by T. N. Cole
"Katelyn—" Aimee began in a disapproving tone before I cut her off.
"What the hell, Sharp? You just woke up with a damn concussion after who-knows-what happened to you! Why are you walking around?" I growled as I stalked over to her. I stooped down to scoop her up in my arms as gently and quickly as I could before she could think to protest. Aimee was right behind me to push the IV stand as I strode over to the bed to lay her back down.
She was panting from the effort it had taken her to get up and go to the bathroom, and her eyes were starting to water as she looked at me in wonder. As if she couldn't really believe that I was holding her and putting her back in her bed. "Tristan..." she whispered.
I adjusted her sheets and avoided looking into her eyes as I struggled to compose myself and figure out what in the hell I wanted to say to her. I felt her eyes on me as I dragged a chair from the corner of the room to the left side of her bed. Aimee fluttered around going over Kate’s charts and busying herself. I hoped she wasn't trying to listen.
I was afraid to look at her because then she would see the guilt written all over my face. It was my fault this had happened to her. We had gone to the party together, so I was supposed to take care of her. I mindlessly picked at the bed sheet until Katelyn slipped one of her hands into mine. Reflexively, I caressed her hand in both of mine and brought it up to my lips. I softly brushed my mouth across her knuckles. I met her eyes when I heard her sharp intake of breath. Her brown eyes were tired, but they looked at me with relief—a warmth that I didn’t deserve.
After a few beats, when I was sure her quick inhale didn’t mean she was in any immediate pain, I hoarsely said, "Kate...Don’t do that to me ever again, okay?"
She looked a little shocked that I had called her Kate. I didn't mean to—it had just slipped out. Just like the rest of our relationship, calling her Kate felt natural to me. Then she seemed to remember where we were and nodded in response to my plea. I was a little surprised that she wasn't crying. Her eyes were tearing up, sure, but I had yet to see a single tear fall.
I was afraid to ask, but I needed to know. "Kate…" I took a deep breath before I could finish asking. "What happened? What do you remember?"
It was her turn to look away. “I look hideous, don’t I? I wish I knew why.”
If only she knew my attachment to her was more than just physical attractoin. I could hear the guilt in her voice, and I tried my best to stay calm. Getting mad would only upset her. There was no reason for her to think this was her fault. It was those assholes’ faults. And mine, of course. “This isn’t your fault,” I ground out.
She tilted her head back to meet my scrutiny head-on. I hated seeing the fresh scrapes and bruises on her face, but they had no effect on how gorgeous she was. I didn’t think I could deny my attraction to her any longer, but I wasn’t going to let her know anytime soon. Nor was I going to give into it either. “Isn’t it, though?” Kate’s sad voice brought me out of it. “If I wasn’t trying to show you that I was just as unaffected by you as you are by me, then I wouldn’t have gotten into this mess. I was being stupid. I can already tell, and I don’t even fully know what happened to me.”
I was in shock, but she continued, “They weren’t able to find a trace of drugs in my system, which was expected if those men gave me the date rape drugs. And I wasn’t violated sexually—they tested me for that. I have a concussion and the bruises and scrapes.”
Before I could figure out how to respond to that, Aimee chose this time to chime into the conversation. “I know you both don’t want to hear this, but you were very lucky tonight, Katelyn. I’ll leave you two for a bit, but I’ll be back. Try not to upset each other; you’ve both been through a lot tonight. You guys should get some rest.” And with that, she walked out and shut the door softly behind her.
My head was still reeling from what Katelyn had said. If I wasn’t trying to show you that I was just as unaffected by you as you are by me, then I wouldn’t have gotten into this mess. I wanted to tell her that wasn’t true. That she’d gotten to me, too.
I reached up and pushed Kate’s hair out of her face. It was pulled to one side, but it had long fallen out of the updo it was in when the sight of her first took my breath away tonight. I lightly traced my fingers over the bandage covering the right side of her forehead and I hovered over the outline of some of the bruises and scratches. I watched my fingers, and I felt her watching me—waiting for me to tell her something. I wanted so badly to trace her lips on my exploration of her face—to feel her breath on my fingertips. But I forced myself to pull back. “Don’t look at me like that,” I finally whispered.
“Like what?” She frowned.
“Don’t look at me like I saved you. I’m the reason this happened to you. You’re looking at me like you’re so happy I’m here. Those guys shouldn’t have slipped something in your drink, or whatever they did. If I had been paying attention, then they wouldn’t have almost made off with you. I did this to you, and don’t you fucking forget it.” I stopped to take a deep, shuddering breath and buried my face in my hands.
“Funny,” Kate said coldly as she leaned forward. “I didn’t peg you as the victim type.”
I reared back. “What?”
“You heard me,” she snapped. “I was the one who had something slipped in my drink. And apparently, I was the one who was almost kidnapped. But I wasn’t because you stopped them from taking me. You brought me here, and I’m safe. So, quit the pity party.”
My hands had fallen from my face during her tirade to meet her now angry glare. I didn’t know if I was supposed to be mad at what she was saying or not, but I didn’t have the time to figure it out because she wasn’t done yet. “Do you know how Aimee knew to go get you from the waiting room? I begged her to go get you because, somehow, I knew you would be there. I knew you were the one who saved me from whatever caused me to end up in the freaking hospital. So, none of this is your fault. Yes, we shouldn’t have separated, but that’s on both of us. It’s not my fault or your fault that some asshole roofied me, capisce?”
She was breathing heavily by the end of her rant. She slowly fell back against the pillows, closing her eyes. I watched her as she got her breathing under control, knowing I had to choose my next words carefully. I didn’t want to upset her more, and I knew that everything she said was true. “Hey. Kate.” I threaded my fingers through hers and waited until she slowly opened her eyes to peek at me. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you more; it’s just... You were so gorgeous tonight. I wanted you to stay by me, but I couldn’t ask you for that. And all of a sudden, I couldn’t find you, and then you were almost kidnapped, and I couldn’t get you to open your eyes. I couldn’t see your beautiful brown eyes.” I was so quiet; I knew she had to be straining to hear me. I didn’t want her to know how helpless I had felt. How I felt like I had failed and lost all over again. And how my feelings for her were getting too intense, and they were scaring me.
She tightened her grip on my hand. “I heard you, you know. Through the haze, you said ‘Katelyn, please.’ And that’s how I knew something was wrong. So, I fought to wake up. You brought me back.”
I closed my eyes, fighting the onslaught of emotion threatening to overtake me. If only I had been able to save Mel like I was able to save Kate. I didn’t know what else to say. I was exhausted, and I knew she had to be in even worse shape than I was. “You should get some rest, Kate. We can talk in the morning. I’ll be here. I’m not going to leave you.”
She looked like she wanted to argue, giving me a wary look. Instead, she agreed, “You’ll tell me what happened in the morning?”
I grimaced but nodded my assent.
“You’ll stay here?” Another nod. “Do you want to sleep in the bed with me?” I paused for a moment but then shook my head. “Don’t leave. I don’t want to have nightmares.” I nodded one last time and pushed her hair back from her face once again. She was scared. That was something I u
nderstood. I didn’t want her to be scared—I was definitely staying.
“I hate hospitals.” She sighed as her eyes fluttered shut.
I gently squeezed her hand in mine. “I do, too. Why do you?”
She kept her eyes shut and swallowed hard before murmuring, “My best friend and I were in a car accident when we were in high school. He died in the hospital.”
AIMEE CAME BACK TO find us asleep—Kate in the bed, me in the chair with my head on the bed, and our hands laced together. She had to wake Kate up to check on her concussion, which in turn woke me up.
I was grateful for the rest, and Kate was more or less back to herself by the next morning, which meant a lot of arguing. She was already insisting to go home, but I wanted her to stay and make sure there wasn’t any more damage than the surface injuries she had on her face, arms, and legs.
“Tristan, there’s nothing more they can do for me! I don’t have any broken bones, and there’s no trace of the drugs in my system. I want to go home.” Katelyn pleaded with me as soon as Aimee had left the room again with the promise to return.
I pinched the bridge of my nose in exasperation. I was about to tell her that I wanted to talk to the doctor one more time when my phone started vibrating. Caisey was calling. I winced; she was going to ream me out for sending Ryan home with her.
“Hang on,” I told Kate before stepping outside the room to talk to Caisey, knowing she was going to chew me out for not calling or texting. “Hello?”
“Umm, would you like to explain to me why I am home when you are at the hospital, and why I have no freaking messages from you? I need updates!” Caisey snapped.
“Sorry, we fell asleep. Yeah, so a nurse came out and got me right after I sent you and Ryan home. Kate’s fine. She’s actually trying to get me to take her home right now—”
“That’s good! Let the poor girl go home. Oh, we can come get you! I’ll bring some clothes for her. What time do you think she’ll be discharged? Wait, you probably don’t know yet. Well, you can just text us then, then…”
Ryan interrupted her rambling from the background “Cais! Let the guy think. You’re talking too much. He’ll just text us when he needs us to go get them. Give me the phone.” Then to me, he said, “Dude, we’ll go get your car and everything. Let us know when to come get you.”
“But…” Caisey was still protesting. I heard some rustling and then the noise indicating that Ryan had hung up the phone. I shook my head with a smile before heading back into the room.
Kate was lying in the hospital bed staring at the ceiling. She heard me come back in, but didn’t spare me a glance. Instead, she patted the tiny space on the bed next to her, indicating that she wanted me to lie down with her. I toed off my shoes, and I managed to squirm onto the tiny bed without knocking her off. But that wasn’t good enough for her. She lifted her torso half up and pulled my arm up, then she wedged herself into the crook of my arm. Her head was resting on my shoulder but still facing up, while my arm wrapped over her shoulder to rest on her right arm. I was sure she could feel my rapid heartbeat, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. Almost unconsciously, I started tracing patterns on her arms lightly with my fingertips.
After a few moments of comfortable silence, Kate murmured, “Are you going to tell me what happened last night? Or do I have to ask Caisey when they get here?”
My fingers paused, and I tried to take the easy way out. “How did you know Caisey and Ryan were coming?”
She jabbed my ribs hard; she knew I was deflecting, but she still answered the question. “I remembered hearing them last night. You know, through the haze. Besides, I saw who was calling before you went out in the hall.”
“They’re going to pick us up. If we ever decide to leave.” That earned me a pinch in my side. She really wanted to get out of here.
I absentmindedly rubbed the sore spot a bit as I took a deep breath. Then, I launched into the tale of what happened last night. How I fucked up and let this happen to her. I couldn’t stand to make eye contact with her as I talked—the memories were too fresh, the guilt too much. When I started the part where I saw that guy dragging her out the door, she expelled a shaky breath and I held her tighter while trying to be careful of any sore spots. By the time I reached the end of the story, she had buried her face into my chest. Both my arms had gone around her, with the side of my face pressed against her hair.
After long minutes of heavy silence, she lifted her head up enough to rest her chin on my chest so I could see her face. “That could have gone way worse if it wasn’t for you.” She searched my face and the corner of her mouth curled up. “So, thank you. Even if you don’t think you deserve it. Thank you, Tristan.”
I was amazed that she wasn’t crying. I looked for any trace of sadness in her eyes, but all I could see was gratitude and relief. Instead of trying to argue with her again, I whispered, “Anytime, Kate.”
And because what Kate wants, Kate gets, she was released from the hospital by the end of the day. True to their word, Ryan and Caisey came to pick us up after Kate stole my phone and called them, gleefully proclaiming her freedom.
Caisey burst into the room and Ryan followed, hauling a huge blue tote bag. After she hugged us and told us how worried she was, Caisey ordered Ryan to set the bag on the end of the bed and gave him a sweet kiss on the cheek in response to his withering look. She started pulling out various items, including clothes, hot food, and Kate’s phone and purse. Kate’s eyes widened to saucers at the sight of her phone and purse. She screamed and jumped off the bed into Caisey’s unsuspecting arms. “Ahhh! I love you! I never thought I would see these again! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She lightly hopped from one foot to the other excitedly.
“Where the hell did you guys even find that?” I asked Ryan incredulously from my spot on the bed as I watched the girls hug and laugh.
He shrugged. “We just asked around.”
I frowned knowing it couldn’t have been that easy, but before I could ask again, Kate cut me off by declaring, “Caisey’s my new best friend. And she’s now my girlfriend, too. Sorry, Ryan. Sorry, Tristan.” She threw me a sly look as she wiggled closer to Caisey. I rolled my eyes at her, pretending to be unamused, as Caisey grinned at me and hugged Kate back.
Ryan chuckled and taunted, “Better watch out, Cais; Tristan’s gonna blow any minute now the longer you stay close to Katelyn.”
I glared at him, unimpressed, and crossed my arms across my chest as I sagged back against the pillows.
“I hope the clothes I brought you fit. You’re so freaking tiny. Come on, let’s go change so we can get Mr. Grumpy over there home to get his beauty sleep.” Caisey grabbed a bundle of clothes off the bed and ushered Kate into the bathroom, throwing me a knowing glance as she closed the door behind them.
I was grateful Caisey had taken Kate under her wing. As much trouble as those girls could probably get into, I knew Caisey was already looking after Kate. She knew I was worried about leaving Kate alone, even just to go to the bathroom and change.
Looks like someone is already going over the deep end, Mel chirped brightly.
I decided to change quickly while Kate and Caisey were in the bathroom. I reached over and grabbed the black shirt Caisey had packed at my request, switching it with the one I still had on from last night.
“Does she remember last night at all, man?” Ryan looked concerned as he leaned against the opposite wall.
I stood to change into the jeans Caisey had packed. “She didn’t remember anything,” I sigh as I run a hand through my hair. “And of course, she made me tell her what happened.”
“How’d she take it?”
I laughed humorlessly. “She fucking thanked me, bro. Said I saved her life and all. Screw that; it’s my fault she was in that position in the first place. If I had kept a better eye on her—”
“It’s not your fault it happened, T. It was a party. And you’re not her babysitter. Hell, you’re not even her boyfriend. Dude, I kn
ow what it’s like to feel helpless—to feel like there was something you could have done to stop it from happening. But you didn’t stop it. You couldn’t have, so cut the shit. Before you turn into more of a pussy,” he tacked on at the end to alleviate some of the heaviness of the conversation.
At that, I grabbed the pants I had discarded to chuck them at his smug face, when the bathroom door flung open. Kate skipped out and twirled toward me, hair and black dress flying out around her. The momentum was too much for her still, and she started to fall. I managed to reach out and snag her, pulling her into my lap, before she hit the ground.
She looked up at me through her lashes with a slightly apologetic smile. “Be careful,” I warned as I pushed her hair back behind her ear.
She nodded and hopped off me. “Let’s go!” she exclaimed as she started shoving everything back into the tote bag. I looked over at where Caisey was smiling and leaning against Ryan, both of them watching us while Ryan had his arm around her waist. He threw my jeans back on the bed so that Kate could add it to the bag. I shook my head at Kate’s exuberance and grabbed the strap of the bag before she could try to drag that thing out of here.
Much to my amusement and Kate’s dismay, they made her sit in a wheelchair as a nurse pushed her out to Ryan’s car. I decided to irritate her more by lifting her out of the chair and into the backseat of Ryan’s car before she could try to get up and climb in the car, causing her to squeal in surprise.
I was the last to slide into the backseat behind the driver’s seat. As I reached to put my seat belt on, I saw Kate scowling at me. I grinned back at her, and she childishly turned her head to look out the window. I seized the moment to appreciate the long, slender curve of her legs in the loose, black dress Caisey had brought for her to wear. Even after spending the night at the hospital, Kate still managed to look good enough to make me have to readjust myself. Although not as discreetly as I thought, as I caught Ryan waggling his eyebrows at me through the rearview mirror as he listened to Caisey.