“Karen, I told you to hold all calls, we’re in a board meeting here.”One I wish I could get the hell out of.My mind is drifting to where it always drifts, especially when Paige is in the room: Cat.Always Cat.
Paige, the mistake of a lifetime.Well, make that the second one; the first was Kate.
“I’m sorry, Mr.Alexander, but I thought you would want to take this call, it sounds urgent.”I tense.
“Who is it?”
“Manhattan Hospital.”
Why would the hospital be calling me?I turn my head to see my father staring at me impatiently.I can see he’s fine.I hope it’s not Gage, my sister, or anyone else in my family.“Put them through.”
“Hello, is this Nicholas Alexander?”
“Yes.”
“This is Manhattan Hospital.We’re calling about Catherine Reed.”
My heart drops when I hear Cat’s name.What the hell?The breath I’m holding whooshes out of me, blocking out everything and everyone I practically yell into the phone, “What’s wrong with her, is she hurt?”
The voice on the other end of the phone changes with the panic rising in my voice.She sounds more soothing than informative when she answers my question, but it’s not helping me.“She suffered a concussion, and we can’t release her from the hospital unless someone is here to take her home.She gave us your name and telephone number.”
She doesn’t need to say any more.I get out of the chair, tell her I’m on my way, and hang up.I turn to my father.“This meeting is over for me.I have an emergency I have to take care of.”My father isn’t happy, and I don’t give a shit.Ava stopped updating me on Cat weeks ago; she said it wasn’t doing me any good.She was right.The first time I hear about her in two months, a faceless voice is telling me she’s hurt and in the hospital.
I was afraid I wouldn’t see her again after everything I said to her.I didn’t mean it.I was pissed off seeing Matt there and her state of undress when she answered the door.What really set me off like a skyrocket was when she said she slept with him, confirming what he said to me outside her building.I’ll admit it to myself: that shit hurt.It felt like she punched a hole straight through my chest.I didn’t think she was going to do that with Matt again; she knows how I feel about that guy.But when she said, ‘I want a man that didn’t fuck my sister and get her pregnant, can you give me that?’, I knew it was over.Like my father said, she probably would never be able to be with me without thinking about me and Kate, even with no baby.
Not once in the short time we were together could she bring herself to tell me she loved me.I understood, though.I wasn’t going to force her to say something she wasn’t ready to say.
Out of all the people she could have called, she called me.I’m glad she did.It gives me a little hope.Well, to be honest, it gives me a lot of hope.After two months, I know more than before how much I need her in my life, and I’ll take her any way I can get her.
Cat
The weirdest feeling is wakingup in a strange room with a strange man standing over you.It’s like an episode ofThe Outer Limits,minus the creepy music.
“Where am I?Who are you?”
“Welcome back, Ms.Reed.”
“From where?Did I go somewhere and no one told me?”
The cute guy standing over me—I think he’s a doctor—is now smiling at me with a full row of pearly whites.“Yes, you’re in Manhattan Hospital.”
“Good, I thought this was a one-night stand gone wrong.I don’t do those.”
His eyes crinkle in amusement.“That’s good, those can be dangerous.”
I try to get up, but my head feels fuzzy.
“Don’t try to get up so fast, take your time.I’m Dr.Vega.Can you tell me your full name?”
“Catherine Emerson Reed.”He asks me a few more questions then he lets me sit up.
“Good.You suffered a concussion.”
“That explains the fuzzy feeling in my head.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
“I was at school in the middle of a lesson when I started feeling weird.I asked one of my coworkers if she could keep an eye on my class for a few minutes.I stepped out into the hall, and everything started shifting and turning.I tried to steady myself, everything went black, and I woke up in here with you.”
