Page 11 of Love Me Back
“He woke up. I don’t know about his injuries, but the doctor said he should be fine.”
I sat in the chair on the other side of my friend. I wanted her to wake up, but I knew she needed her sleep. Having a baby was hard. It was exhausting and painful, and I wouldn’t disturb her rest. No matter how selfish I wanted to be.
“You okay?” Ryder asked, his voice laced with concern.
He was a good guy. We didn’t always understand each other, but we had grown close since he and Ellie had gotten together. We had to be. She was the most important person in both of our lives.
“I’m fine.” I knew he didn’t believe me. But he didn’t argue. He didn’t question my words. He accepted them at face value, knowing that when Ellie woke up, she would grill me about Grayson, my feelings, and why I wasn’t downstairs with him.
And I would have to tell her the truth.
That he no longer wanted me.
“Do you want to hold him?”
I hadn’t held the baby yet. Ellie would never let me avoid it, no matter how scared I was.
“Okay,” I answered softly.
Ryder stood from his seat and walked around the bed to mine. He put the baby in my arms. Helping me to make sure he was secure. I didn’t know if Ellie had told him this was the first newborn I had ever held. I had avoided holding Beck’s baby when we went to visit. But with Ellie there was no way to get out of it.
“He’s so small,” I whispered in awe of his tiny little fingers and his cute button nose. His eyelashes were long, and I was envious of them. I had to apply multiple coats of mascara if I wanted long eyelashes, not that I wore makeup that much. It just wasn’t something important to me.
I didn’t need to dress myself up to catch a guy because I never planned on catching one. I never planned on meeting someonelike Grayson Powell.
Someone who would find a way under my skin so fast it terrified me. I would have run away. Would have left Diamond Creek if it weren’t for Ellie. I was here now, though.
“I wasn’t sure you would hold him.”
I heard the smile in Ellie’s voice before I looked up and saw it spread across her face. I smiled back at her before quickly looking back down at the baby.
He was still there. Snuggled in my arms. I was convinced that if I looked away, he would disappear. Somehow fall out of my arms and be hurt. I would protect this little boy with my life. He and his sisters.
“How is Grayson?” she asked.
Ryder had stepped out of the room after giving me the baby. It was just me and Ellie. And Sebastian, but I didn’t think he would tell anyone my secrets.
“He woke up. I don’t know whether he’s hurt.” I kept my eyes on the baby in my arms. The look I was sure was on Ellie’s face would cause me to lose it. Ellie had never seen me cry. I didn’t want to worry her. She believed I was strong. Nothing fazed me. It was a ruse I had perfected over the years.
In my family, you didn’t show weakness. If you did, it could have dire consequences. So, my siblings and I learned to be tough. We learned to survive.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“There’s nothing to tell. I went to see him, and he woke up. He asked me to leave, and I came back up here.”
“He asked you to leave?” Ellie whisper-yelled, not wanting to wake up the baby. “What do you mean?”
I took a deep breath before I started. “King and I went down to see him. Carson was in the room when I walked in, and he was still unconscious. I left and called my uncle.”
I paused there, waiting for her to ask the question I knew she wanted an answer to. But when the silence lingered, I looked up. Ellie sat on the hospital bed staring at me.
“What?”
She shook her head and looked out the window. “Do you really think he would do something?”
No, I didn’t, and I believed him when he said he had nothing to do with it. But there would always be a corner of my mind that wondered how much he would interfere in my life.
“I had to be sure.”
