Running Scared (Running Hearts Book 2)

by Saffron Blu

  God, I wanted to kiss her.

  Needed to kiss her.

  I’d only known the woman beside me a few hours, but I had no doubt I wanted to get to know her better. There was something about Sam that drew me in, capturing my attention. Even in an arena full of screaming fans, I couldn’t stop my eyes from drifting to where she sat at the side of the stage. My performance tonight was all for her, not the thousands of fans who filled the stands.

  My gaze followed as she pulled her lip in with her teeth. Was she feeling the same things as me? I reached out and popped Sam’s lip free with the edge of my thumb before I even realized I was moving. I should’ve pulled my hand away immediately, but it was like it had a mind of its own. I ran my thumb across the edge of her plump lip and found myself leaning in.

  Our lips connected, and I didn’t know or even care who closed the distance. All I was concerned about was the taste of her minty lip balm on my tongue and the scent of her floral perfume.

  Sam’s hands fisted my shirt as she seemingly tried to pull me closer.

  The elevator pinged and the doors opened, then we quickly broke apart. Sam’s face was aflame as we stepped out into the corridor, and I found myself relieved to find it deserted. I wouldn’t want her to be more embarrassed than she already clearly was.

  I followed silently behind, wondering if it would be best to head straight back down and book a room of my own because as much as I wanted to taste more of her, I wondered if that was what she needed right now.

  Sam pulled her keycard out of her phone case and let us into the hotel room. As we stepped into the bedroom area, Sam turned toward her suitcase and started rummaging through it. “I’m just going to get changed,” she stated before dashing into the bathroom.

  I watched the door close behind her and strolled through the room. I noticed the two tidy suitcases and wondered whether the girls were living out of their bags or if they were planning on leaving sometime soon? Would I even have the time I wanted to get to know her?

  I stopped in front of the big window and drew back the curtain just enough to take in the view of the city lights. I glanced up to the sky, knowing I wouldn’t see the stars I was looking for because even though it was the early hours of the morning, there were still plenty of glittering lights—after all, a city never really sleeps. Being a country boy, I missed the dark countryside nights when you could look out any window and see all the stars in the sky. It was a sky you’d never see from the city.

  “The bathroom is yours if you want it.” Sam’s voice had me jumping out of my skin. I hadn’t even heard the door open. “Sorry, I wasn’t being quiet on purpose.”

  I gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze as I passed. “I was in my own little dream world. I probably wouldn’t have even heard a train come rolling through.”

  When I stepped back into the bedroom after doing the bathroom necessities, the room was in semi-darkness, only lit up by a single bedside lamp. There was a small lump in the bed, so I headed around to the empty side. “Are you sure it’s okay for me to sleep here?” I asked as I lifted the edge of the sheet.

  Hearing no reply, I called her name a little louder. “Sam!”

  “Hmm…” she muttered sleepily.

  “Are you still okay with this?”

  Sam huffed and snuggled down into the covers more. “Not if you’re going to keep talking. I’d kinda like to sleep at least a little.”

  I chuckled, loving the fact she was full of sass even when she was sleepy. Having no change of clothes, I decided to sleep in my boxers, grateful I didn’t have any ridiculous superstition about wearing the same lucky pair for every show. You’d be surprised at how many performers had a superstition like that. We featured a rapper, Darius, on one of our songs, and he went as far as wearing them for performances and recordings. That was a year ago, and they were in a terrible condition then. God only knew how he’d manage to wear them now.

  After dropping my jeans and pulling off my t-shirt, I slipped into the bed beside Sam and tried to stay as still as possible, not wanting to disturb her any more than I already had.

  Five minutes passed before Sam turned in the bed to face me. “Jesus, Matt. You’re so stiff. Relax.” She shuffled closer to me, and I automatically lifted my arm to make room for her. Once her head was resting on my pec and her fingers were spread across my stomach, I felt my body relax. As if the skin-on-skin contact had my mind easing, my body relaxed, which was odd because it wasn’t like I’d had a sleeping partner recently. Even my occasional one-night stands always left immediately after the act, so my body shouldn’t have been expecting to curl up against someone or crave the touch of skin like it seemed to be.

  “Better?” she asked quietly.

  “Much.” I closed my eyes and smiled as I listened to the sound of Sam’s breaths turning to a gentle snore. I was glad she seemed to be having no trouble finding sleep, even though I knew she was extremely worried about her friend. My mind wandered to Dom, and I hoped he’d managed to lose some of the guilt and find enough peace to sleep where he was at the hospital. Before I shook off all my concerns and enjoyed the feel of the soft, warm body pressed against me, I drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Five

  SAM

  A cellphone rang, and my pillow shifted beneath me. Only after a few seconds did I realize it wasn’t a pillow but a body.

  Matt Dalcin’s body.

  As everything from the previous day came tumbling to the forefront of my mind, I lifted myself off him and gave him the room to move, knowing from the sound it wasn’t my cellphone. “You need to answer that, it could be about Aimee.”

  Without question or complaint, Matt reached for his phone, making me wonder if he’d already been awake before the noise started. “Al.”

  He shifted on the bed and quickly sat up before running a hand over his dark hair, leaving it sticking up in all directions. “Shit! I was meant to leave you a message last night. Dom wanted you to take him some clothes, toiletries, and a charger for his cell. It was almost dead last night, so that’ll be why you can’t get a hold of him now.”

  The room was still dark apart from the thin line of light shining under the door from the hallway, giving me no indication of the time. Suddenly, worrying about having slept too long and Dom not being able to call, I grabbed my phone to check the time.

  Ten in the morning. That meant we’d had a good eight hours of sleep, and suddenly thinking about Aimee still lying in that hospital bed had me feeling the need to get freshened up and head back over there to see how she was doing. I could live in the hope that we’d maybe turn up to some good news.

  “Okay. We’ll be grabbing food and heading over there, so we’ll probably see you there.”

  I frowned at Matt’s words, not wanting to waste time grabbing food. I wanted to do the bare minimum—get showered, dressed, and brush my teeth.

  Matt gave me a pointed look as he carried on talking to Al. “Yep, we’ll take some food for Dom. I know he won’t have left Aimee’s side all night, not when he made the promise to stay.”

  Knowing we weren’t going to get to the hospital as soon as I’d like, I decided the quicker I could get out of here, the closer I’d be to finding out how Aimee was, so I grabbed the first clothes I could find, not caring if they matched or were even clean and dashed into the bathroom.

  By the time I came out, Matt was sitting on the end of the bed dressed in the clothes he wore yesterday since he didn’t have anything clean to change into.

  “Al’s gonna bring some of my stuff to the hospital, too,” Matt stated clearly, having read something on my face.

  “Does that mean you’re ready to go?” I asked, hoping his answer was going to be yes.

  Standing, he gestured toward the door. “After you.”

  I didn’t bother taking anything for Aimee because I knew I’d easily be able to pop back here if she were awake and needed anything. I secretly hoped that not preparing for her to be awake would give us some good juju,
and then I’d turn up to find her awake and complaining I didn’t have any of her stuff. Like it would jinx us but in a good way.

  Aimee’s room was quiet when I entered, just the hissing of the machine breathing for her. My heart sank in disappointment at the sound. I’d really thought she’d be up and complaining about being stuck in the bed, all for a little bump on the head. My eyes ran over her body and stopped on her face. It looked worse than it had the previous night, which I’d not even thought was possible. The bruising was darker, and the swelling seemed bigger.

  There was a rustle at the side of the room that caught my attention, and my eyes landed on a sleeping Dom. He was curled up on a rollaway bed that looked way too small for a grown man. Grabbing a chair from the edge of the room, I placed it beside the side of the bed, so I could reach Aimee’s hand. She may not know I was there, but if I held her hand, I’d like to think she’d felt it, even if she weren’t in a state to react to it.

  Fifteen minutes passed with just the machines’ noise and the rustling of the sheets as Dom tossed and turned on the small bed. The door suddenly opened, and Matt strode into the room, the smell of burgers following him. I’d managed to persuade him to drop me off on the way to the burger bar because it’d be best to eat here since he wouldn’t want Dom’s burger to go cold while we ate ours.

  “Hey, who’s ready for food?”

  Dom jumped upright in the bed, sleepy, unfocused eyes roaming around the room. “Is she okay?”

  “It doesn’t look like there’s any change. But I haven’t seen a nurse since I got here, so I can’t say for sure.”

  “You have burgers?” Dom’s eyes lit up as his gaze fell on the bag in Matt’s hand.

  “I do, and one of them even has your name on it.”

  Dom grinned. “I could fucking kiss you right now.”

  Matt laughed and reached into the bag before throwing a burger toward Dom. “I’ll pass on the kiss. Eat!”

  Matt passed me a burger before dragging his chair across the room without caring to be quiet about it.

  A nurse charged into the room and glared at him. “This is a quiet ward! We have patients who need their rest.”

  I hid my smirk behind the wrapper of my burger as I caught sight of the affronted look on Matt’s face.

  “Sorry, ma’am,” he muttered as he unwrapped his burger.

  My attention turned to the nurse as she fiddled with the machine and noted some numbers on the chart at the end of the bed. “Is she doing okay?”

  “She’s doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances.” Her words didn’t sound convincing. It seemed like a well-rehearsed line she said to most people regardless of the patient’s condition.

  “The doctor will be here for his daily check in the next hour or so. He may be able to tell you a little more then,” the nurse stated as she headed to the door. “There are already more people in here than are normally allowed.” Her words went quieter as the door closed behind her, but we still heard the other person’s reply.

  “I’m not staying. I am just dropping a change of clothes off for your patient’s husband.”

  “Be quick,” was all the nurse said.

  The door opened, and Al walked in, looking only a little brighter than any of us did. Clearly, he’d not gotten much sleep himself, even though he had no connection to Aimee. “Kat sends her well wishes. It took me forever to talk her out of coming, too. Can you imagine the hassle of all three of you here… again? And in daylight hours this time.”

  Dom nodded as he scrunched up his burger wrapper and threw it in the open bag on the floor beside Matt’s feet. “Thanks. I’m not leaving the room, so I shouldn’t be spotted.”

  “Mom is going to go nuts if you don’t go home with us.”

  “I’m not leaving until Aimee wakes up and kicks me out herself. So, Mom will just have to wait,” Dom stated, the sincerity in his voice convincing me he was maybe a nicer guy than I’d given him credit for.

  Aimee’s hand twitched beneath mine, and I jumped up excited. “Oh my god! Aimee?”

  Dom jumped up from where he was sitting and hovered at the other side of the bed.

  “Her hand moved,” I stated.

  “Should I get the nurse?” Al asked, his hand already poised against the door.

  “No. I freaked out last night when her hand moved under mine.” His gaze locked on mine, and a look of guilt gleamed in his eyes. My eyes widened at his admission as I wondered why he’d held her hand if there was no one here to see. “The nurse said it could happen a lot before she finally wakes, and it’s just her nerves.”

  Suddenly feeling deflated, I sat back down in the seat.

  “Here.” Matt held a water bottle out toward me. “You need to keep hydrated. I’ll go grab us all a coffee in a little while.”

  My body practically melted hearing that word in anticipation of the feelings that will flow through me on that first mouthful. I hadn’t even realized I’d not had my morning coffee yet, but having heard the word, I’m well and truly ready for it. “Coffee... yes, please.”

  “I threw a heap of your clothes in here, not knowing how long you’d be here. Toiletries, too. I’ll take the rest of your stuff home with us. Kat’s packing it all up now,” Al informed Dom as he passed him a bag. His gaze fell on Matt. “Here’s your change of clothes. I assume you’ll be going back to the tour bus to grab your gear, or do you want me and Kat to take it with us, too?”

  Matt glanced my way, and I gave him an uncertain look, not knowing what he was expecting to see to provide him with his answer. “Yeah. I’ll grab my things later. They won’t take it away until it’s empty of our shit anyway, so I’m fine with leaving it there. Another day or two won’t matter. Besides, it’ll give Janice one last thing to stress over.”

  Day or two. Matt’s words ran through my mind, and I was suddenly overwhelmed by a sinking feeling in my gut. Aimee and I were supposed to be flying out two days after the concert, which meant I needed to call the airline and rearrange our flights before it was too late.

  Chapter Six

  MATT

  I watched Sam’s demeanor change. She suddenly placed her food down and started to scroll through her cell as if she was on some kind of a mission.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “We’re meant to be flying home tomorrow.” Her gaze flicked to mine for a split second before she focused back on the screen before her. “Aimee obviously won’t be making the flight, and there’s no way I’m leaving without her, so I need to call the airline to rearrange our tickets.”

  I could see the panic riding her. Reaching out, I placed my hand over her forearm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’m sure they’ll be understanding. It’s a medical emergency, after all,” I said, hoping to reassure her.

  Sam stood. “I’ve found the number. I’m gonna head outside, I’ll be back soon. Hopefully, I won’t be on hold for too long.”

  “Finish your food first.”

  She shook her head as she strode toward the door. “No. My stomach’s churning. I need to get this all figured out first. Otherwise, I’ll just feel like shit.”

  “I’ll walk out with you. I need to get back to Kat,” Al stated as he followed behind Sam, who’d not bothered to stop and wait for him, clearly not caring whether he joined her or not.

  I didn’t like her answer, but it wasn’t like I could force her to eat. If she really was that worked up, food on top of that would simply leave her with an upset stomach. I watched the door close behind them before tearing my eyes away to find Dom grinning at me.

  “What?” I asked, regretting the question immediately because I could tell he had his teasing head on.

  “You really care for her.”

  I frowned at his statement. “I could say the same to you.” I gave him a knowing look. I understood he felt guilty about causing Aimee’s injuries, but I knew him well enough to see that wasn’t what was keeping him here.

  “Fair point.”

  “
And I could say that I at least have spent time with Sam to justify caring. You spoke to Aimee for what, five minutes between her coming to and leaving in the ambulance?”

  Dom gave me a pointed look. “We’re talking about you here, not me.”

  I sighed, knowing I had to talk about it. I kept going over it in my head. Maybe talking it through with Dom would help me understand my feelings because even I thought I was acting a little crazy by caring as I did so quickly. “Fine. Yes, I do care for her. She treats me like a normal person. Like I’m not some big rockstar. You know as well as I do how endearing that is.”

  Dom laughed. “Tell me about it. I don’t think anyone has ever given me a piece of their mind like Sam did last night.”

  I chuckled at the memory. “Everyone is too worried about losing us as clients to be blunt with us. And fans, well, they’re just too overwhelmed with speaking to their idols that they can barely string a sentence together, let alone give you a good chewing out.”

  “She’s pretty fucking awesome.”

  “Special. I think she’s special. So yeah, I care.” I glanced at the blonde in the bed. “So, what’s going on in your head?” Because I knew something was, and I was certain it had to be remarkably similar to what was going around in mine.

  Dom ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “It’s crazy. Like you said, I spoke to her for all of five minutes, but in that time, no matter how short, I felt a connection of some sort.”

  I gave him wide eyes. Was he talking about a love-at-first-sight thing?

  “Don’t look at me like that. I admitted it was crazy.” He rubbed his chin.

  “They’re going back, though, so it’s not like we’ll get to know them any better or…” Or what? I wanted so much more, and yet I barely knew the girl.

  Dom was right.

  It was batshit-fucking-crazy.

  “Do you mind watching her while I go take a quick shower?”