I reached out and clamped my hand around Mom’s wrist. The woman was exhausting to listen to. “Mom, sit.”
“No, you need something for the pain,” she insisted as she tried wiggling out of my grip. “I’ll be back, just let me get the nurse in here first.”
“Mom, I’m fine,” I argued. I began praying that Dad would come in and see that I was okay and he’d be ready to head back to Belmont. This might be the first time in my life I was grateful for his obsessive need to be in charge at the farm. “I’m sure it’ll only be a few minutes before the nurses are in here taking my blood pressure, poking me, and all the other shit they do to make sure the patients don’t get any sleep.”
Eric guffawed and I turned my head to look at him. He looked like hell. “You know what, Mom? Yeah, I think I’d like you to get the nurse for me. And while you’re at it, find out when those idiots plan on letting me eat something. If I didn’t know better, I’d think their treatment plan includes starving the patients so they don’t have to do anything.”
“Andrew Joseph, watch your language,” Mom scolded me. Eric thought that was hilarious. I glared at him, hoping he’d understand just how badly I wanted to punch him in the gut to shut him up. “I’ll go find out what’s going on.”
The walls seemed to close in around me once Eric and I were alone. His entire body sagged when he sat next to me and he refused to look at me. “Hey, I guess I owe you a thank you or twenty.”
Eric shrugged, but still stared at the floor. “What else was I going to do? I didn’t even know it was you, all I knew was that if I didn’t do something, things would have been even worse. Anyone would have done the same thing.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” I challenged. Sadly, I’d seen a few people out of my periphery last night before I blacked out, and not one of them tried to step in and stop what was happening. “Still, thank you for staying with me. And for helping my parents. Jason said they’re staying in Cam’s room?”
Eric nodded. He was going to piss me off if he didn’t loosen up. I wanted to reach out and force him to look at me, but I worried I’d wind up clubbing him with the cast on my arm.
“Dammit Eric!” I picked up the plastic cup of water and threw it across the room. I would have expected some people to act uncomfortable around me, but not him. He was the one person I was hoping would understand all the shit running through my mind.
“What’s your fucking problem?” Eric snapped, wiping drops of water off his arm.
“You are now.” That got his attention. “You’re sitting here acting like you did something wrong, when the truth is I don’t know if I’d be here right now if you hadn’t stepped in. Jason told me how bad it was, how the doctors were worried there’d be internal bleeding, brain damage, all that shit. It’s because of you that I’m here.”
“Yeah, so people keep telling me.” Finally, Eric lifted his gaze. I almost regretted snapping on him the way I had, but I didn’t want his pity. “I just keep thinking that if I’d parked closer, I might have been able to stop that asshole before he knocked you to the ground.”
“And if you’d parked closer to the bar, you might have been inside and then you wouldn’t have even known anything happened,” I responded dryly. I raised the head of the bed again so I could get comfortable. I might be stuck in this fucking bed until the doctors signed off saying that I wasn’t going to keel over as soon as I walked outside, but I sure as fuck wasn’t going to look like a damn invalid. “A wise man once told me you can’t do a damn thing about what’s already happened so it’s not worth wishing you could change it.”
Jason laughed as he walked into the room. “Someone mark today on a calendar. Jackson actually admitted that I’m not full of shit.”
“Fuck you,” I scoffed. “I promise, I won’t let it happen again if you’re going to make a big deal over it.”
Jason pantomimed locking his lips before greeting Eric. I might have growled when I saw that his hands were empty. No coffee, no food. “You might want to turn your happy ass around and think about coming back with some food.”
Eric stood and squeezed my shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they get you something before you bite off someone’s head.”
“At least someone’s looking out for me,” I grumbled. Eric winked on his way out the door, leaving Jason there shaking his head. “What?”
“You two. He’s almost as bad as your mom and you don’t even see it.” Jason scrubbed the back of his neck, still uncomfortable with whatever he thought was going on between Eric and me. “Look, before everyone gets back, there’s something you should know.”
I got the feeling I wasn’t going to like whatever he had to say next. I stared at him, waiting for him to continue.
“I called Bryce,” he admitted. I groaned and fell back against my pillows, flinching at the pain. “Look, you can kick my ass as soon as you’re up to it, but I know both of you. I could tell by the look on your face that you weren’t going to call him and I know he’s stubborn enough he’d keep trying until he got through. So, I called and let him know what’s going on.”
“Great, so now we’re going to start the parade of visitors?” Why was it so hard for everyone to understand that I didn’t want the whole world knowing what happened? I doubted that’d be possible for long, but the more people who knew, the more people would want to see me to make sure no one was lying about my condition, and all I wanted was food and a damn nap.
“I told him you’re getting out of here sometime today, but he wants to see you.” Jason kept his tone soft, as though he thought this was going to put me over the edge. He wasn’t entirely wrong. “I told him we were going back to Eric’s whenever they let you out of here and he said he’ll stop by later.”
“Fine. I’m too tired to fight about this,” I conceded. “Just do me a favor.”
“Name it,” Jason said confidently. If I’d pissed him off, he wasn’t showing it. That was good because I had a feeling it was only going to be a matter of days before everyone was sick of my brooding and short temper.
“Ask everyone else to wait until at least tomorrow before swooping in,” I pleaded.
“Deal.”
That’s when Eric walked in, a plate of toast in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. I could have kissed him.
This was definitely not the way I planned to start my fall and winter break. I’d planned on having a few drinks with the guys after Jason guilted me into going out with them, coming home, and doing absolutely nothing until we had to head to the clubhouse for meetings. Instead, I was sitting in the back seat of my parents’ SUV, cringing as Dad managed to hit every single pothole and bump in the road.
If there was a part of my body that didn’t hurt, I hadn’t found it yet. Even my hair follicles ached from where the asshole who attacked me fisted his hand against my head before tossing me to the ground. The doctors repeatedly told me how lucky I was that I didn’t have more severe injuries, but I sure as fuck didn’t feel lucky.
Dad let out a low whistle as he pulled into the driveway at Eric’s house. This was the first time I’d seen their reaction to the place I’d called home for over a year. Dad always blamed it on Mom not being a fan of long drives, but I knew it was more that he didn’t trust anyone to take care of the farm long enough for him to take a few days off for a vacation.
“This place is beautiful,” Mom praised. “If I’d known you had so much room, I might have run away from the farm and stayed with you some of the time.”
And wasn’t that a lovely thought. As much as I loved my parents, I shuddered at the thought of having them here more than a day or two. Mom wouldn’t be able to keep herself from hovering, and Dad would start trying to find projects around the house to keep his hands busy. I really hoped Eric and Jason could figure out a way to convince them to head back to Belmont because I was too worn out to think about anything other than falling into my bed, taking a pain pill and passing out for the day.