With that, Billy left. I didn’t move for several long minutes as I tried to breathe through the pain that continued to assault me in violent, rolling waves. I closed my eyes in the hopes I could keep from actually throwing up, but it ended up being a lost cause and I barely managed to make it to the toilet in time. Tears rolled down my face as I climbed unsteadily to my feet. I knew I needed to call for someone, but when I lifted my eyes and saw my reflection in the mirror, I couldn’t move.
I had no idea how long I stood there for, staring at my reflection, but when I did finally move, it wasn’t to get help.
It wasn’t to return to my bed.
It wasn’t to beg someone to give me something that would take my pain away.
There was only one person who could do that for me.
It seemed to take forever to clean the fresh blood off my face and arm and rinse my mouth out with some water. Every part of my body hurt as I searched out the change of clothes Billy had brought me earlier in the day for when I’d be discharged. They weren’t my clothes, but I didn’t care. They did the trick because I was able to pull the sweats on with one hand and tuck the hem of my hospital gown into the waistband. The hoodie was next to impossible to get on, but I somehow managed it, despite the fact that I had to stifle sobs of pain the entire time.
Don’t let go.
I repeated Aiden’s mantra in my head over and over again as I worked my one arm into the jacket. I left the other one free beneath the jacket, then pulled the hood up to cover my head and face. I knew it wouldn’t be easy to escape the hospital unnoticed, but I’d figure it out.
Because no one in it could give me what I needed.
There was only one person who could do that.
Now I just needed to figure out how to get to him.
Chapter 27
Aiden
“You mind?”
I glanced up from my drink and immediately recognized the man standing next to me. “Nope,” I murmured as I motioned to the stool next to mine. “It’s Jake, right?”
He nodded. “Aiden,” he said as he rose and leaned over the top of the counter so he could grab himself a glass from the other side of the bar. “Bennett’s friend.”
“Yeah,” I said. I watched as Jake splashed a little bit of bourbon into the glass. I’d pilfered the bottle from the cabinet behind the bar.
I’d met Jake the previous summer when Bennett and I had brought a group of inner-city kids from Bennett’s foundation to the mountains to go hiking. Jake had been the tour guide for the younger group of kids we’d brought with us.
He was also the man who’d had a crush on Xander. It had been hard to watch my best friend’s insecurities come to the surface when he’d wrongly assumed the hunky wilderness guide would be a better fit for Xander.
Jake was a bit of a mystery. Nothing about him had seemed to make sense once Bennett had told me about his extensive medical knowledge. I suspected Jake wasn’t just the average wilderness guide, and I couldn’t help but wonder what his story was.
“When are the lovebirds getting back?” Jake asked with a small smile.
“Tomorrow,” I said. “You know about the proposal?” I asked.
Jake nodded. “I helped Xander pick out the ring. Guy’s got great instincts when it comes to the outdoors, but his taste in jewelry is definitely questionable.”
I smiled at that. “At least he got the spot right,” I said with a chuckle. Xander had confided in me that he was planning to propose to Bennett at one of the lakes we’d camped at during our week-long hike with the kids.
“Are you staying here?” I asked as I motioned around the lobby. The small bar was attached to the lobby. There was normally a bartender on staff to serve drinks in the evening, but the lodge was closed for a couple of weeks while it transitioned from the previous owner to Xander and Bennett.
Jake nodded. “Just for the night. Xander and I are having some work done on the road leading up to the cabins.”
I knew he was talking about the side-by-side cabins they owned several miles from the lodge. “You live up the mountain, right?”
Another nod.
“Xander going to sell his cabin?”
“Not sure,” Jake murmured. “He mentioned renting it out.”
We both fell silent as the conversation waned, and we lost ourselves in our drinks. I tried not to let my thoughts drift to Ash, but of course, it was an impossible task. In the three days since I’d left New York, I’d had to stop myself at least half a dozen times from getting on the next flight back to the city to make sure he was okay.