“A nurse will come and check on you every hour or so, and I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says, giving me a small smile as he departs.
I watch him as he leaves the room. Nice ass.
“Can you stop checking out the doctor’s ass in front of me?” Kade growls.
I turn to Kade. “I want you to leave.”
“What? No. I’m not f**king leaving you,” he says, affronted.
“Kade,” I sigh, tired.
He takes my hand into his, and rubs small circles in the center of my palm.
“We’re gonna talk this out, I’ll wait until you feel better to get into it with you. But I will tell you this. I f**king love you, Nikki, and I’m not going to lose you. I’m staying here with you until you leave the hospital.” He sits back in his seat and gets comfortable. I want to argue, but I just don’t have the strength right now. Before I know it, my eyes close and I drift off.
I wake up a few hours later, feeling no better than before. I notice Kade still sitting in the chair next to my bed, fast asleep. I press the nurse's button and when she comes in I tell her that I don’t want Kade to be in here. Her eyes widen comically, like she can’t believe I wouldn’t want this fine piece of man in here with me, but she doesn’t know the whole story. As soon as she walks out, Kade wakes up. He quickly glances around, and when his eyes find me, he gives me a small smile.
“How are you feeling, beautiful?” he asks in a sleepy voice. I don’t answer him because I’m staring at the door where two huge security guys just walked in.
“Sir, you have been requested to leave this room. Please come with us,” one of them tells him.
Kade spins around to look at me, hurt and betrayal flashing in his eyes. “I’m not leaving you, Nikki!” he growls fiercely.
“Sir, come willingly, or we’ll be forced to remove you,” the same man repeats.
Kade stands up, his chair falling over. “I’ll be back,” he says to me, his blue eyes staring daggers. I gulp.
After Kade leaves, James comes sauntering in. “What happened?”
“I don’t want him here,” is all I tell him in a small voice.
James gets me to scoot over a bit, and climbs in with me. In this hospital bed, it’s a bit of a tight fit.
“You gave us all a scare, Nikki. We were so worried about you. Layla was in hysterics, it was awful.”
“Do you know what happened?" I ask, leaning my head on his shoulder. "I was just told my car was totaled.”
James takes a deep breath. “Transport truck driver fell asleep at the wheel. He didn’t even get a scratch on him,” he says that last bit sounding pissed.
So, I guess my thoughts when I first woke up were true. I really did get hit by a truck. I don’t know why, but I find that slightly amusing. We lay together for a bit, just talking. James doesn’t even bother bringing up Kade, and for that I'm grateful. Layla and Chase visit in the evening and Layla looks terrible. Her eyes are red and puffy, and she has bags underneath her eyes. James leaves as they arrive, saying he has somewhere to be. I hug him and whisper for him to be safe.
“Nikki, I was so worried, don’t you ever scare me like that again!” Layla yells emotionally. I try to stifle a grin. Like I did this on purpose. I ask Layla where Cole is and she says Chase’s mum is watching him. Layla stays the night with me, and Chase picks us both up in the morning. They're letting me out early because everything looks fine, and Layla has promises to look after me. Also, a nurse will be coming to check on me tomorrow at home.
The next morning after my parents leave, Ryder walks in with a huge bunch of lilies.
“What have you gone and done now, Nicole?” he asks with a shake of his head.
“You should see the other guy!” I joke. Ryder chuckles and kisses me on my forehead.
“I bet. You gave us quite a scare, you know. I don’t think I’ve seen Layla that hysterical before,” he mumbles. My dinner arrives and I groan. The portions here are so tiny, I could literally eat three dinners. Ryder opens up the lid on my tray and grins.
“It doesn’t look bad at all. Open up.”
He feeds me my entire dinner and dessert which is a caramel pudding. After I’m done, he puts the tray aside and hands me the glass of water.
“I gotta get to work, Nikki, but message or call me if you want anything. If you want I’ll try to smuggle you a burger or something tomorrow,” he mock whispers. I laugh.
“Bye, Nicole,” he says, pecking me on the cheek.
“Bye, Ry.”
Chapter Forty
KADE
They make me stay in the waiting room, and I use the time to make a few calls. I call Nikki’s parents first, then Layla and Chase. Layla says she'll call James. After a few hours of hell, waiting to see or hear if she’s okay, and the doctors not telling me anything, they finally let us see her. Her parents go in first, and when they walk out Layla and I go in. Layla is crying incessantly, and she leaves after a few minutes. I walk in and sit down next to her, my gaze raking over her. She has a bandage on her head, a bit of bruising and scratches, but nothing else that is visible. I get comfortable, because I'm not going anywhere for a while.
She finally wakes up, after two damn long days. I was getting nervous. When I see her eyes open, I go over to her straight away. She asks me to leave, but there's no way in hell I'm going to. I’d tell her everything when she was feeling better, I would tell her how much I loved her, how special she was to me. I fall asleep in the chair, and when I wake up, I notice Nikki is sitting up in bed. I go to talk to her, but she doesn’t respond, and then two security guards come rushing in. I can’t believe Nikki called them to get me out. I really f**ked up. I need to find a way to make this right. When I storm down the hall, James passes me and asks where I’m going. I don’t say anything. I’ll give her some space, but not for long.