Page 17 of Fighting for the Forbidden
I watch her every move, more confused than ever.
“I said I’d stay until you were awake.” She grabs her jacket from the chair, and I panic.
“No. No, please, don’t go.” I’m fucking exhausted but that doesn’t mean I won’t do whatever it takes to make her stay with me right now. “Please, Lauren.” My exhaustion and emotions collide and my eyes fill with tears. I should be embarrassed about the fact that I’m about five seconds away from crying like a baby, but I don’t give a fuck. Lauren is the one person on the planet I can truly be myself with, and if that means she sees me at my worst right now, then so be it. “Please.” It comes out as a whisper this time, and it’s enough to stop her.
She turns her tired eyes on me, and the sight is enough for guilt to flow through me at asking her to do this. What everyone else has been saying to her has been right. She needs to rest.
She stares at me for two seconds before she steps forward. I breathe a sigh of relief as she gently sits on the edge of my bed and takes my hand in hers.
“I’m…I’m sorry. That was…uncalled for. I was just so scared, Ben. I thought I was going to lose you. We had no idea if you were dead or alive, and I just couldn’t even imagine what I would do if—”
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m okay.”
“And then Joe told me what happened, and I was so mad at you.” My previous elation over her concern is clouded by confusion. “What did I do?”
“You don’t remember?”
My eyelids get heavier and heavier as we stare at each other, and eventually I lose the fight. Everything goes black, and I’ve no idea if she stays or goes.
* * *
When I come back around,I feel much more normal. I mean, my head pounds like a motherfucker, my throat’s dry once again, and every muscle in my body aches, but I can open my eyes, feel every limb, and more importantly, I can move. A little sliver of positivity creeps in. Well, that is, until I look to the chair beside my bed and find it empty.
She’s gone.
I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s what I deserve after what I’ve put her through, but I still hoped that she’d be here.
“Ah, he’s awake,” Mum says, walking in with a coffee.
“Where’s Lauren?”
“Nice to see you too, son. You gave us quite a fright there.”
“Where is she?”
“She’s having some well deserved time to herself. She’s been sitting by your side for the last twenty-four hours.”
I’ve been out for twenty-four hours?I push the thought aside, because that isn’t important right now. What is important is the fact that despite telling me she hates me and rubbing Joe in my face, she sat here with me the whole time.
“I need to find her.”
Relief floods me when I go to swing my legs from the bed and they actually follow instruction. That is, until the searing pain from my ribs stops any further movement. I suck in a sharp breath. The agony is the only thing I can focus on, and its ferocity has tears stinging my eyes. “Fuck.”
“Ben, you’re in hospital. You can’t just get up and walk out.”
“Watch me,” I wince through the pain.
“Ben, please. You need to be checked over before you do anything stupid.”
“I’m fine,” I lie. Moving right now is the hardest fucking thing I’ve ever done, but my need to get to Lauren is stronger. I go to move my hand to rip the cannula out, but my arm’s heavy as fuck. When I look down, I understand why. It’s wrapped in a solid white cast. Jesus, how much of me is broken?
“Ah, Mr. Johnson, it’s nice to see you awake.” A nurse and doctor come strolling in, looking delighted to see me. “Going somewhere?” the doctor asks, concern in his eyes.
“Yes. I need to see someone.”
“How about we do our tests first, hey?”
“I haven’t got ti—”
