The Halo Series Boxed Set

by Kimberly Knight

  “I’m really surprised that has stopped you.”

  “I really like her, A.” He smiled.

  “I can’t wait to double date.”

  “You’re such an idiot.”

  “But you love me. You just said so.”

  “Fuc—”

  Cheyenne took that moment to open the bathroom door. “I hope you ordered me chicken strips and a chocolate milkshake, Daddy!”

  What are the odds that two best friends would find love on a singles cruise? I had no idea, but it had happened. I didn’t know how Avery or Easton felt, but I knew I loved Avery and Brooke had told me that she loved Easton. The thing was, Brooke needed to break up with Jared before she could start anything with Easton, and I needed to play it cool and wait for Avery to tell me he loved me. He’d probably stop answering my calls if I told him.

  The whole flight home, I thought about him. I dreamt about him. I loved him.

  “What the fuck?” Brooke said, staring at her phone.

  I’d just texted Avery that we landed. “What’s wrong?”

  “Jared’s not answering.”

  “If he doesn’t show, I’m going to beat the shit out of him,” I said, reaching for my carry-on bag in the overhead bin. If he didn’t show, it would prove to Brooke once and for all that she was better off without him.

  “He wouldn’t leave us. He knows we’re coming home today. I even printed the itinerary and put it on the fridge. He’s coming.”

  We exited the plane and made our way to baggage claim. “I’m glad you’re breaking up with him,” I said as we waited for our bags at the carousel.

  “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.”

  “Why? You fell in love with Easton and he wants you, too.”

  “Yeah, but what if he just wants me for sex and doesn’t want a relationship? What if I’m throwing away a stable relationship for a fling?”

  I reached for my bag as it approached on the belt. “Listen to me. Jared is a piece of shit. Fuck, B, he isn’t even answering his phone right now, and I’ll bet you a million dollars that he won’t show or will arrive very, very late. If things don’t work out with Easton, then at least you took a chance. You deserve so much more than lazy ass Jared.”

  “That’s my bag.” She pointed. I’d forgotten about Brooke’s shoulder pain. I grabbed her bag and she tried Jared again with no answer. When we walked out to the curb, he was nowhere in sight.

  “That fucking asshole. How could he not show up?” I huffed.

  We waited forty-five minutes for that loser, but he never showed. While we waited, I set a reminder to make an appointment with Dr. Sam for Brooke. She was popping her pain pills like candy and that wasn’t normal.

  We took a taxi to Brooke’s apartment and I helped her with her bags. I was ready to go to blows with Jared, but we opened the door to an empty apartment. Brooke said that everything looked exactly as she’d left it. After we’d checked the apartment for Jared’s dead body, I left to go to mine since the taxi was waiting for me and the meter was running.

  The first thing I did when I got home, after putting my suitcase in my bedroom, was call Avery.

  “Hey, Baby,” he answered.

  “Were you sleeping?” I asked. His voice sounded groggy.

  “I was, but that was about a half an hour ago. Easton needed to run an errand or something, so I’m watching Cheyenne.”

  “Oh, he had to run an errand in L.A.?”

  “Yeah. He wouldn’t tell me where he was going.”

  “Interesting. I wonder what he’s up to?”

  “Not sure.”

  “Hmmm. So what are you and Cheyenne doing?”

  “Well, Cheyenne’s been playing on her phone and I’ve been thinking about you.”

  I smiled. “I’ve been thinking about you too.”

  I told him how Jared didn’t pick us up at the airport. He was pissed. We all were. Jared was going to have to start sleeping with one eye opened. We didn’t talk much more before Avery had to go because Easton was back.

  I didn’t mind.

  I felt better hearing his voice, knowing he was on the other end of the phone. It didn’t seem like he was over three thousand miles away.

  I didn’t sleep well. Probably because I was sleeping alone for the first time in eight nights. The first thing I thought about doing when I woke up was texting Avery, but he was three hours behind me and it wasn’t even five in the morning yet. And I didn’t want to seem like an obsessed girlfriend.

  Wait. Was I his girlfriend?

  I shrugged off the thought, dressed in hot pink scrubs, and made my way to work. If I didn’t love my job, I would have called in sick. I was tired. Tired from a long vacation. Tired from lack of sleep. Just plain tired. On top of that, my boobs were hurting like I was going to start my period. My monthly visitor was never welcomed. She made me tired and cranky and that was the last thing I needed coming back from vacation.

  “Mornin’,” I said, waving to Jenna at the front desk.

  “How was your trip?” she asked.

  “Ah-mazing! I’ll tell you and Kym about it at lunch.”

  “Tell us what?” Kym asked, coming in through the front doors behind me.

  “About my trip.”

  “You better. We’ve been dying to know for a week,” she teased.

  “Just tell us now. Did you meet hot guys?” Jenna asked.

  “No.” I shook my head. “I met one hot guy and I was with him the whole time.”

  “Oh my God. I can’t wait for this story.” Jenna clapped.

  “Oh, before I forget, can you make an appointment with Dr. Sam for Brooke?”

  “Sure. Is she okay?” Jenna asked.

  “Her shoulder’s bothering her.”

  “Still?” Kym asked.

  “Yeah, and I’m tired of her going to her doctor and not getting help. I want to know the problem.”

  “We had a cancelation for eleven today,” Jenna said.

  “Schedule it. I’ll drag her here if I have to.”

  I texted Brooke as Kym and I walked back to put our stuff in our lockers and get ready for the day.

  Me: Dr. Sam can see you at 11. See you then.

  “Nicole.”

  I spun around. Dr. Sam was standing there. She had shoulder length dark brown hair with a few curls in it to give it some volume and a pair of black-rimmed glasses perched on her nose.

  “I’ve missed you.”

  “Aw, I missed you, too, Dr. Sam.”

  “How was your trip?”

  “It was awesome.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. You ready to return to work?”

  “Sure am. Speaking of that, I made an appointment for my friend, Brooke, to see you at eleven. Her shoulder has been bothering her for a few months now and her doctor keeps prescribing Vicodin and muscle relaxers which aren’t helping.”

  “We’ll take an X-ray and see what’s going on. She’ll be in good hands.” She took a sip of her coffee.

  “I know she will be.” I smiled.

  “Nicole,” Jenna said.

  “What’s up?”

  “Brooke’s here.”

  I looked at the clock. “She’s early. I’ll grab her and bring her back.” Jenna and I walked up to the front. “Hey,” I said to Brooke. “Ready?”

  “I guess so.”

  I brought her back, weighing and measuring her height before I brought her into an exam room. “So, what time did loser get home?” I asked while checking her blood pressure.

  “He didn’t.”

  My eyes widened. “What?” I was speechless.

  “I called his mom, but she hadn’t seen him since yesterday morning. I went to sleep and woke up to a text from him that he’d “slept on the couch” and didn’t want to wake me. He didn’t sleep on the fucking couch. He didn’t come home.”

  “Is he cheating on you? I’ll cut his dick off. I want to anyway for leaving us at the airport.”

  “I’m not sure. It’s all
weird and not like him.”

  “Break up with him tonight. You can stay with me until you find a place,” I offered.

  “I love you, even though you ditched me on the cruise.” She chuckled.

  “You were in good hands.” I winked. “Well, at least you could have been if you know what I mean.”

  “Shut up.” She laughed. I stuck a thermometer in her mouth to shut her up.

  Dr. Sam knocked and entered the room. After I introduced them, and wrote down Brooke’s temperature, she asked Brooke some questions and then told me to bring Brooke to X-ray so we could see if anything was happening internally.

  I gave Brooke a gown and waited for the doctor to take her X-rays. When we were finished, we went for lunch. After an hour, we went back to the office and I left Brooke in another exam room to wait for Dr. Sam. Usually people had to wait a day for the results, but Dr. Sam was doing me a favor since Brooke was my best friend.

  “I’ll let Dr. Sam know we’re back and see if the results are ready,” I said, closing the exam room door behind me. I walked down the hall to Dr. Sam’s office and knocked.

  “Come in.”

  “Hey, we’re back,” I said, peeking in the door.

  “Before you go. I need to talk to you.” My stomach dropped as I looked at her worried face.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “Close the door and you might want to sit down.” I hesitated and then sat in a chair in front of her desk. “I looked over the X-ray already.”

  “Okay.” I nodded, holding my breath.

  “You know I hate this part of the job.” She sighed. “Brooke has a mass near her right lung.”

  I stared at Dr. Sam, not registering what she had just said. “What?” I finally asked, blinking as I tried to wrap my head around it.

  “I’m sorry, Nicole. You know I’ll do everything to help her. I’ll pull strings to get her in fast to see what’s going on and whatever medical treatment she needs. Even though you’re my employee, I love you, and she’s your best friend, so I want to help.”

  “She has a mass? Like cancer?”

  “Well, you know we don’t know if it’s cancer until we biopsy it.”

  “Right. When you say “near her lung,” can that mean on her breast?” I thought about my grandma and how she had breast cancer. This wasn’t happening. I wasn’t sure if I could watch another loved one die in front of my eyes.

  “It could, but we won’t know until we have a CT done. We should get a few more X-rays at different angles to see if we can figure out the size.”

  “Okay,” I said, trying not to cry. If I cried and Brooke saw, she would think the worst before she even talked to Dr. Sam.

  Maybe it was the worst.

  I sighed again and stood. “Okay, let’s go tell her.”

  “I want you to be the loved one in the room. I don’t want you to be the nurse in this scenario.”

  I nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Everything’s going to be fine,” she said opening her office door.

  “I hope so.”

  We walked the few doors down and I entered the exam room first. I tried not to show my emotions. I tried to be strong for Brooke. She was always the strong one; always taking care of those around her. I needed to be the strong one. I needed to take care of her. I needed to be her angel. I grabbed her hand, holding it as tight as I could. Dr. Sam cleared her throat. “Brooke, the radiologist found a mass on the X-ray.”

  Just like my reaction, Brooke was speechless. I was torn up and it wasn’t my body—it wasn’t my life. I’d been with Dr. Sam while she had told people this very news, but I was always the nurse. The one who knew the medical aspects of the situation, not the one who wanted to cry her eyes out and wrap her best friend in her arms and never let go.

  Brooke’s eyes began to tear up. “Okay,” she whispered with a slight nod.

  “The mass is near your right lung. We need to take a few more X-rays at different angles to see if we can determine the size.”

  “So like lung cancer?”

  “I’m not sure.” Dr. Sam frowned.

  Brooke looked over at me. “Breast cancer?” My eyes started to tear up more, on the verge of spilling over.

  “Again, we aren’t sure. We need to run a few more tests. After we get those back and the radiologist looks at all of them, we’ll determine the next step,” Dr. Sam said.

  “Okay.” Brooke nodded, a single tear running down her cheek.

  “I’m really sorry, Brooke. Your doctor should have found this months ago. I’m going to do my best to get you everything you need and fast. I’m sure Nicole will make sure of it.” She smiled a tight smile.

  “I will, B,” I finally said.

  Brooke nodded again. There really weren’t any words. None of us had expected this news.

  “I’ll leave you two to talk. Nicole, take your time. I’ll have Kym cover your patients.”

  “Thank you.”

  Dr. Sam left, closing the door behind her. I looked to Brooke and we both started to cry. I held her in my arms as my heart ached for my best friend.

  The alarm blared, waking me from my dream of Nicole. I was pissed, but then realized we had to get up and go to the airport. The only reason why I got out of bed and didn’t roll over to continue my dream was because I was going to the East Coast and closer to my girl.

  I glanced at my phone.

  Nicole: I need to talk to you. Can you call me when you’re not with Easton?

  This couldn’t be good. My gut was telling me it was about Brooke. I didn’t tell Easton about Jared not picking the girls up. I needed to know his true intentions before I let him fuck with Brooke’s heart more. She was already having a hard time breaking off a four year relationship and I didn’t blame her.

  I quickly dressed, threw all my shit in my suitcase, and then turned to Easton. “I’m going to go down and get us Starbucks. What do you two want?”

  They rattled off their orders and I walked out the door, pulling my phone from my pocket and dialed Nicole.

  “Avery—”

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, stopping mid-stride in the hallway.

  “You’re not with Easton right?”

  “No. I left him and Cheyenne in the room so I could call you. What’s wrong? Have you been crying?” I could hear that her voice was different and I didn’t like it one bit.

  I heard her start to cry again.

  “Baby, what’s wrong?” I asked, looking over my shoulder to make sure Easton hadn’t opened the door down the hall. I started walking to the elevators to get out of his line of sight if he opened the door.

  “I had Brooke meet with Dr. Sam today.” She paused, crying some more.

  “Is it bad?” I hit my forehead with my hand. Of course it was bad. She was fucking crying!

  “We took an X-ray and they found a mass near her right lung.”

  “Oh God,” I groaned. “I’m so sorry, Baby. How’s Brooke holding up?” The elevator dinged and the door opened. I stepped in and hit the button to the lobby.

  “She’s crying her eyes out in an exam room and waiting for me to get off work.”

  “I wish I was there. I would hug you both.” I pushed the button for the lobby.

  “I wish you were here too.”

  “I need to tell Easton.”

  “I know. She’ll want that. She’ll want him to call her, but can you wait until later? I’m getting off at five and I need to make sure she’s okay at home. Jared didn’t come home last night. I don’t know what he’s up to, but if she needs to stay at my place, I need to be there for her.”

  “Okay, text me her number and I’ll give it to him. I’m not going to tell him until we get to New York anyway. I don’t want him to do something crazy until we get home.”

  “Crazy?”

  “Yeah, if he told me you had a mass and I wasn’t at least near you, I would lose my fucking mind.”

  “Okay. I better go. I’ll text you. Call me when you get home
.”

  “I will, Baby.”

  We hung up the phone and I started to walk next door to Starbucks.

  What the fuck did they want again? Fuck!

  “Have you heard from Nicole?” Easton asked as we walked towards our gate at the airport.

  “Yeah, they made it back safely. Jared didn’t pick them up from the airport.”

  “What? She’s just now telling you?”

  “No, she told me last night while you were sleeping.” I wanted to tell him that she told me while he was at Dana’s grave, but Cheyenne was next to him and I didn’t want her to hear. He told me how he asked her for forgiveness and told her about Brooke. I was really hoping that his intentions were real because once I dropped the tumor bomb, shit was going to go down.

  “Dad!” Cheyenne said.

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m scared, and I don’t want to go to practice.” I was relieved that all the attention was back on her. I wanted to tell him about the tumor, but it wasn’t the time or the place and having Cheyenne distract him, bought me time.

  “Don’t be scared, Peanut. I’ll be there to help you.”

  “I guess,” she said, pulling her phone out of her backpack.

  “Text Nicole for Brooke’s number. I want to call her,” Easton said, turning his attention back to me. I was lost in thought, trying to figure out how I was going to tell him about the tumor and I hadn’t realized that he was holding two conversations.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, man. Brooke would have given you her number if she wanted you to call her.”

  We arrived at our gate, taking a seat to wait for boarding.

  “I don’t care. Give me your phone, and I’ll do it.”

  “No,” I said, moving the phone out of his reach. I had the okay to give him her number, but I needed to tell him about the tumor first.

  “Just do it, or I’ll tackle you right here and take it from you.”

  “Daddy, I have to go to the bathroom,” Cheyenne said.

  “Let me go with you. I don’t want you to get kidnapped,” he said, standing up.

  “I won’t get kidnapped, I’m ten!”

  “You never know. Let’s go.”