Page 59 of Hypnotized By Love

“Some water and all of the hospital’s acetaminophen.”

“Given what Cynthia just told me, you still have a bunch of alcohol in your system, and it doesn’t interact well with acetaminophen. We don’t want your liver to explode, because from a medical standpoint, that would be bad. Dr. Otterson will have a recommendation for pain management when he gets here.”

“Buck up, Sinclair,” Mason interjected. “Take Coach Dailey’s advice and just walk it off.”

That made me smile. My volleyball coach had been notorious for telling her players to walk injuries off. Including when Alyssa Sharpton had broken her arm.

“Can I talk to you?” Sierra addressed this to Mason, and then she took him by the arm and out into the hallway. Her voice was raised slightly, but whatever he said seemed to calm her down, and she nodded. Then he hugged her. He turned to wave to me, and then he was gone.

I was a bit surprised. I’d thought he might stick around.

And I was strangely disappointed.

When my sister came back into the room, she said, “I told him to go home, that I’d take care of you. I’ll get you hydrated and your ankle checked out, and then I’ll drive you home in the morning.”

“I didn’t get to thank him.”

Sierra had come over to check my pulse manually, but that made her pause. “Do you know what your problem is?”

“Oh, no thank you.” I did not need more of this right now.

“You don’t say the important things you need to say to other people because you’re afraid of what they will think.”

That wasn’t at all what was going on here. I wasn’t afraid of Mason’s opinion. However, she was the second person tonight to tell me that this was a problem of mine. That might mean there was some merit to it. I also didn’t want to consider whether or not it meant something that Mason liked that I was so open with him, even though I apparently wasn’t with other people. “That has nothing to do with Mason.”

“I think it does. I think you’ve been mad at him for so long that you’re worried what people will think if you confess that you have feelings for him and have always had feelings for him.”

I tried to sit up, but she put her hand on my shoulder. “You need to rest. Also, to back up what I am saying here, Cynthia sent me a text about how much you were flirting with Mason and how he was flirting right back.”

“He was?” I asked. I couldn’t think of anything that had happened since we got to the hospital that might be construed as flirting. “Why would he do that?”

She was looking at her watch while holding my wrist and said, “My guess? Because he would like to make out with your face forthwith. Posthaste, even.” At my expression, she added, “Sorry, I was watching a Jane Austen movie earlier today.”

I didn’t argue with her, nor did I mention the fact that I had l literally thrown myself at him and he had said no. The sting of thatparticular memory was still pretty fresh. It wasn’t something I was ready to discuss, and I didn’t think it was going to fade anytime soon.

“You’re sort of right,” I told her. “I did have feelings for Mason growing up. A pretty intense crush. And I wanted so badly to go on a date with him. To get that chance to see if we could be something more. What we might be like as a romantic couple and not just friends. But everything is too complicated now. Even if he appears to be a nice guy, that doesn’t erase the past and what he did to me. Not to mention that he’s a client, and the absolute last thing that I need to be doing right now is dating a client, because then I will definitely lose my certification.”

And I didn’t know what that might mean for becoming licensed as a therapist. Would this follow me? Would it prevent that from happening?

“You wish you could date him without the baggage.”

“Don’t quote me on this, because I am still very drunk, but yes.” It was like a Mason-size boulder had been lifted off my shoulders. It was a relief to admit to it.

“In vino veritas, my sister.” At my blank expression, she added, “Booze makes you tell the truth.”

“I guess.”

Sierra reached for a chair and pulled it up next to my bed. “I think I’m ready to tell you about Mason and me.”

My heart seized up in a panic, and I reminded myself to relax. I took some deep breaths. She had already assured me that nothing was going on between them romantically, and I chose to believe her.

“Mason and I are friends.”

“I knew that part, traitor,” I teased her.

She smiled briefly and went on. “What you don’t know is how much I’ve relied on him. Especially when I was going through treatment.”

This time I did sit straight up in my hospital bed. “What?”

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