My face was mashed against his shoulder, so I couldn’t see his face, but his answering chuckle rumbled through both of us. “Nah. I get it, fucker. I feel like I’ve known Maxforever.”
Of course, he got it. I was lucky enough to have good friends in my life, but no one knew me like Pete did. And I didn’t want them to. Jed had tapped into a part of my brain that needed some TLC, but my heart was Pete’s. My soul… all I had was his. And despite the fact that he’d spent so many months hiding from me, I knew hewasmine.
I took one last dizzying breath of Pete-laced Portland air and squeezed his hands. “Come on. I want togohome.”
We turned toward the departures gate where we were picking up our tickets. As I rummaged in my bag for my ID, my phone flashed to life with amessage.
Jed:By the way, Max told me to tell you the fucked up cabin is for sale…peace,J.
ChapterFifteen
Pete
I had no idea how Ash had flown all over the world and come home in one piece. Despite leaving Portland as chill as we could be, considering Danni was in labor, the moment the plane took off, he was a wreck. We’d been in the air an hour when he puked the first time, which thoroughly distracted me from the fact this was the first time my own lame ass had ever left theground.
“Jesus.” I squeezed his trembling hands as guilt surged through me. “Is it always this bad whenyoufly?”
Ash shook his head. “I don’t usuallygetsick.”
“Maybe you didn’t eatenough?”
Ash blanched as I tried to recall what vegetable delights Max had fed us for breakfast and how much of it Ash had eaten, but Portland already felt a million miles away. I flagged a flight attendant down for some water and spent the next two hours trying to keepAshcalm.
It didn’t work. He got sick twice more and then fell asleep with his head in my lap, just in time for me to have to wake him to put hisseatbelton.
He sat up slowly, sucking in a shaky breath. “I don’tfeelgood.”
“You don’t look good,” I returned bluntly. “You look sick, not freaked out. Am Iright?”
Ash opened his mouth. Shut it again. “I think so. My head’s good, man. Iswear.”
I believed him. Ash didn’t always tell me when his anxiety got the better of him, but he never lied. And besides, his discomfort was plain to see—pale face, clammy skin. His hand pressed over his abdomen. Stomach flu? I hoped not. If Ash had it, then the chances were we’d left it behind in Portland, and a simple virus like that could put Jed in thehospital.
I draped my arm around Ash, coaxed him to rest his head on my shoulders, and counted his steady pulse, for my sake as much as his. “Hang in there. You’ll feel better when we get on theground.”
Wishful thinking. I’d worked in emergency medicine for twelve long years, and by the time the plane touched down, I’d have bet my leg that Ash had appendicitis. I steered him off the aircraft and through the gate. Outside, I sat him on a frost-covered bench while I searched for a cab. My phone buzzed in my pocket as onepulledup.
It was a hospitalnumber. “Joe?”
“Nah, buddy. It’s Glenn. Whereyouat?”
“Airport.” I tugged Ash to his feet. “Have you seenDanni?”
“Yup. Just been upstairs and checked in. Four centimeters. I think she’s in it for the long haulthistime.”
Danni’s lightning fast labor with Cosmo was the stuff of legends. I’d barely caught the baby as Danni delivered on our kitchen floor. It had been dramatic and complicated and had stretched my midwifery knowledge to the brink. If she’d been alone, she’d have died, and the thought of her enduring a marathon labor this time around scared me. Childbirth was the most natural thing in the world, but I’d seen enough of them to know thatshithurt.
But at the same time, I was relieved nothing was happening fast. It had taken us four hours to make it back to Chicago, but if I was right about Ash, then it would be a while before either of us made it up to the labor ward. “Howisshe?”
“Angry. I wouldn’t want to be Joerightnow.”
Glenn’s amusement washed over me as I helped Ash into the cab. “What about you? Whereareyou?”
“I’m on my way out. Why? What’swrong?”
“Can you stay?” I barked the name of the hospital at the cab driver as Ash groaned and doubled over. “I need you to lookatAsh.”
* * *
