Page 80 of Kiss Me Ever After
Regret at not being able to speak to her before she left engulfed me. I hadn’t had the chance to explain to her about Candace and why I’d stood by her.
I stewed over my thoughts until Alex and Sonya arrived a little later. The doctor had seen me, and now I was waiting to be discharged.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Amber thought you’d need some clothes, given the state yours were in. Although she managed to leave the bag in the car, so she’s gone back to get it.” Alex shook his head.
Sonya sat on the edge of the bed. “And you’ll need somewhere to stay.” She took my hand. “I take some responsibility for what happened to you. I hadn’t realised how bad things were at home and had no idea Ted could do something like this.” She looked over at Alex. “Which is why you’re coming back home with us. Until you’ve worked out what to do with Candace.”
A weight lifted from my shoulders and suddenly I was about a hundred pounds lighter. “Are you sure?”
She gripped my fingers tighter. “Of course I’m sure. Justin, you’re like a son to me. I haven’t known you all your life to let you down now. That’s if you want to stay?”
I leaned over to hug her, a sudden rush of love flooding through me followed swiftly by an agonising pain in my ribs. Sonya was basically my second Mum. “Sonya, you’re amazing. Thank you. Although can you not hug me quite so tightly? My ribs are agony.”
Laughing, she released me and swiped away a tear. “You got it.”
Alex slapped me on the shoulder. “Good to have you back, buddy.”
Amber barrelled through the door to the ward, holdall in one hand, pointing behind her. “Have you seen who’s out there? Going into the maternity unit?” Her voice pitched.
“Slow down,” said Sonya. “Who did you see?”
“Candace!”
“Shit! There must be something wrong with the baby.” I got off the bed as quickly as the excruciating pain would allow, hospital gown flapping around me, and grabbed the bag from Amber. I unzipped it, searching for clean underwear first. “Why didn’t she call me?”
“Justin, she was with another guy,” said Amber, slowly. “They were holding hands and laughing.”
I halted.
She was what?
“Can you give me a minute to get dressed?” I asked.
Amber, Alex and Sonya murmured their agreement and left me alone. I pulled the curtain around my bed and put on boxers, jeans, t-shirt and jumper as quickly as I could, ignoring all the shooting pains every single tiny movement created. I had seriously underestimated the agony of cracked ribs. Alex was a little skinnier than me and the t-shirt and jumper clung to my chest. I shoved my feet into socks and my own boots, then dragged the curtain open.
“Where is she?” I demanded.
“Wait,” Sonya put a restraining hand on my arm. “Are you sure you’re okay to leave?”
“I don’t care, I need to know what’s going on.” I shook her off and stalked out.
Despite my need to know why Candace was at the hospital, I didn’t want to barge in there all guns blazing. If something bad had happened, I needed to be calm and supportive. I paced up and down in the corridor, waiting for her to reappear with whoever it was who had brought her in. At least I could be thankful to him.
After what felt like an hour, but was probably only around twenty minutes, Candace and the guy came out.
I rushed up to them and grabbed Candace’s hands. “Is everything okay? Is the baby all right? Are you?”
“What the fuck are you doing, man? Get your hands off her.” The guy elbowed me out of the way, narrowly missing my damaged ribs, standing between us and eying me suspiciously. “What the hell do you want?”
“I’m trying to find out what’s happened to my baby.” I crossed my arms over my chest, my fists itching to take him out.
“Yourbaby?” He laughed as he looked between me and Candace. “Candace, what’s he talking about?”
Candace swallowed; her gaze fixed to the floor. “I…”
The guy shoved my shoulder, and I ignored the ripple effect of the pain shooting down my side. “Don’t know what you’re on, mate, but I don’t like you talking to my fiancée like that.”
