by Sloan Storm
Ainsley and I nodded.
“Sounds great…” I said, looking at Ainsley.
She remained in place, almost frozen, not saying a word.
“Okay then…” Ronan began, turning once more to leave. “I guess I’ll catch up with you guys later.”
Ainsley and I responded with mutual ‘byes’, and before long, he was gone.
Afterward, Ainsley and I sat down. I couldn’t get the last interaction between her and Ronan out of my head. What was going on? It seemed pretty obvious to me that they were into each other, especially considering how Ainsley acted when she thought he’d been shot by Malcolm.
I cleared my throat. “Um, what was that?”
Ainsley looked at me. “What was what?”
I pointed towards the door. “What’s with the two of you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ainsley lied, crossing her arms and legs at the same time.
I frowned at her. Could this be more obvious?
“Uh, I’d have to be blind not to see that there’s an attraction between you two. I mean, you care about him, a lot. Why hasn’t anything ever happened between you?”
Ainsley sucked in a deep breath. Exhaling, she replied, “It’s a long story.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Not right now. Maybe some other time.”
She looked away, lost in her thoughts all of a sudden. After a few seconds of silence, Ainsley looked at me again.
“Being Dorian Scott’s little sister isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world sometimes.”
I nodded at her. “Maybe it’s time for you to be Ainsley Scott. You know?”
Ainsley grimaced at me, a reluctant tone in the words that followed. “You might have a point. Unfortunately, now is not really the time to discuss it. I think we need to go back inside and check on Dorian.”
I began to stand from the chair. “Yeah.”
I hadn’t gotten far, only taken a few steps when Ainsley spoke again. “Hey… Tempest?”
I stopped and turned, looking at her. “Hmm?”
“I kind of thought about how I would say this but there’s no perfect way, so I’ll just do it.”
Ever since the warehouse, we hadn’t fought or had any harsh words. I really enjoyed it. I hoped she wasn’t about to say something nasty. I wasn’t in the mood. What she said next nearly knocked me to the ground.
“I’m um, sorry. I’ve always been protective of Dorian, like he is of me. We’re the only family we have left. I know you can relate to that feeling.”
Stunned, I continued to listen.
“I’m also not great with apologies or admitting when I’m wrong – it’s a Scott thing. What I mean, I guess, is I’m really glad you’re here now, with us. I don’t know how I’d be getting through any of this without you.”
When she finished, Ainsley opened her arms, inviting me in for a hug. I smiled, leaning in and embracing her for several seconds. We separated.
“Thank you for that. Just so you know, I don’t have any hard feelings.”
A big smile brightened her face. “I’m glad.”
We were finally alone.
Well, Dorian was unconscious, so I guess I was all alone. Anyway, he was safe and being cared for in the best possible way.
With Oksana’s help, I’d rearranged some of the furniture in Dorian’s bedroom. It wasn’t a perfect situation, but I had no intention of leaving his side, not under any circumstances. Nurse Jasper was there performing some routine checks on him, which she did every few hours.
I was freaking exhausted. After everything that had happened in the past few days, I hardly slept. Through heavy eyelids, I watched the nurse finish what she was doing before she turned to me.
“Everything looks good. If something should happen, you know how to reach me. Right?”
I blinked several times in a row, struggling to stay awake. I pointed towards the small stand of monitors behind Dorian’s head.
“Just hit the ‘call’ button.”
She nodded at me and gathered up her things. “All right then, I’ll be back in a few hours to check on him. You should try and get some sleep. You look exhausted.”
Gee, thanks.
If she’d been through what we’d all been through, I doubt she’d look much better. Still, I knew she didn’t mean anything by it. Ugh, I was grumpy. Erasing the nasty comeback from my mind, I smiled at her and eased back into the couch.
“That’s what I plan on doing. Sleep and nothing else.”
Once she left, I lay there in silence, listening to the steady mechanical chirps of the equipment hooked to Dorian. Every once in a while, between beeps, I heard the sound of him breathing. I wanted to sleep, get some rest more than almost anything, but an urge to be near him overtook me. Getting up from the couch, I walked over to his bedside, looking down at him.
Since the moment I met you, you’ve been an unstoppable force in my life. I never thought I’d meet someone so full of will, passion and drive. I wish I could do anything to help you now, anything to bring you back to me.
Reaching for his hair, I began to twist it in tender circles, gliding the soft strands between my fingertips. I couldn’t believe how helpless he looked — hell, was.
I thought back to the warehouse and how close I’d come to losing my life. All I wanted to do in those precious moments was touch Dorian’s face and kiss his lips one more time. It was then I knew how much I cared, how far I’d fallen. If only he could have been there with me, I wouldn’t have hesitated. I would have told him exactly how I felt.
Now look. I’d gotten my wish. I’d survived, and we were alone together but what good was it? My stomach sank. I knew what the doctor said, what the nurse told me. That he was doing as well as could be expected. I worried a lot — it’s my nature.
What if something unexpected happened? There was no way to know for sure. This could be the only chance I had to tell him how I felt. I didn’t want to wait one more second.
Moving closer to his face, I leaned in over the top of him. His thick neck and broad shoulders protruded from the beneath the sheets. Reaching down, I wrapped my fingers around his warm, hard muscles. Squeezing them felt reassuring, safe. Dorian didn’t react but continued to sleep, inhaling and exhaling steady breaths while I started to speak.
“I’m sure everything is going to be fine, and I’m totally overreacting…”
Standing upright, I tugged a strand of hair behind my ear. “Even so, there’s something I have to tell you.”
I paused, swallowing hard. It seemed impossible to believe I’d reached this point, feeling the way I did about him in such a short span of time. Still, I couldn’t deny it anymore. I didn’t want to resist it any longer.
“Dorian,” I began, lowering my face to his once more. “I love you. I’m in love with you. I hope you can hear me, but even if you can’t, I don’t care. I want you to know. You have to know.”
Once I finished my confession, I pressed my lips against his forehead, savoring the feel of his skin against my mouth before pulling away.
I smiled at him, wishing he could hear me. Who knew? You always heard those stories about people who are unconscious or in comas or whatever being able to remember things that were said to them. I could only hope he did and, more importantly, felt the same way I did.
With that, I turned and started to walk towards the couch, tiptoeing through a maze of wires on the floor. I’d only taken one step beyond them when I heard a strange noise – like an alarm or a warning coming from the back on the equipment.
Spinning in place, I looked towards Dorian. Behind him, one of the displays filled with reds, yellows, and oranges. The sound of the machine grew louder, the warning sounds coming fast and furious.
Oh my God! What is happening?
In a semi-panic, I took off, running around the side of Dorian’s bed and grabbing the call button. I pressed it. I had no idea how many times, all the while yelling while I did.
“Nurse Jasper! Nurse Jasper!” I screamed, hoping that the combination of the call button and my cries would get her there sooner.
It wasn’t long after, the door flew open, and she rushed inside. I barely managed to get out of her way, narrowly avoiding a collision between us. She didn’t say anything to me, instead, rushed straight to Dorian. In all the chaos I hadn’t noticed his body started to shake and tremor.
Oh no! Oh no! No!
“What’s happening?” I gasped. “What’s going on?”
She never looked up, never taking her eyes off what she was doing, but she did respond.
“He’s having a seizure.”
The way she said it, it was almost like she was ordering a bowl of soup in a restaurant. I couldn’t believe how calm she was.
“Oh my God!” I yelped, covering my mouth with my hands. “Is he going to be okay? Please tell me he’s going to be okay!”
Nurse Jasper stopped, freezing her position and snapping her head in my direction. “You have to let me work. Please, his life depends on it.”
His life depends on it! What!
I didn’t say anything. Frozen with fear, I didn’t know what to do.
The entire time Dorian’s seizures grew more violent, more frequent, more terrifying. I watched in agony, my eyes darting back and forth between the nurse and the incessant beeping of the monitoring equipment. To my horror, the beeps began to slow, the time between each one growing longer.
“Stay with us, Mr. Scott.” Nurse Jasper said.
Stay with us?!
I felt like I was going to pass out. Was he really dying right in front of my eyes?
Nurse Jasper looked to be doing all she could. I decided I had to try and open my mouth to ask what I could do. When I did, Dorian’s body twitched less and less, until all movement stopped.
“No!” I screamed. “Dorian!”
The nurse never missed a beat. She rushed around to the other side of the bed and ripped away the cables connected to his body. Yanking the blanket and sheets away, she exposed his torso and began to do chest compressions.
The entire time I stood there, shaking my head.
This couldn’t be happening, it wasn’t real.
Nurse Jasper hammered away at him, performing chest compressions for the better part of the minute. At one point, she stopped and looked straight at me.
“Do you know how to do this?” she gasped, struggling for breath.
I shook my head, somehow sputtering a reply. “No.”
With a gesture of her chin, she motioned for me to approach. “You’re about to learn.”
My mouth hung open. Without thinking, I staggered over towards her, shock overwhelming me while I looked at Dorian.
Was he dead? He looked dead. Oh my God. Oh my God.
The nurse snatched my arm in her fingers, snapping me out of it. “If you want this man to live, you need to pay attention!”
I swallowed hard and nodded my head. Nurse Jasper showed me the basic compression movements, and after guiding my hands through the first several she stepped back from me while I continued.
“That’s perfect,” she yelled. “Keep going!”
I glanced at her and then looked down at Dorian.
Stay focused, stay focused!
He seemed lifeless, all the strength and power I’d known gone. To make matters worse, pressing on him tired me out quickly. In some ways, it was like pushing into a heavy punching bag or a monstrous sandbag, every square inch of him solid muscle. I wondered how Nurse Jasper managed it.
Speaking of her, I glanced in her direction. Across from me, on the other side of the bed, she worked on his IV, switching out whatever was in there before with something else. Once she finished, she hurried around and walked up next to me again.
“I can take it from here,” she began, positioning her hands where mine had been. “You did great.”
Without a word, I stepped away and watched. She continued to perform compressions, all the while keeping her eyes glued on the IV and the monitoring equipment.
“What did you give him?” I asked.
She never looked up. “Epinephrine. It’s the only chance we have at this point.”
Every second was precious and judging by the changing color of Dorian’s skin, were on the wrong side of good luck.
“Anytime now…” The nurse said, continuing to pump away on his chest. “If he’s going to be responsive, it’s got to happen within the next ten seconds or so.”
“Or what?” I asked without hesitation.
She looked over her shoulder. “Or he’s going to…”
A loud, sustained beep came from the heart rate monitor. Both of us snapped our heads, our eyes glued to it. At first, there was a single loud beep. However, not long after, several beeps followed, choppy and erratic, until at last Dorian inhaled a huge breath and started to cough.
Oh my God! Tears came rushing to the corners of my eyes.
Relief washed over me, but Nurse Jasper never slowed down. She hurried around the bed again and grabbed hold of the IV, disconnecting the epinephrine. She spent the next several minutes reconnecting all of the cables she’d pulled away from him minutes earlier. In the meantime, Dorian’s coughing fit subsided, and once again he rested, drifting back into unconsciousness. When she’d finished, Nurse Jasper took one last look at him before turning and walking towards me.
“Is he going to be okay?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I can’t say for sure. He was unresponsive for several minutes. There are any number of complications that can occur in these situations. Once I speak with the doctor, I’ll let him know what happened. Until he’s able to examine Mr. Scott, we won’t know anything for certain.”
With the backs of my fingers, I dabbed at my eyes, trying to wipe away the tears that had almost poured out.
“Thank you, thank you…” I stammered, trying to regain my composure. “You saved his life.”
Before she could respond, I opened my arms. More than anything, I needed a hug. Whether she wanted to or not, Nurse Jasper didn’t deny me. We embraced for several seconds and then separated.
She looked at me. “I didn’t do it alone. We did it together. Both of us.”
24
New Plans (Dorian)
“Did you bring everything?”
Kendrick nodded at me. “I did.”
Apparently I’d been through a helluva time since the explosion at the warehouse. In the end that fucker Malcolm got what he had coming to him. Even so, I’m not heartless. I felt bad for Ronan. After all, he was one of my best friends. But all the twisted, dark shit Malcolm had himself involved in… No one was going to save him, not even his own brother.
“Well, bring it all here,” I began, gesturing for Kendrick to approach me. “You know they won’t let me get out of this fucking bed.”
Kendrick walked over. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he handed me the folder Ronan gave me on the plane.
“Where’s the rest of it?”
“I put it down inside the envelope,” Kendrick said. “I hope that was okay.”
Half-listening, I opened the envelope and reached into it, running my fingers along the bottom edges until at last I felt it in my grasp. Closing my fingers around it, I pulled my hand out.
“What are you going to do with it?” Kendrick asked.
I shrugged. “That all depends on her.”
He nodded at me. “Do you need anything else right now?”
“Actually, I do. I should be getting a clean bill of health here in a couple of days. I need you to man the ship. I have something I need to do with Tempest.”
Kendrick slid his hands in his pockets. “That won’t be a problem.”
“Speaking of Tempest,” I said, looking past Kendrick towards my bedroom door. “Have you seen her?”
Kendrick looked over his shoulder in the same direction before turning back to face me. “I saw her a little bit earlier but…”
J
ust then, Tempest walked through the doorway. “What about me?”
Shit.
With a closed fist, I slipped what I’d pulled from the envelope into the front pocket of my robe. Kendrick looked at me. A smile came to his face. I couldn’t tell if he was being a smartass or sincere. Either way, I didn’t care.
“Good luck,” he said.
The two of them passed by each other, exchanging a brief ‘hello’.
I watched her walking in my direction. Fuck. She was a goddamn angel, my angel. Whatever I had to go through to get her here with me now, I would’ve done it all over again times a thousand. Nothing could ever replace the feeling of having her here with me.
Nothing.
“You’re looking much better,” she said, drawing close to me.
“Are you coming onto me?”
Before she could say anything, I continued. “I mean, I nearly died, but if you’re ready, so am I.”
She rolled her eyes, laughing at me. “You’re insane.”
“Insane about you!” I responded, grabbing her and yanking her into bed with me.
She continued to laugh, slapping my upper arm while I pulled her in close for a quick kiss. Her lips, shit, they were like nectar from a delicate flower. I’d never get tired of them, never want to break free.
“It looks like we were meant to be,” she began, flipping her hair away from her eyes. “First you saved me and then I saved you.”
I smiled at her. “That’s true. But you know what really matters to me?”
“Hmm?” she said, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
“It’s how right you feel in my arms. It’s how everything that happened, it’s all been worth it because we’re here together now.”
Her smile lingered but then melted away. Tension crept into her body. She tried to push herself away from me.
“What’s wrong, baby? What’s going on?”
She shook her head. “Nothing, it’s stupid.”
I grabbed her arms and squeezed, not to hurt her, but to let her know I wasn’t going to tolerate shit like that. “Nothing you would ever say to me is stupid. Okay? Whatever it is, you can tell me.”