I looked around blearily and saw that Jared and Amanda were no longer in sight. “Where is everyone?”
“Amanda is in with Jake, and Jared and Liam went to home to rest for a little while. We all knew you wouldn’t want to leave, so Liam arranged for us to have a place to sleep. Since he’s donated so much money to this hospital they were happy to accommodate him.”
I snuggled in closer to him. “What room are we in?”
“I have no clue. I just picked you up and followed Liam and Jared into here. You can figure out where we are in the morning.”
“You didn’t have to carry me. I could’ve walked,” I said sleepily.
“I didn’t mind carrying you,” he said simply. “Go back to sleep, Hales. We’re going to have some long days ahead of us and you’ll need your rest.”
“M’kay,” I said and then drifted back to sleep.
Chapter twenty-three
When Blake and I woke up a little later, I found myself strangely not wanting to go to Jake’s room immediately. It was almost as if I was afraid earlier had been a dream and when I went back to the room, Jake would still be in a coma.
Blake seemed to sense this, because he tightened his arms around me. “Why don’t we just wait here a little longer before we go to see him? It’ll give you time to relax a little bit. You don’t want Jake to see you if you’re all stressed out.”
I nuzzled his neck. “How did you know what I was feeling?”
He shrugged. “Intuition. A lot has happened in the last few hours. It’s not exactly a surprise that you’re having mixed feelings about everything.”
“You really are an amazing person when you want to be.”
“Of course I am. How could you have ever thought differently?”
I rolled my eyes. “You really are too cocky sometimes. I can’t believe that was hidden under that hard, sarcastic exterior.”
“What can I say? I’m a man of many layers.”
“Like an onion?”
“Are you quoting Shrek?”
“What’s wrong with Shrek?”
“It’s a movie for kids,” he said condescendingly.
“So? You’ve obviously watched it, since you knew where that quote was from.”
“I only watched it because the donkey is awesome.”
I grinned. “I can’t argue with that. I wanted waffles every morning for weeks after I first watched that movie.”
“Seriously?”
“What? The way Donkey said waffles made me crave them. It’s not my fault.”
Blake just shook his head. “You’re so weird sometimes.”
I let out an unladylike snort. “Like you’re one to talk.”
“If I didn’t love you, I’d push you off of me right now.”
“Good thing you love me then, huh?”
“Yeah, it’s a good thing,” he replied, kissing me lightly.
“Are you two done arguing about Shrek now?” an amused voice asked from the doorw
ay of the room.
I turned to see Liam standing there. “Hey, how long were you standing there for?”
“I got here right before you started talking about waffles,” my uncle said with a smile. “If you’re done arguing, Jake is awake and asking for you Hailey.”
I pushed to my feet and Blake followed me as we walked to the door. He put a hand on my shoulder to stop me before I went into the hallway. “Why don’t you go in by yourself? I’ll stay with your uncle for a while.”
I looked at Liam and he nodded in agreement. I gave him a stern look. “Okay, but if you lose Blake you’re going to have to buy me a new boyfriend. And I’m going to want a model that doesn’t argue with me all the time, so he won’t be cheap.”
Liam shook his head. “I’m not that bad, Hailey.”
I snorted. “Yeah you are.” I kissed Blake lightly. “Don’t let him lose you, okay? I’ve kind of grown used to you now.”
He ran his hand over my hair. “I’ll make sure he stays close to me,” he promised. “I wouldn’t want to be replaced by someone who doesn’t argue with you.”
I grinned and kissed him once more. “Good. I’ll see you shortly.” I left the room and managed to find my way to Jake’s room without getting lost. Amanda was sitting beside his bed holding his hand when I went in. She looked up and got to her feet when I reached the bedside. “You don’t have to leave,” I told her.
“It’s okay. You and Jake need some time together. I can come back a little later and see him again.” She leaned over and kissed Jake’s cheek then left the room.
I sat in the chair next to the bed. “How are you feeling?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “Tired.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You basically slept for the past ten months and you’re still tired?”
He gave me a half smile. “Yes.”
“Do you want me to let you get some sleep?”
He shook his head. “Stay. Talk.”
So I did. I told him everything that had been happening in my life since the accident, including how Marcus was still trying to contact me. Jake didn’t seem overly impressed by that, but I hadn’t expected him to be. Even before the accident Jake hadn’t ever really liked Marcus. Jake was of the opinion that no guy would ever be good enough for me, and part of me believed that he would always think that.
