My mom cleared her throat, and my eyes shot to her, a sheepish smile on my face. “I don’t blame you, he does have a nice booty.”
“Mom! Don’t look at my boyfriend’s butt, and definitely, don’t say ‘booty.’”
“I’m married, not dead, Carter.” I choked on a laugh that still made my chest ache but not nearly as bad as it had a few days ago. My mom brushed invisible strands of hair away from my face. “How are you feeling, baby? And I don’t mean your stitches.”
My mom and I hadn’t had any true alone time for her to assess her daughter’s mental state. I squeezed her hand. “I honestly feel okay right now. I mean, I hate that this happened, for me, for Austin, for you and Dad, even for Kyle. But I don’t feel scared anymore.”
“I’m glad you don’t, baby. But I want you to talk to me or Austin or your dad if you start feeling overwhelmed by everything that happened.”
“I will. Promise,” I said. Her head popped up as the rattling of wheels sounded outside my door.
Austin came in wielding what looked like a room service cart. “This was the best I could do, borrowed it from one of the candy stripers.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. “I’m sure that made her day.”
Austin’s cheeks pinked just the slightest bit. “I think I may have scared her, honestly. All she seemed to be able to do was nod and push the cart at me.”
My mom stifled her own giggle as she rose. “Well, I’ll start loading up flowers, and we’ll get out of here.”
“Woohoo!” I made a small victory motion with my arms.
Austin prowled toward my bed. “Careful with your ribs, Firecracker.”
“Yes, oh overprotective one—” My words were cut off by Austin’s swift kiss.
46
Carter
Isighed as I soaked in the feel of Austin’s ridiculously soft sheets. I was so happy to be home. It was a few days after I’d been released from the hospital, and Austin and I were lounging in his bed—I guessourbed now—watching movies. My dad had left that morning, needing to get back to take care of my grandmother, but my mom was sticking around, knowing that I was hoping to convince Austin he could go back to work. I knew the gym and his fighters suffered when he wasn’t around. Plus, I couldn’t stop thinking about what my mom had said the day after I’d gotten home.
“I’m worried about that boy, Carter.”
Any trace of my laughter died. “What do you mean? Why?”
She sat on the edge of my bed. “Finding you the way he did, it’s marked him. I see the way he doesn’t want you out of his sight. He hesitated to leave just now even though it will be for less than five minutes. You two can’t live the rest of your lives attached to each other’s hips.”
I toyed with the edge of the blanket on my bed. I could see what my mom meant. The truth was, the first day when I woke up in the hospital, it was rocky. I didn’t want Austin to leave my side. From the moment our friendship began, I’d always felt safe with him. But once I found out that Kyle was gone and was able to wrap my head around all that had happened, I relaxed. Austin was not relaxing. I turned my eyes toward my mom. “What can I do?”
She gave me a soft smile. “You’re doing a lot of it already. Just seeing you rally, seeing how strong you are, that this hasn’t broken you… Hopefully, over time, that will help him let go of all that happened. Not that he’ll ever forget. I’m not sure he ever will, but hopefully, it will allow him to ease up a little bit. You can also get Liam and Ford to help you by getting them to invite him to do something out of the house and then encourage him to go. And, most importantly, you can be there for him when he needs to unload about how all of this has affected him.”
I nodded. “Once I’m settled, I’ll try talking to him.”
My mom squeezed my hand. “He’s lucky to have you, Carter.”
With that conversation in mind, I paused the movie and rolled onto my side to face Austin. “You okay, Firecracker? Need me to get you anything?”
“I’m fine, but I want to talk to you about something.”
Austin’s expression went guarded. “What’s up?”
I reached out and twined my fingers with his. “I love having you with me, but I know you have responsibilities at the gym, and I don’t want you to fall behind because you’re taking care of me. My mom’s here for the next week so you can go into work.”
Austin’s eyes searched mine even as his jaw tightened. “The gym will be fine without me for a few weeks. I don’t want to leave you right now.”
Tentatively, I pressed. “You could just go in for an hour or two. That way, there’s not so much to catch up on when you do go back.”
His jaw got even harder, and he slipped his hand from my hold. “You trying to get rid of me?”