Page 90 of Bastard Bartender

Chapter Twenty-Three

My eyes flutter open, and the first thing I see is a vending machine. As I sit up to stretch out my limbs from the uncomfortable way I slept in the chair in the waiting room, I groan at the crick in my neck.

I glance at my phone to see the time. It’s seven in the morning.

No one is in the chair next to me. I stand, do another longer stretch, and look around the room for the guys.

Mario is the first one I see.

“You’re up,” he says with a wide smile. “We decided to let you sleep. Those bags under your eyes were not looking good last night.”

“Thanks. I might need some yoga to loosen my limbs again.”

He laughs. “You can get as limber as you want very soon. Our boy woke up a few hours ago. I came to see if you were awake, so you can see him.”

“Nic’s awake!” I cry out, throwing my arms around Mario’s shoulders and hugging him. He’s narrow and willowy, not like my man, who I can’t wait to hold again. “He’s gonna be okay?”

“That pretty face of his will be okay—thank God. His ego is still as large as ever.” He pats my back and squeezes me. “Come. Let’s go play sexy nurse.”

I pull back and grin. “You have a costume for that, don’t you?”

He eyes me cheekily as he takes my hand. “Honey, I have a costume for everything!”

Mario and I make our way to the elevator. After Nic woke up, they moved him to a room upstairs. I can hear the guys’ booming laughter from down the hallway as we approach. When I walk inside, Nic looks my way, and his face grows in a huge smile.

“There’s my girl!” he says. His face is still swollen and bruised, but his eyes are magnanimous and as beautiful as ever.

I rush over to him and give him a huge hug. Well, as big as I can, considering he has a cast on his arm and an IV in the other. I’m sitting on the edge of the bed, bent over his chest, and burying my head into his neck. His good arm comes up and around me, rubbing my back.

“Don’t you scare me like that ever again. I thought I’d lost you,” I cry into his chest, gently caressing his jaw.

“You’re cute when you’re dramatic.”

I look up at him and narrow my eyes. “You think I’m dramatic? Wait until you talk to your mother.”

“Already did. She just got on a plane. Storms in Chicago delayed her—thank God. I’m not ready for her wrath.”

Dro finds this amusing. “Remember the time you lost your phone while white water rafting. It was a three-day trip, and when you got back, your mother was at your house with a bat and the cops.”

“Why a bat?” I ask as I sit up and wipe my eye.

“Because if he were dead, she needed the cops. And if he came home alive, she was going to make him wish he were dead for scaring her so bad.” Dro laughs loudly from a spot near the window, where he’s sitting on the ledge.

Logan smiles brightly from his chair. “Can’t stop; won’t stop.”

“You know it!” Nic lifts his good arm and gives Logan a pound.

These guys are sitting here, laughing, like the last twenty-four hours didn’t just happen while I’m wiping my cheeks from tears that spilled from how happy I am to see Nic awake and alert.

“That’s cute and all, but perhaps we can take this as a sign that you can limit your excitement to land-only activities,” I suggest as I stand up. My stomach is still a mess, and my heart is pumping wildly. The stress of worrying about Nic surviving his escapades will send me to the hospital next … with a heart attack.

“Fuck no. I have to get back on that canyon. What a rush that jump was,” Nic says with a look of euphoria.

“Before you slammed your face into the side of it,” I state, placing my hands on my hips.

“This guy’s got nine lives! Proves time and again that he’s unstoppable!” Dro makes a fist in the air to cheer his friend on. “I already emailed the company. We have another jump booked for two months from today. Doctor said you should be out of the cast by then.”

“Can’t be Arizona. My lawyer said I’ll be on probation,” Nic replies.