“Yeah.”
“You’re not.”
More argument flickered at the edge of my consciousness. Sentences fell out of me, but made no sense, and my vision blurred hard enough to wipe my brain of just about anything.Anything but her.
Mia peeredat me, then seemed to shake herself. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter right now. We can’t do anything until Rebecca comes back with more information, so why don’t you try and sleep?”
Sleep was the last thing on my mind, but my body had other ideas. Awareness slowly slipped away from me and my head found its way to Mia’s chest. Her breast pillowed my cheek, and her heart beat like a drum againstmy skin. Her fingers trailed softly over my face, and despite the deep ache in my torso, and the spinning sensation I couldn’t seem to shift, I felt as well as I ever had. Safe. Loved. My only fear was how long it would last.
Mia
Battered and bruised, Luke still slept like a dream, a serene version of his beautiful conscious self. I could’ve watched him for hours. Did, in fact, watch himfor hours. A nurse came by and dimmed the lights, covering him with an extra blanket and offering me a pillow.
“No.” I shook my head. “I don’t want to move him.”
Absently I pondered where Gus and Fran had got to, but I didn’t have the energy to worry about them. Rebecca had advised us not to leave the hospital. I could only trust they’d taken her seriously. Besides, my brother was a fuckinghero. If Luke’s mum was safe with anyone, it was him.
But even as I thought it, I knew it wasn’t true. Luke was the toughest man I’d ever known, and this nightmare had nearly killed him. The strongest man in the world was no match for a speeding car, and in the dark hospital room, the fragility of life was more than I could contemplate.
With trembling hands, I slid my fingers into Luke’ssilky hair, careful to avoid the swollen lump where he’d hit his head. He’d sustained a concussion and the doctors were fairly satisfied that there was no lasting damage to his brain or skull, but it was clear to me every time Luke met my gaze that the man I knew so well had been turned upside down. The grey tinge to his usually glowing skin, his obvious confusion at simple questions, and his inabilityto focus on the conversations around him... He wasn’t right, and neither would I be until he was healed.
I almost didn’t care about the rest of it. The name Morgan Benson meant nothing to me outside of this room, and his motivations seemed almost irrelevant.
Almost, because there was a part of me that couldn’t stop thinking about him. A garbled exchange with Luke had given me a face tomatch to his name, and I retraced the steps that had led me to his brother’s house a few days ago. The wedding booking had been last minute and panicked. The original, out-of-town florist had suffered a catastrophic fire at her premises, leaving her unable to fulfil her orders that weekend. As the only local florist free, I’d picked up the job. Coincidence? I had no idea, but the image of flamesravaging a building, creeping closer and closer to the people I loved most, kept me awake while Luke slept.
It was dawn when Rebecca returned. I started to move, but she stilled me.
“Don’t disturb him. I just came to tell you Morgan Benson has been arrested. I won’t know any more for a while, but right now, just focus on Luke, okay? I’ll be in touch as soon as I know more.”
She leftas abruptly as she’d appeared, leaving me barely wiser than before. Luke had been so adamant that it was Morgan Benson who’d hit him that I hadn’t questioned it. The confirmation seemed pointless, but the relief that Benson was behind bars left me dizzy. He’d nearly killed Luke. What would I have done if I’d lost him? If the precious time we’d spent together in recent months was nothing more thana cruel joke?
Contemplating it hurt too much. And I didn’t need any encouragement to focus on Luke. I went back to gazing at him and fretting over his injuries. Gus joined me a little while later.
“The police took Fran home. They think she’s safe while they have that dude in custody, but they’ll keep an eye on her.”
“What about you? You should go home too.”
Gus snorted. “Fat chance.I couldn’t leave him any more than you could. And I kind of promised Billy I wouldn’t.”
“You spoke to him?”
“A few minutes ago. He’s freaking out a bit, but I think he has someone with him. At least I hope so. Fran’s in bits worrying about both of them.”
I hadn’t stopped to think about how having both her boys in different hospitals was affecting Fran. I’d kept Luke to myself all nightwithout giving her a second thought.
As though he’d heard my thoughts, Gus shook his head. “She’s glad you’re here. Luke and Billy both hate being mothered, so if you weren’t, chances are he’d be in here on his own.”
“That’s not true. You’d be here.”
Gus shrugged. “I’d have tried, but it’s only you he wants, Mia. It’s always been you.”
