Page 11 of Love You, Mean It

Theo stood, still breathing heavily as he pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. When he released it, his brow had dropped low, anger clouding his handsome features.

“What were youthinking?” Theo pointed overhead. “Why stretch to reach something when no one was here to spot you?”

“I know, it was stupid. But it was just a fluke thing. Anyway, I probably would’ve been fine, I was scared more than anything.” Jaime shrugged.

“Probably would’ve…you don’tknowthat!” Theo barked. I could see color rising in his cheeks as he thrust a finger at Jaime. “And where’s your fucking hard hat?”

“Whoa, Theo, settle. Nothing happened.”

“But itcouldhave. You could have broken a leg, or fallen onto something sharp.” Theo’s lips were turning white they were squeezed so hard. “And look at your fucking hand!”

Why was Theo getting so worked up about the not-even-an-accident? Sure, the guy could have wound up with a broken ankle if he’d beenreallyunlucky, but it wasn’t that big a deal. Since when did Theo Taylor—the kind of jock who jumped off porch roofs into backyard pools drunk, last I’d heard—care this much about the possibility of minor injury? Jaime, looking as baffled as I felt, spoke carefully.

“I scraped it on a loose screw. It’s not deep. I can find the first aid kit if you want.”

“This is why we have protocols. You can’t justignorethem, Jaime. You can’t just act like—”

And then a large metal cage fell out of the ceiling and hit Theo,thunk,on the back of the head. He crumpled to the ground, limp.

“Oh fuck…” Jaime’s eyes went wide as he stared at Theo. I rushed over to kneel beside him.

“Theo? Theo!”

His eyelids fluttered briefly, but they didn’t open. I turned to Jaime, adrenaline coursing through me.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Call an ambulance. Now!”

I stayed next to Theo, one hand on his shoulder, the other gripping his wrist, as Jaime paced, fingers threaded through his dark hair, murmuring curse words. I hovered my hand over Theo’s nose and mouth—for the fifth time at least—but he was still breathing, slowly but steadily, and I could feel his pulse.

Goddammit. We had just been getting somewhere, I could feel it, and then he had to go and getknocked out. Would he blame me for that? Most likely. Even if he didn’t, he’d probably be in a hospital bed somewhere while his father chugged along with the Mangia deal, and by the time I’d have another chance to reason with anyone, it would be too late. A tiny voice at the back of my brain (probably Bella’s) tried to chide me—This man is out cold, he could be seriously injured, you’re really thinking aboutyourselfright now?But I couldn’t help it—this stupid freak accident could cost me my family’sentire legacy.

A wail through the windows told us the ambulance had arrived. The elevator doors were just pinging open when Theo’s eyelids fluttered again.

“Where…?”

He winced, trying to raise a hand to his head. Even that small motion seemed to set off a wave of nausea, and he gulped heavily, his color draining.

“Shhh. Just stay still. The paramedics are here,” I said. He turned that intense blue gaze on me, frowning with the effort of piecing things together. His eyelids drooped again as the EMTs descended on us, rolling him onto a portable stretcher, hoisting him onto the gurney, checking vitals and notating things, and soon they were going to be hauling him away and then when would I have a chance to talk to him again? I wasn’t exactly going to make his hospital visitors list.

“Where are you taking him?”

“Burnton General.” They were already wheeling him toward the elevator, kicking aside piles of debris. Any second they’d be out the door and that would be that, my grand plan to save the deli KO’d in the first round.

“Can I ride along? He’ll…want to see me.” Not likely, but possible. For all I knew, getting chewed out by random former classmates was his kink.

“That’s only for family.”

“But Iamfamily,” I said, getting desperate. I could just catch Jaime’s confused stare in my peripheral vision. “Or…almost family. I’m his…fiancée?”

Jesus Christ, Ellie, where hadthatcome from?

The EMT at the foot of the bed turned to the one at the head, eye-talking rapidly—even their unspoken communications were highly trained and efficient. Then he turned back to me and nodded once.

“Alright. Are you parked nearby? You can follow us.”

“Right. Okay.” I ran back to the office to grab my purse, turned to go, then decided to scoop up Theo’s laptop bag and my coffee as well. I would need to be caffeinated to pull this off. By the time I’d darted back out to meet the EMTs, the elevator doors were opening.

And before I knew it, we’d crammed inside, then we werehurrying across the empty first floor, and loading Theo—passed out again, it would seem—into the back of an ambulance, andwhat the fuck had I been thinking this was not going to end well.

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