“She’s on floor B in room 221, but unfortunately you can’t go in. It’s the trauma unit, so family only.”
I think my throat might be closing. I try to swallow the lump that’s lodged there.
Family. I’m not family.
“But she’s my—” My voice cracks, and I bite it back, swallowing the bitterness in my mouth. “I don’t care. I need to be there with her.”
The nurse offers me a pitying glance. “I’m sorry. You’ll have to wait out here.”
But I ignore her. I storm past the desk to go find Romilly’s room.
“Sir! Stop. You need to wait out here, like I said.”
“I will burn this hospital down before I do that,” I tell her as calmly as possible. As I continue, I register the sound of her calling security. Several armed men approach me, ready to restrain me. The cocky side of me thinks I could take them all. But the more rational side knows I’ll be completely useless to Romilly if I try to fight them and end up getting arrested.
I sigh. “Fine. I’ll wait out here.” I take the nearest seat and rest my face on my fists. Closing my eyes, I do the only thing I can at a time like this.
I silently pray,Please. Please let her be okay.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
ROMILLY
A tense achein my skull is the first thing I feel when I wake up. It’s impossible to ignore—the throb that pulses through every inch of my body, but especially my head. It feels like it’s been crushed. Every breath I take sends a wave of dizziness through me. I try to move, but the room tilts too much.
Where am I?
My eyelids flutter open, and for a moment, everything is blurry. The soft beeping of a machine in the background doesn’t make sense at first. I blink a few times, trying to make sense of my surroundings.
White walls.
Clean sheets.
The sterile smell.
It hits me all at once.I’m in a hospital.I frown as I try to piece it together, but the more I think, the harder it becomes to focus and the worse the throbbing feels.
“Miss?” A soft voice startles me. I turn my head, wincing as my neck protests the movement. A nurse is standing by my bed, a sympathetic look in her eyes as she gently touches my arm. “How are you feeling?”
“I don’t know. What happened?”
She smiles gently, but there’s something in her eyes that makes me uneasy. “You hit your head during a fight tonight, and now you have a concussion. But thankfully no skull fracturing or bleeding. You’ve been resting, but we’re going to keep an eye on you through the night before we send you home.”
That’s right. The fight. My head swims with fragmented memories—the lights, the fight among the crowd, and Bash.
Where is he?
“Bash?” I ask, my voice small. I search the room for him, but there’s no sign of him. Just me, in this cold hospital bed, surrounded by the scent of antiseptic. “Where’s Bash?”
The nurse hesitates, looking down at her clipboard. “I’m sorry, but he wasn’t allowed in while we were running your vitals. Family only.”
My heart sinks at the thought. “Can he come in now?”
“That should be fine. Oh, and he sent this for you.” She hands me a folded piece of paper. “He said you might like this. I’ll go get him.”
My heart skips a beat as I take the note and unfold it. The scratchy handwriting is familiar, and something inside me softens just from seeing it. When the nurse leaves me alone, I read the note.
Romilly,
