Chapter 8
SPENCER
It was taking too long. Too fucking long. The length of the corridor was exactly twenty-eight paces. There were three nurses at their station chatting mindlessly about some chick flick I had no interest in. I’d read and reread the notices pinned to the board so many times I could probably recite them on request.
“Shit!” I muttered, running my hands through my hair. I needed a distraction. My imagination was running away with itself and it wasn’t headed in a pleasant direction.
I fumbled my phone in my pocket and texted Kane. I would be the first to admit he was my lifelong pain in the ass, but he was also my voice of reason. I knew that no matter what I needed, he’d never turn me down. Sure he’d give me shit for the rest of my days and never let me forget my moments of weakness, but he’d never say no. Just like I would never deny him.
Spencer: Need a favour.
I hated that he made me wait. I hated that he could have been doing it on purpose. I knew him as well as I knew myself. It was exactly something he’d do. Hell, I’d done it to him more than once, so I was honestly shocked when moments later my phone vibrated, causing me to almost drop it on the scuffed linoleum.
Kane: It’ll cost ya.
“Bastard!” But that was Kane. Before I had a chance to promise him the world, another text came through.
Kane: What you need?
Spencer: Zoe needs clothes.
As I typed out the words I almost choked. I hated that this was happening. I didn’t need Zoe to tell me the specifics, I didn’t want her to confirm my thoughts. I had my suspicions. I’d had them from the moment I found her hunched over on the side of the road, but I couldn’t focus on that. Right now my priority was cleaning up this mess.
Kane: On it.
After re-reading his response for the third time, I slipped my phone back in my pocket and before I knew it, I found myself standing outside her room. I couldn’t hear the words, but the sobs reached through the flimsy wooden door and wrapped themselves around my heart. With each heart breaking sniff, I felt like I was being suffocated.
Without hesitation, I pushed open the door. “Okay, that’s enough!” I announced, stepping into the room.
The sight before me almost killed me. Zoe’s eyes were red and puffy and I knew she’d been crying. Her hair was matted and screaming to be brushed. There she was cowering under a thin blanket, Derek’s hands wrapped around hers. Even his face was covered in complete and utter devastation. The conversation I’d just brought to an abrupt halt had obviously been deep and dark.
“Spencer,” Derek’s tone was laced with warning but one look at Zoe and I knew the only way he was getting me out of the room was if he dragged me out in handcuffs.
“Everything okay in here?” I asked, my voice shaking.
“Yeah,” Derek mumbled.
Without waiting for an invitation, I walked determinedly to the other side of the Zoe’s bed and took a spot on the end. For some strange reason it was where I needed to be. My place. Right next to Zoe.
“So…what happens now?” Zoe asked, her voice no louder than a murmur.
“Well, now you go home, have a long hot bath and a nap, and we can try to get back on track,” I promised her.
“Not quite…” a voice echoed from the door. “If it isn’t almost trouble,” Nurse Foreman smiled from the doorway.
“Oh,” Zoe’s face fell and my heart sunk.
“Where’s the other troublemaker?” Nurse Foreman asked with a sly smile. Damn small towns.
“Troublemaker reporting for duty,” Kane grinned widely as he breezed into the room, arrogance radiating from his every pore.
“Kane!” Zoe’s face lit up and the whole room felt it. They had to have. All of a sudden everything felt lighter, easier, simpler. Zoe was smiling. Nothing else mattered.
“My God, Zoe! How do you put up with so much ego and testosterone in one room?”
“In small doses.”
Everyone laughed and it sounded perfect. In that moment I knew I’d do whatever it took to keep Zoe smiling. It sounded awesome.
