I met his eyes unflinching, but I couldn’t stop my bottom lip from quivering from the cold.
He stared at me for a minute, but it was so intense that it felt like two days. I didn’t falter as I stared back. Then I saw it . . . the softness and concern. He’d been worried when I let go of the belt. The river could’ve swept me away and I’d have drowned.
“Okay.”
He nodded then we both went to Kite, who was being lifted onto a stretcher.
As I stood shivering beside Luke, Kite unconscious with paramedics around him, I realized Crisis was right; we were family and we looked out for one another. I’d never had anyone since I was sixteen, but now I’d do anything for them.
And right then, I knew who I was.
I SAT IN the waiting room in a hospital gown, my bag at my feet, a bandage on my temple, and my head pounding as I waited for news about Kite. I hated it here. I hated hospitals, but I wasn’t scared. I was more concerned about Kite.
The ambulance had taken him from the scene of the crash and despite telling them I was fine, just cold, they insisted I go in an ambulance, too. And Luke refused to leave my side, so he went with me.
A nurse cleaned me up and once I was out of my wet clothes, the shivering stopped. Luke waited outside my door for me, but the second the nurse left, he came into my room and I was grateful for that. I didn’t ever want to be alone in a hospital again.
“Kite?”
“Don’t know anything yet. Taking him for an MRI. Still unconscious.”
I swallowed and nodded, but everything in me was shutting down. I felt the compartments slamming shut one by one. “Crisis? Did you tell him? My brother?”
“On their way.”
I stood. I hated these rooms. It was where Olaf had found me. I’d been all alone in a room just like this and so out of it, I could do nothing about it. Now I had Luke and still my gun. It may not have bullets, but it was my protection. “Can we stay in the waiting room?”
Luke walked to the door and opened it. “Will piss off the nurses.” He shrugged. “But yeah, fine with me.”
Two uniformed cops were in the waiting room. “Go sit. I need to talk to them.”
I didn’t sit; instead, I walked over to the window and parted the curtain. I was still reeling from what happened. The truck hit us out of nowhere. I didn’t even see it coming and, suddenly, everything was out of control.
I looked over at Luke who shook hands with the cops like they were friends. He talked to them while they took notes and a few times, they glanced over at me. I stared back out the window, the sun sinking fast behind the buildings.
Luke came up beside me and I glanced at him, still in soaking wet clothes, yet it was as if he didn’t even notice. They’d given him a towel when he refused to leave me and his hair was almost dry now. He’d taken off his jacket and was in a black dress shirt.
He didn’t look at me as he spoke. “You kept your shit together. I’m standing here because you did. Kite’s alive because you did.” He gave a nod. I knew it was his way of saying thank you.
“The accident. Was it an accident?”
“Don’t know that yet.”
“But you saw it.” I placed my hands on the window sill.
“Yeah, I saw it before it hit.” He tagged my arm. “Go sit. You look like crap.”
He wasn’t going to tell me and I knew he was right. I had to look like hell, because I felt like hell, but I couldn’t sit right now. Every breath hurt from where the seatbelt dug into my chest, but it was nothing compared to what Kite was going through.
Luke hesitated a second while he contemplated something, and my guess was whether to make me sit down. He decided against it as he walked to the nurses’ station and used their phone.
I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against the cool glass window. That was when I felt him. I didn’t have to open my eyes to know he was here. It was a magnetic feeling in my body knowing his eyes were on me.
My heart raced, blood rushed through my veins and my skin heated. I wanted to keep the cold all around me so it hurt less, but I couldn’t. Not with him.
I straightened and opened my tear-filled eyes.
Then I turned and he was a few feet away from me, that worried crease accentuated between his eyes. “Jesus, babe.” His voice caught on the word babe as he reached for me, then wrapped his heat and strength around me. He kissed the top of my head, lips lingering longer than usual as if he needed to reinforce that I was there. That he was holding me.
And damn it, the ice melted and I sagged against him, letting the tears fall.
It was several minutes before he pulled back, his eyes taking in the bandage on my temple and my hospital gown. “Fuck.” He wiped the tears away with the pad of his thumb. “Never been so scared in my life.”
“I’m doing that a lot to you.”
He huffed and pulled me in close again so my cheek was pressed against his chest. “I heard you scream . . . fuck. We didn’t know what happened. Where you were . . . we stopped the car and kept calling all your cells until Luke finally called Roman from the hospital.”
“Kite . . . he hit his head pretty badly. The doctor says there’s swelling.”
“Yeah. I heard.” He cupped my chin then leaned forward and kissed me. Lowering his voice, he said, “I nearly lost you.” His voice broke and he held me tighter. It hurt like hell, but I didn’t complain. Not as long as it was his arms around me.