by Evie Harper
“I’ve fallen for Ivy too, harder than I thought possible.”
Ivy’s best friend smiles. “See you at the hospital then.”
Becca pulls away as Mack hands me my keys. I face my brother; Mack’s eyebrows drop and he frowns. “Why are you smiling like that? It’s weird.”
“Ivy’s fallen for me,” I say, reaching out and shaking Mackson’s shoulders. “She’s fallen for me!” I shout.
As I’m heading toward my car with a bounce in my step, I hear Mack mutter, “Fuck. We’re in trouble.”
2
Questions answered
Ivy
If one more nurse tells me the doctors are too busy to see me, I will explode. It’s been two excruciating weeks and I want to go home. No, I’ll be demanding it. Yes, I was in a car accident. Yes, I was in a temporary coma, and yes, I have a cast on my leg, but I’m not dying!
As my body stiffens with frustration, I stretch my neck, attempting to calm down.
I would like to go home and get back to living my goddamn life. Minus one man I thought I could count on. That’s what I’ll say to the next nurse who walks through this door, the white piece of wood I hate so much. I’m sick of staring at it, hearing it open and close and I’m not the one walking through it.
My chest is rising and falling fast. I need fresh air.
Sitting up straight, I swing my feet off the bed, but a sharp pain shoots up my broken leg. I wince, clenching my eyes closed and holding my breath. As the pain eases, I release my grip on the sheets, inhaling and exhaling deeply. Pressing my lips together, and using my right hand, I whack the metal bed frame. I hate this bed, this room, and my life right now.
I hate Kelso. I trusted him, and still to this day I’m waiting for him to come.
Staring around the private room with a view, it feels as if I can’t breathe, like the four walls have been creeping closer toward me each day.
Reaching out, I grab one of my crutches and lean on it, hopping off the bed. Placing the crutch under my right arm, I grip the other and place it under my left arm. I haven't used them yet; each time I’ve tried a nurse has ushered me off them and ordered me to rest. The next person who tries to boss me around may find a crutch where the sun don’t shine.
Hobbling to the door, I stretch my arm out and open it. I look left and right, my ponytail swishing over both my shoulders. I cringe at the thought of getting a hairbrush through the matted mess.
I’m met with more white walls and long corridors. Shuffling from my left gets my attention. As I assumed, two nurses are stumbling over themselves from behind the counter to force me back to bed. Well, hell no, not this time.
Kelso
Stepping through the hospital glass sliding doors, Becca and I head toward the elevators. This is the farthest I’ve been able to make it since Ivy was first taken to the hospital. My gut twists and I move my hand to my stomach, trying to dispel the bad memories of my girl unconscious and bloodied, something I hope to never see again.
Becca presses the button for the elevator, and I scan the area for Deputy Parks, the bastard I’ve dreamed of smashing through the hospital walls many times. He’s been the obstacle to seeing my girl. I won’t forget, and unluckily for him, I have a long memory.
A few nurses run past us, and then I hear shouting. Becca and I glance at one another. Ivy.
Leaving the elevator, I dart toward the sound of Ivy's voice. She sounds annoyed and breathless.
Rounding the middle wall that operates the elevator, I proceed through a group of chairs and come to a stop when I see my redheaded angel up ahead near the inpatient counter and foyer. In two weeks, Ivy's either become more stunning or my memory diluted her to protect my broken heart.
Ivy stands in a hospital garment, hunched over one crutch while she has the other pointed at fuck-face Parks. He’s standing in her way, blocking Ivy from moving any further. Two nurses stand close by, as if they’re struggling to calm a wild animal.
Sensing Becca beside me, I demand, “What the fuck is happening here?” My eyes never leave Ivy.
“She’s been going stir-crazy in here. You think it’s been hard to get in to see her, it’s been the same way for Ivy to leave, like a damn prison.”
“Get the hell out of my way, Parks. I’m a big girl. If I choose to leave the hospital, then you bet your ass I’m leaving!”
A nurse seeks to move closer, but Ivy turns her icy glare on her. “You touch me, lady, and I will nipple cripple you so hard you’ll bruise. I am not above anything right now!” Ivy’s tone is slightly on the crazy side, but it works and the nurse backs off.
Becca laughs aloud, bending over and hugging her tummy.
Ivy’s head whips our way, her eyes settling on me and enlarging with surprise. Watching Ivy’s face light up at seeing me and then shut down even faster sends a wave of anxiety through my limbs as they grow heavy.
Ivy wobbles, and I waste no time advancing toward her. No way my girl will fall on my watch.
“Stop.” I halt at Ivy’s somber voice. This is not a tone she’s used with me before, and it breaks my heart to hear it. There’s so much I want to scream aloud, right here, right now, but this isn’t the place to bare my soul.
Before I can say anything at all, a hand clutches my left bicep and Park forces me to turn to him. “She doesn’t want you here, King, time to leave.” Parks’s voice is gruff, and by the looks of his veins, which are sticking out of his neck, I’d say he’s furious because I won’t give up.
Yanking my arm back forcefully and squaring my shoulders, I face Parks head-on. “Fucking touch me again and I will lay you out. I don’t care who the fuck you are.”
The deputy’s lip curls up. Even snarling at me, everyone can see he’s my complete opposite. Clean-skinned pretty boy, who does everything by the book. Or does he? Pretty sure hanging out at a hospital every day to keep me away from Ivy has nothing to do with the law.
Ivy had mentioned Parks before. She’d said he showed up in her life three years ago when he became the new deputy. Said he can occasionally come on too strong, as if taking on a big-brother role.
Staring at Parks, street thug to a deputy, I’m not sure she’s right about him taking on a brotherly role. It looks more like a man staking his claim… on what’s mine.
“Both of you stop it,” Ivy snaps, and drops her crutch.
Stepping back, I decide speaking to Ivy about us is more important than this pissing contest, when I know—or pray I still do—I’ve already got the girl. “We need to talk, Red. Let me take you home.” I manage to keep my voice calm, when all I want to do is scoop her up and carry her out of here.
“What are you even doing here, Kelso? Two weeks too late, don’t you think?”
Pissed, because Ivy has never used an emotionless tone with me before, I stand with my feet apart and cross my arms against my chest, defiant down to my core. “I have a better question. Ask your friend here why he’s refused me entry into the hospital every day for the past two weeks. Why I was confronted by four officers and forced outside when I tried to pass them?”
Ivy’s eyes widen and her mouth drops open. She swings her gaze to Parks, her chest visibly expanding and falling. Her gaze bounces around the hospital corridor as her mouth closes, her lips thin until they disappear, and her jaw hardens. She’s pissed.
Park steps back into my space, his face turning red. “Obviously you’re brain dead and it takes more than kicking you out every day to get it through your thick head. You being with Ivy will not happen. We gave you a chance, knowing in time you and your family would fuck it up.”
“Goddammit!” Ivy shouts from beside us. “We means you and my dad, right, Parks?” Ivy questions with a stern voice.
Park falters for a moment, unsure what the right answer might be. “Yes.”
Ivy stares at the ground, shaking her head. “Oh my God.” She’s speaking to herself, but there is no mistaking the growing anger in her tone.
“Ivy, he’s a street thu
g, thief, murderer, drug dealer, and who knows what else. Your father and I are only doing what we think is best for you.”
Ivy’s head snaps up, and she stares at Parks for a long moment. “I trusted you.”
Parks’s mouth falls open and he pulls at the collar on his uniform shirt as if it’s too tight. “You’re in over your head with these—”
“I don’t care what you think, Parks,” Ivy yells. “My personal life is none of your business. I’m a grown woman who doesn’t want, nor do I need, anyone’s permission or opinions on my life.” Ivy glares up at the deputy. Her eyes are cold and hard. It’s an expression I’ve never seen Ivy use before. “From now on you stay the hell away from me and Kelso.”
Parks scoffs, as if Ivy is only a petulant child having a tantrum.
Ivy rears back as if she's been struck.
Scanning the area, I notice two officers to my right and I wonder how many punches I can get in on Parks before I’m pulled off him. If he will not listen to Ivy, then maybe he’ll listen to my fists.
However, Ivy has other plans. She recovers with fury in her eyes. “You think you know me, but you don’t. What you’ve done is mess with my life. Mine. Do not mistake my past kindness to you for weakness, because you haven’t seen me pissed off yet, Parks.”
My girl is feisty, and it’s times like this when her beauty shines through the most. She doesn’t let people walk all over her. She gives them room to move, but when you push your luck too far, she lets you know in a spectacular way. In a-fucking-sexy-as-hell way.
Parks appears to be genuinely shocked, as if he thought keeping me from Ivy was something she would thank him for. That fucking scares me, because there’s nothing more dangerous than a man who sees the world only his way and not for the reality it is.
“I’ll leave,” Parks concedes. “But this is far from over.”
“What the hell,” Becca and I say in unison.
“Did you not hear anything Ivy said,” I state angrily.
Parks doesn’t acknowledge me, except when he turns to leave; his nostrils flare and his eyes drill into me as he passes by. I hold the glare. He thinks he’s tough. He has no idea what real strength is, but if he keeps pushing me, I’d be thrilled to show him how strong I am.
Ivy stares at his back like a tiger ready to leap at its prey, and her knuckles wrapped around the crutch have turned white.
Gently I ease her grip. Ivy turns to me, and the rage in her expression recedes and her features soften. “If I’d known.... Damn it, I should have guessed.”
I shake my head. “It’s over with now. Next time let’s have more faith in each other, okay?”
Ivy inhales sharply. “You lost faith in me?” She glances down at her leg. “Kel, you thought I blamed you for my accident? I didn’t, not once.”
Seeking to cover the relief flooding through me and not wanting to discuss it in the hospital foyer, I step back and look Ivy over. My eyes lazily gaze from her adorable toes up to her knotted ponytail. A smirk forms on my lips. The nurse was honest, she’s okay. Everything will be okay. My body relaxes and I feel the exhaustion leave me, a tightness I’ve been carrying for weeks.
“I know. I look dreadful,” Ivy whines.
Gently I brush her forehead with my lips. If this is her looking bad, then I’m a lucky man.
Becca stands beside me and struggles to hold back a laugh. “Ives, please tell me you’re not wearing an open-back gown and showing your ass off to the world?”
My head snaps up, eyes narrowing on the loose gown.
Ivy bites her bottom lip. “Maybe. They took my clothes, and I only walked out ten minutes ago. I haven’t had a chance to steal someone’s clothes yet.”
Without another thought, I move behind her, and holy fuck, my girl’s full ass cheeks are on display for all to see.
That’s it. That’s. Fucking. It. I’m done talking.
I bend and lift Ivy into the air. She yelps, and Becca catches her crutches before they fall to the ground. “Home time, Red.”
3
Promises
Ivy
After I throw on some short shorts under my hospital dress, Kelso places me on the lounge, sitting up. Finally, I’m home. Clutching one of my turquoise cushions, I squeeze with all my strength. “I want to kiss everything in this house. Hug it and never let go.”
My and Becca’s home is an explosion of different blues, greens, and gold. At twenty-five, we’re still figuring out our styles. Both of us are slightly obsessed with seaside decorations, hence why our walls are covered in pictures of the ocean and beaches. Living near a river all our lives and only going to the sea for holidays, I guess you could say we try to recreate the best times of our childhoods. Also, Becca and I work at a funeral home, so being able to shed the dark, depressive thoughts of death as we walk inside our bright and lively house is important for our sanity.
We work for White Funeral Homes. Becca’s family owns the business and has for many generations. Becca got me an assistant job there in our first year of college. We’d decided to move out together, and I needed a job to help pay the bills. Since then Becca and I have done well at White Funeral Homes. Beverly and Garry, Becca’s parents, decided to spend a few years traveling and left the company in our capable hands three months ago. Last I learned, they were over in Rome and never wanted to come home.
Being the only child, Becca was left to manage the company, and I was offered the marketing position due to my degree. Becca loves working for her family’s business; she’s grown up watching her parents run it, so nothing has been too difficult for her. We’re a great team and very lucky to have a reliable and committed staff of five to help keep the company going at times like this, when one of us is sick or hurt.
A tingle on the back of my neck pulls me from my thoughts and I look to my left and spot Kelso staring at me. His fingers graze my skin. I press my lips together then lick them, attempting to come up with something to say. But it’s been two weeks since I saw him last, and we were happy, blissfully in tune with each other. Now… what will happen?
“I missed you.” My voice comes out low and husky.
Kelso grins adorably and my heart melts. This guy has swagger. Confidence exudes from his pores, and not even Kel realizes how attractive he is. Forget the tattoos and his vivid and thoughtful eyes, Kelso’s smile is enough to bring me to my knees.
Picking up my hand, Kel entwines our fingers. “Stop thinking so much, Red, and talk to me.”
My shoulders relax as Kelso’s deep and silky tone puts me at ease. “Where do we go from here?”
Kelso grins. “Your bedroom?”
Laughter bursts from me and I playfully smack his leg. “You know what I mean, Kelso. My dad showed his crazy colors and we both know your family was already struggling with who my father is.”
Kelso’s features grow serious, and he twists his body to mine. “Last I checked there’s only you and me in this relationship. Everyone else can go fuck themselves.”
A smile graces my lips. Kelso has been protective of me, of our relationship, since we started dating. I know his family isn’t thrilled about us seeing each other. I’m not naïve, I know who the Kings are. I’ve heard the stories that condemn them as monsters, but they’re nothing like the rumors say they are; there’re no dead bodies in the basement. I don’t think they even have one. Their oldest brother, Slater, doesn’t walk around offing people for looking their way, and they definitely don’t sit around the dinner table plotting new murders for the week. Not unless you count them guessing who will die on the next Walking Dead episode.
What I do know is they became known for a reason; good or bad, they’ve done something that shocked people enough to talk about them. To be scared of them. The Kings have blood on their hands. Kelso has hinted at it more than once.
Does it change the way I feel about Kelso? No, and yet down to my bones I know it’s the wrong answer. I’m a cop’s daughter. This isn’t the kind of man I should have fallen for
.
But Kelso can’t be branded as a type; he isn’t your typical man.
The abuse.
The lies.
The pain.
When I look into Kel’s eyes I see a future, one I desperately want to be a part of.
His past could have turned him darker. They all could have gone their separate ways into the world and caused their own kind of chaos. Instead they stuck together and formed a family, one that wants to be normal, but you’ll never catch them admitting to it.
“Everyone else is your family, Kelso. I’ll never let myself become a wedge between you all.”
Kelso stands and runs his hand through his hair. “How is your first concern about me? Don’t you want to know what happened at my house the day of your accident? Who hit you? What involvement my family had?”
This is the Kelso I know and have been falling for. He doesn’t understand how I would choose to put him first. The man has no clue how I see him. He radiates such a beautiful and caring soul, any woman would love him, but I’m the lucky one he’s chosen to trust.