“You should go get some rest after you’re finished here.” He rests an arm behind me, the scent of his cologne engulfing my nostrils. “You’ve been through a lot.”
I look at him. “I will after we talk.” I waver. “Actually, I need to run a few errands, too, so after that.”
He frowns. “What errands?”
Like I’m going to tell him that I need to figure out how to find my phone—he’ll just try to buy me a new one.
“Just some stuff. Private stuff,” I stress, hoping he’ll drop it.
I can tell he doesn’t want to, but ultimately keeps his lips sealed.
As we sit in the silence, my eyelids begin to lower as exhaustion tugs at me.
“You can rest your head on my shoulder if you need to,” River whispers in my ear.
I shouldn’t, but I’m too tired to care. So I twist my body and lean into him, resting my head on the curve of his shoulder.
His arm slips lower, and his fingers slip through the strands of my hair soothingly.
“I’m still mad at you for paying off Drew with so much money,” I mumble with my eyes shut. “But thank you.”
His nose brushes my hair—I think he might be smelling it. “You’re welcome, Maddison.”
God, does my heart do crazy things in my chest at the sound of my full name coming off of his pretty lips.
I’m so damn screwed. I know this. Not only is he a royal, but he’s a betrothed royal. I should lift my head and go back to being mad at him, but I can’t bring myself to. Dammit, this is going to end poorly, yet I can’t find the energy to care. Instead, I end up falling asleep with my head resting on his shoulder and the scent of his cologne circling in my dreams.
River wakes me up when the nurse calls me back by smoothing his hand over my cheek gently. When I open my eyes, he’s staring down at me with a trace of concern.
“Hey,” he says softly. “They’re calling you back.”
“Oh.” I straighten and stand up, my gaze traveling to the woman dressed in scrubs, standing in the doorway in the far back. She has an iPad in her hand and offers me a smile.
“Are you Maddison?”
I nod and start to walk toward her when River calls out, “I’ll wait out here for you.”
I twist back around toward him. “You don’t have to.”
“I know, but I want to.” He reclines back in the chair and stretches out his legs, getting comfortable and showing me that he means his words.
I exhale loudly. He’s so stubborn.
And nice.
Too nice.
I don’t even know how to handle that.
Instead, I focus on talking to the nurse as she takes me back into a room and asks me questions. I don’t give her the details of what actually happened, even though I want to. But I worry that the society will find out and come after me again.
So, I lie and say I fell and hit my head. The nurse assesses me skeptically, like she can tell I’m lying. That’s a new one. Usually, I’m much better at lying, but I’m also tired.
She takes my vitals, and I’m relieved when she informs me everything appears to be good on that part. Then she leaves me alone to wait for the doctor to come in. It takes a bit, but the doctor eventually enters. She examines me, asks a series of questions, and then gives me some annoying news.
“You show signs of having a concussion, so you’ll need to take it easy for a handful of days.” She slips off her gloves and tosses them into the trash. “I’ll email you some follow-up instructions, and I’d like to see you again in three to four days.”
Great, my training is going to get screwed up.
