“Oh, don’t you start as well,” I groaned, though there was no heat in it.
Erin touched my arm softly. “Go grab some air, pet. You’ve barely stopped since you landed.”
She was right, my chest was so tight it hurt, and my stomach was growling at me. I nodded, slipping out into the corridor hoping to find a vending machine. The sterile smell of disinfectant clung to the back of my throat. Nurses moved in and out of rooms with quiet efficiency, the hushed tone of visitors and the beep of distant monitors filling the space.
I pressed my back to the wall, pulled out my phone, and stared at the screen. I hadn’t called him since I landed. The guilt burned in my throat as I remembered his words at the airport.You need me, I’m there.
AndGod, did I wish he was here now. Before I could talk myself out of it, I scrolled to his name and hit call. He picked up on the first ring.
“Baby? You there? You okay?” His voice was urgent, like he’d been waiting to hear mine for hours.
“Yeah,” I said quickly, then had to swallow before I could keep going. “Yeah, I’m okay. Surgery went well. He’s awake. Already giving us grief.”
I tried to make it sound light, but my voice caught.
Tyler let out a long breath on the other end. “Jesus. I’ve been sitting here refreshing flight prices every hour. Swear to God, if you hadn’t called, I was two minutes away from saying fuck it and coming anyway.”
The lump in my throat swelled. “I’m glad you didn’t. I meant what I said, Ty. You need to play. That’s where you’re meant to be right now.”
There was a pause. I leaned my head back against the wall, closed my eyes, and just breathed with him on the other end of the line.
“I was worried about you, baby,” he said finally, voice gone rough. “Don’t ever go through something like this without me again.”
My lips pressed together hard. That dangerous pull toward him, the one I’d been trying to keep in check, sank deeper.
“Well,” I said, clearing my throat, “you’ll be glad to know Dad asked about ‘the tennis star boyfriend’ before he even asked how I was.”
That earned me a low chuckle. “Good to know I’m winning over the future father-in-law early.”
I rolled my eyes, though my smile tugged. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Reed.”
“Too late,” he said, and I could hear the grin in his voice.
“I should get back in,” I murmured after a minute. “You should sleep.”
“Sleep? Without you here? Not a chance. Call me later. Don’t care what time.”
“I promise.”
I hung up and stared at the screen for a moment, thumb hovering like I might hit redial just to hear him again. Instead, I slid the phone into my pocket and pushed away from the wall just as Danny came down the corridor.
“Fucking hate hospitals,” he muttered.
“Well, you were in them enough as a kid with all your broken bones,” I said, laughing softly.
He smiled as he came to sit next to me on the plastic chairs.
“So…you and Tyler Reed, huh?” he asked, going into full big-bro mode.
I sighed. “You going to wind me up as well?”
“No.” He shook his head, expression more serious than usual. “I just…you know that guy’s always plastered across the Daily Mail, right?”
I sighed again. “Look, I’m not stupid. I know all that. But…” My throat tightened.
Danny was watching me, his protector-mode dialed all the way up.
“He’s really not like that, Danny. Okay, he’s had a past, but there’s a different side to him. He was going to jump on a plane and drop out of the US Open for me, for God’s sake. Who does that?”
