“I love you, too,” he whispered. “Thank you for being here.”
“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be. I belong with you.” Whether that was in the penthouse at a hotel, or a hospital room decorated like it was a place of happiness instead of a place of sickness and death.
Lucah took another breath and moved to get up. I stood with him, my knees feeling bruised from kneeling on the hard floor.
“Do you want some coffee? I can go get you some.” It would give him some time alone with Ryder. I also wanted to call Sloane. She needed to know what was going on.
“That would be wonderful, thank you. I’m going to, uh, call Tate back and see how long it’s going to take them to get here.” He gave me a tight hug and kissed my mouth before walking back toward Ryder’s room.
I called Sloane first.
“Hey, I can’t talk right now. What’s up? Ouch! Fucking pins.” I considered not telling her and hanging up, but when she found out later, she would be upset. Really, really upset.
“Ryder overdosed on pills. Lucah and I are here at the hospital. He’s going to be fine, he’s sleeping right now, but they had to pump his stomach.” The sounds of Sloane’s studio hummed in the background, but from her I heard nothing.
“Sloane?”
Nothing.
“Sloane.”
She inhaled sharply.
“Which hospital?”
“Mass Gen.”
“Room?”
I told her.
“Sloane?”
The call ended. I immediately tried to get her back to make sure she was okay, but she didn’t pick up. Shit. I wished there was a better way I could have done that, but there really wasn’t. I just hoped she could get herself into a cab and get here without incident. We didn’t need another person in a hospital bed. I tried her again, but it went straight to voicemail, so she must have shut her phone off. I took a deep breath and then went to find the nurses’ station and some coffee.
~*~*~
I was about to give up on the great coffee search when I saw a nurse emerge from a room at the other end of the hall with a steaming cup. I dashed forward like I was being chased by a murderer and found the tiny room with a sink, a coffeepot and a fridge. Jackpot. Someone had just made a fresh pot, so I poured two disposable cups’ worth and added powdered creamer to mine but left Lucah’s black. We were going to be patronizing this room a lot, for as long as Ryder was going to be here.
It made my stomach twist when I thought about Ryder. About what he’d done to land himself here. It also made me feel like absolute shit for what I’d said about him, and thought about him. I’d made judgments and assumptions without understanding where he was coming from. It could have just as easily been Lucah in his place, and what then?
I shook the thoughts from my head and walked back toward Ryder’s room just as April and Tate burst out of the elevator.
“Rory!” April said, seeing me.
“Where is he?” Tate said, his head whipping up and down the hall. I wondered if that was what Lucah and I looked like when we’d first arrived. Probably.
“This way,” I said, hurrying down the hall and trying not to spill the coffee. We found Lucah sitting in a chair, with his head resting on one hand and Ryder still asleep.
“How’s he doing?” Tate said as Lucah roused himself and got up to give Tate and April a hug.
“Where are the girls?” Lucah whispered.
“They’re with the neighbors,” April replied. Tate went to check on Ryder, and Lucah motioned with his chin for us to leave the room so we could talk.
He gave April the details, even more than we’d heard initially. A nurse must have come in while I was searching for coffee.
“I can’t believe this,” April said, hugging herself and shaking her head. “Did you have any idea, any warning?”