Instead, I tuck a stray lock of his hair behind his ear and adjust us so he can lean against me more fully, with the stupid, uncomfortable plastic armrest between us. There’s a clawing need inside me to make sure he’s okay and, by extension, to make sure Josie is okay. He allows me to support him, and I turn my head, inhaling the citrusy scent of his shampoo. The smell takes me right back to that night we spent together, and it feels so fucking good. I sit and hold him for a while, hoping somehow some comfort can bleed out of me and into him. When I glance down at my watch, I realize there should be more information available by now. I’m about to get up to investigate when a doc walks into the room, her eyes roaming over the people inside before landing on the two of us. She must recognize me because she smiles and walks over to where we’re sitting.
“Hi, is one of you Aleksandr Warren?” she asks.
“Yeah, that’s me,” Aleks says eagerly, jumping up. “How is she? How’s Josie?”
“I’m Dr. Lola Davis. I’m an orthopedic surgeon. And Josie is going to be fine. We were able to patch up her leg pretty well, considering it wasn’t in great shape when she got here. But I’m very pleased with how the surgery went, and from what I can tell right now, I’m cautiously optimistic that she won’t need any follow-up surgery, although we won’t know for sure until she’s had some time to heal.”
“Oh, thank god,” Aleks breathes out, the color draining from his face again, and for a second, I worry he might actually faint, so I reach out to steady him with an arm around his waist, but he gathers himself quickly. “When can I see her?”
“She’s still in recovery, but she’ll probably wake up fairly soon. We’ll move her to a room shortly, and then you’ll be able to see her. But keep in mind she’s going to be groggy and out of it for a while. After seeing her, you might want to go home to get a few hours of rest. We’ll be keeping her pretty drugged up for the next few hours.”
“Okay, okay, yeah, thanks. God, thank you so much, Doctor. Thank you.” Aleks looks like he might cry again, so I distract the doctor by asking a little more about the severity of Josie’s concussion, and she satisfies me that it’s the least severe kind, which is still something to be concerned about, but much better than the alternative.
The doctor hasn’t been gone ten minutes when a nurse comes back in and asks for Aleks, telling him Josie is in her room and is awake and asking for him.
“Can I bring my… um, colleague? Um, he’s a doctor, so he won’t do anything wrong.”
The nurse and I exchange a smile.
“Aleks, I’ll come with you, but I’ll wait outside, okay? She’s not going to want to deal with a stranger right now. But I’ll be close if you need me, okay?”
He bites his lip and nods before we follow the nurse down the hallway to a small, private corner room. She brings Aleks inside, and a few minutes later, I can hear him laughing together with a weaker, scratchy-sounding laugh that must be Josie. A moment later, Aleks sticks his head out into the hallway, and I’m relieved to see he’s smiling.
“Will you come in for a sec? She’s kicking me out, but she wants to meet you first,” he says.
“Um, sure, okay.” I’m surprised she’s interested in meeting new people, but from what Aleks said, this woman is a lot stronger than the average bear.
I recognize her instantly from the bar the night Aleks and I first met. I remember thinking she was gorgeous, but my eye was caught by Aleks, and I don’t think I looked at her once after I saw him.
She has curly red hair and bright green eyes, with freckles dotted across her nose. Honestly, she looks like a real-life version of the Disney princess Merida fromBrave.
Aleks grabs one of her hands as she waves me over to talk to her. “Dr. Jacobs, I presume,” she says, cocking an eyebrow at me. Her voice sounds scratchy but strong.
“Guilty as charged,” I say with a smile. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Thanks. But it’ll take more than a broken leg to take me down. Anyway, I want you to take my man Aleks home, okay? You need to make sure he gets to bed. Otherwise, he will stay up and eat chocolate and ice cream all night until he has to go to work, and I know there’s no way he’ll call out sick. Can I trust you to take care of him?” Her tone is light and teasing, but her eyes are shooting daggers at me. Christ, if looks could kill, I’d be a fucking corpse. I’m afraid to see what she’s like when she’s back to full strength.
“You have my word.” I smile. “I’ll take him home and make sure he goes to sleep.” Glancing down at my watch, I see it’s not as late as I thought it was. There’s still time for Aleks to get a little rest, and maybe I can talk him into calling Carson and the equipment team to say he’ll be late tomorrow.
“Good,” Josie says. “And no ghosting him this time, you hear me? Aleks deserves respect, and fucking sneaking out on him in the middle of the fucking night isn’t going to cut it. You do not want to get on my bad side, Dr. Jacobs.” At this point, I start to worry her look may actually kill me dead right here where I stand, even in her weakened state.
“Fuck, Josie! Shut up,” Aleks giggles nervously, color rising on his cheeks as he slaps her arm gently. “The man didn’t do anything wrong. It’s fine. It’s not like we’re going to hook up again anyways.” He wrinkles his nose, trying to look disgusted, but I can see the smile underneath. God, he’s adorable.
Josie turns her arched eyebrow to him this time. “Mmm. Yeah, sure. Okay. But I’m serious, A. Please go home to sleep. Hopefully, they’ll let me out of here sometime tomorrow, and I’m going to need someone to help me, so you’re gonna need to save your strength, boy. Because this lady is gonna be a handful.” A shit-eating grin takes over her face, and I chuckle. Aleks rolls his eyes at her.
“What, like, are you trying to pay me back from when I had that little flu? That was no big deal!” he says, and a look of revulsion crosses her face.
“Sure, no big deal. Tell that to my living room carpet and my bathroom floor.” She rolls her eyes again before waving her hands at us, shooing us out.
“Now, I need you to GTFO. This trauma survivor needs her beauty sleep.” She smiles, and Aleks smacks his lips to her cheek in a gentle but sloppy kiss that causes her to squirm before he leads us out the door into the hallway.
Chapter 15
ALEKS
Walkingthroughthehospitalto the parking lot, all the adrenaline that’s been holding me together for the last few hours drains out of me, and I’m left feeling like a deflated balloon. We don’t talk much as Ben leads me out to the hospital staff parking lot and over to his car, but I’m leaning on him pretty heavily, and by the time I climb into the passenger seat, all I want is to curl up into a ball and fall asleep. When I immediately lean back onto the headrest and close my eyes, he lets out a soft chuckle and pulls out my seat belt, reaching over my lap to buckle me in. His breath ghosts across my cheek as he leans in close to fasten it, and even in my exhausted state, my cock stirs in my pants as his warm body presses against mine just for a second. Normally, having someone do that for me would weird me right out, but I’m too exhausted to give one tiny rat’s ass.
It's still snowing hard when he pulls out of the parking garage, and the drive from the area’s biggest hospital to my condo is slow going, but I’m barely aware of it, unable to resist the urge to let my eyes close just for a minute. The next thing I know, Ben’s standing beside me, reaching over to unbuckle my seat belt, his car parked in a luckily empty spot right across from my condo.
