A quiet knock sounded on the still open door, and she looked over to see Levi in the doorway with a tall glass of ice water and two ice packs. He ambled inside, setting the glass of water on the bedside table and lowered his tall frame to the edge of her bed. He found her knee under the comforter that Seren had tucked up around her waist and squeezed it gently.
“One for your ribs, one for your head,” he said gruffly. His dark, silver streaked hair looked rumpled, like he’d shoved his fingers through it a dozen times, and his dark blue eyes that were so much like her own were crinkled at the corners in worry. “How many ribs are broken?”
“Uhh,” she stammered, unsure how to respond. If she admitted that the doctor had not done X-Rays, they would demand to know why. “Two, I think they said.”
“You poor thing,” Seren whispered, fussing over her again, the crease between her brows deepening. “I swear, those garages are so dangerous.”
“I just tripped, Mom,” she said defensively. “I stood up too fast and got dizzy for a second—”
“Dizzy?” her mother asked, halting in her fluffing of the pillows behind Shaun’s back. “Why were you dizzy?”
“I just stood up too fast—”
“Did you eat today? Have too much coffee on an empty stomach?” Seren asked, sitting on the opposite side of the bed as Levi.
“Yeah, probably just too much coffee and no lunch,” Shaun mumbled, dropping her gaze to her tightly clasped fingers that were resting on her belly. Oh god.
Nausea rolled through her again at the thought, but she closed her eyes, taking several long, deep breaths.
“We’ll let you rest,” Levi rumbled gently, patting her clasped hands. “Call us if you need anything.”
“Okay,” she whispered, letting her head rest back on the pillow that Seren had propped up behind her, as it was too painful to lay flat. “Good night. Thank you.”
“Good night, sweetheart,” Levi said, clasping Seren’s hand in his own and dragging her toward the door. “Love you.”
“Love you, too,” she murmured as he shut off the light, closing the door behind them as they took their leave.
Finally, blessedly alone in the darkness, Shaun let the tears track down her cheeks in a relentless flow, soaking her hair and the pillow beneath her head.
FORTY-TWO
She could only handle two nights at her parent’s house with her mother hovering over her almost constantly. By the third day she was going crazy and informed her mother that she would be returning home, despite Seren’s arguments about how it was better for her to stay with them.
“Mom, I need to go home. Steve probably misses me. And I miss my bed,” she said, the first part being a truth, the second part being a half-truth. Her bed hadn’t felt the same since Kasey left. Seren finally relented, agreeing to let Levi drive her home.
An hour later she was home and in bed after a very long, very hot shower. Her ribs ached more than they had the first day. Seren and Levi had set her up with several reusable ice packs, putting them in the freezer so they would be ready when she needed a fresh one. Climbing into the softest, most comfortable pajamas she could find that didn’t hurt to put on, she had just climbed into bed when her phone started buzzing.
Groaning, she stared at it, where it glowed several feet out of reach on the nightstand. “Sorry, whoever it is. I’m not moving.”
The call ended, the buzzing going silent, but almost immediately it began buzzing again. She remained where she was, finally comfortable, and glared at it as it started to buzz a third time.
“I’m not getting up! Stop calling me!” she whined at the phone as it stopped ringing for the third time. Holding her breath, she growled in frustration when it started ringing again. “Ugh, fine!”
Inching closer to the edge of the bed, she grabbed it, fumbling it. As she saw the name on the screen, she panicked, but the damage was done, she’d already answered it by accident by sliding her finger across the screen as she’d fumbled it.“Fuck,” she hissed silently, then took a deep breath and brought it to her ear. “I’m not in the mood to talk. Goodbye, Kasey.”
She hung up as his voice cut through, and she closed her eyes, letting the phone drop to the bed beside her.
“God dammit,” she snarled as it began ringing again, swiping it to send to voicemail. He called back immediately, and she answered it, snarling into the phone, “Stop calling me, Kase! I don’t want to talk to you right now!”
She hung up then turned her phone all the way off, tossing it across the bed and wincing with the movement as it sent nausea rolling through her all over again. Settling into the pillows again, she placed the ice pack on her side and closed her eyes. She’d cried most of her tears the first night, waking up the following morning with an even worse headache than she’d gone to sleep with and eyes that felt like sandpaper.
She had just started to drift off to sleep when she heard a car door close with a slam, then a loud, unrelenting banging on her door. She didn’t even have the energy to get up, just covered her head with the pillow and prayed whoever it was would get the hint and go away soon.
The knocking ended, then the car door closed again, and a moment later she heard the engine turn over as whoever it was left, and she was finally able to drift off to sleep.
It couldn’t have been twenty minutes later that she woke up to the sound of her door opening, then angry, heavy footfalls down the hallway. Groggily, she blinked rapidly just as he appeared in the doorway, his body tense and his eyes a terrifying mix of gray and blue. His blonde brows were pulled low over them, but when he caught sight of her laying in the bed, his entire body seemed to sigh as his shoulders released all the tension in them, his gaze softening.
“Why aren’t you answering your phone?” he snapped, though there was little heat in his words. He strode over tothe bed, swiping the Texas Longhorn ball cap off his head and tossing it to the foot of her bed. He then sat on the edge of the bed facing her, and he smoothed his hand over her curls, down her shoulder. “Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?”
