Page 114 of Wicked Deceit
I jump when the door to the room bursts open and then closes with a bang. Zepp rushes forward, heaving frantic breaths, and panic takes over his eyes. “You have like two seconds before an army of angry nurses rushes in here,” Zepp pants, pointing toward the hallway like nurses were hot on his heels. Walking over to the bed, he quickly pecks my forehead in greeting. “Good morning, baby girl,” he murmurs, giving me a small smile before we’re interrupted.
The door crashes open again, hitting the wall with a thud before a slew of angry nurses with scowls and wagging fingers descend into the room in a flurry.
“You two!” One nurse shouts at the twins, waggling her finger between them. “I should revoke your visiting rights. You kidnapped a patient and moved her. You could have injured her,” she hisses through her teeth, and a redness takes over her cheeks. She looks like she’s two seconds away from blowing her head off with all the angry steam building up inside of her. I cock my head. Huh, it might come out of her ears like in the cartoons.
I take a deep breath as Chase’s warmth disappears. He kisses my temple, moving away from the screaming nurses, and backs away with caution. Carter grunts at my side when the nurses extract me from the bed and place me in a wheelchair, and I look back at his furrowed brows. I know the moment I’m back in my room, they’ll have a hard time keeping him in his. The nurses yap on, lecturing me about the dangers of getting out of bed like that, stating that I just woke up from a coma, and I can’t pull stunts like that to endanger my well-being. I let them lecture but ignore their angry rants about my boys being menaces to the hospital. They’re not menaces, they’re simply caring for me and making sure my mental health is a top priority. Sure, I could have seen Chase and Carter when they found out I was awake and rushed to be by my side. But me and patience? Yeah, I don’t have any of those. So, screw the nurses and their mean bushy eyebrows.
Once the nurses deem I’m fit, and in perfect condition, they leave me with one warning; If I, for any reason, get out of bed again without permission, they’re putting a fall risk monitor on my mattress, and any time I move, a siren will sound. They also threatened to strap me to the bed with restraints and even put it in my damn chart. Talk about overreacting to a situation that doesn’t call for that. But I vow to be a good girl, and I stay put, letting my guys come to me.
For the next two weeks, I live in the hospital. The boys stay with me, too, entertaining me when they can. My dad smoothed over the whole “Kaycee got kidnapped by her boyfriends” thing, and they were allowed back in with heavy stipulations. The nurses watch my room like a hawk every night, ensuring I stay put and don’t sneak out. But they conveniently turn a blind eye when Carter sneaks in and lays with me until the sun rises, then makes his way back to his room. By the end of the week, on Friday, they released Carter with strict instructions. The nurses almost looked relieved when they discharged him and then frowned again when he stayed by my bedside, day in and day out. When they urged him to leave because visiting hours were over—he flat out refused.
The following Monday, my doctors cleared me for activities. My concussion and brain swelling had gone, but there were some lingering dizzy spells I had to contend with. Other than that, my broken arm from our previous accident was healed entirely and no longer needed a cast, my bruises were fading from my face, and my poor fingernail slowly grew back. Every night Carter kisses my wounds and thanks me for forgiving him—which he didn’t need to. He’s proving himself, repeatedly, by being here and being present.
After being cleared by the doctors, they put me into physical therapy to relearn to walk, which is surprisingly hard. Who knew laying down for so long could shrink and weaken my muscles so much. It’s hard and grueling, but I’m more than determined to strengthen my body back to what it was before the coma. Even the weight comes back as my guys sneak cupcakes and other sweets into my room to appease me.
Before I know it, two weeks pass, and I am finally being discharged. “Are you ready to go home?” My dad asks, steering my wheelchair out the back of the hospital, away from prying eyes. The hum of the crazy news crews hammering questions outside the front of the hospital echoes back here in the quiet, private employee entrance.
I swallow hard. Home—home—not my home at East Point with the boys. My actual home with my parents. It’s a few hours away from here, away from the boys who still live in the city. It’s near the end of January, so we still have virtual schooling and graduation. Summer and freedom are months away, and we still have responsibilities before we can all be together in one place.
“Yeah,” I murmur with reluctance, catching his eye. He gives me a knowing look but says nothing else when I get lost in my thoughts and drown a little.
The twins have to stay in town for their father, whose health is declining at a rapid rate. He’s still escaping from the house and wandering their property before the nurse notices or can find him. His dementia is settling in quicker than they had expected, and they want to be there for him since his wife took off with their little brother to who knows where. They’ve tried to track her down and make her take responsibility for the husband she “loved” so dearly, but they’ve only been met with divorce papers demanding a twenty million dollar payout. Despite their hate for her, they obliged and sent the money out to her, effectively ending her time in their life.
Chase has to stay with his dad and Ainsley as they navigate a new life together. Tate could get back his company, but his name is still being run through the mud, even with the FBI’s support saying he did nothing wrong, and it was all a big scam. Thankfully, his money and assets were returned to him, so they had a place to go and money to help them survive until their next steps.
And Carter? My big grumpy man has rented an apartment in my hometown and vows to be at my side whenever I need him. He says he can run his company from anywhere around the world and that they don’t need him in person. So, at least one of my boys will be within walking distance when I need him.
Since becoming an item, the five of us haven’t parted from one another for more than a few hours, except for Chase when he went to Louisiana. That twisted my gut and made my anxiety a shitshow until he was back in my arms. I’ve had them around me for months, by my side, protecting me and loving me. My heroes. My home. My everything. And now I have to function without three of them nearby. My insides twist into knots. God, I hate drastic change, and this one is monumental. It’s disrupting everything, but I have to live with it. I have to learn to function without them in arm’s reach until we can all go to college together.
The bright afternoon sun greets me when we finally leave through the back doors of the hospital and make our way toward the boys huddling together near their vehicles. Thickening anxiety coats the air, making it impossible to breathe when we approach my boys, who stand in a semi-circle in front of their cars. Their eyes burn holes into the ground but look up at me when we approach.
“Come on, kiddo,” my dad murmurs, offering a hand and pulling me onto my shaky legs.
I grunt, leaning entirely on my father, who happily wraps his arms around me. He kisses my head, whispering reassurances about the future. He leans back, leaving me at arm’s length, and nods once with a smirk, looking over my shoulder.
Chase barrels into the scene, standing beside us with my new walker in his hands. He places it on the ground as my father steps away, walking back to my mother, who cries into his chest when he embraces her.
Gently, Chase grabs my hands, balancing my weaving body, and guides my hands to the walker handles. “Aw, Sunshine, I seriously think he likes me now. Which is good because when I marry you, he won’t protest.” He grins, moving slowly with me.
“Marry me, huh?” I ask, looking up at the other three watching us.
Carter stands rigid with his hands in his pockets. Zepp and Seger stand side-by-side in a heated conversation. Seger’s eyes light up at my sight, and he slaps his brother on the chest.
“You don’t think we’ve talked about it?” Chase asks, bringing my attention back to his grinning face.
I raise a brow. “You have?”
He snorts at my bewildered look and waves me off. “Of course! From the moment we met you, we knew.”
I’ve always said I’m not the marrying type. I never thought I wanted to be. A life with dogs or cats was what I imagined. But now? Now my future is full of laughs, love, and all four of them.
“This isn’t the end,” Zepp frowns, cupping my cheeks.
“No one fucking said it was,” Seger gripes, elbowing his brother.
“It’s just long-distance. It’s not like she’s moving to Canada or something,” Chase says, furrowing his brows.
“Technology is a hell of a thing,” Carter murmurs, with fire in his eyes.
