“Iwant to go home. Please, will you take me home?” I ask Jude once he’s helped me put on the clothes they brought me to wear.
My poor, beautiful gown that I only got to wear for a few hours is a wrinkled mess stuffed in a plastic bag from when the hospital staff stripped me of it to treat me.
“Yes, baby doll. Any minute now they’ll be in with your discharge papers and we’ll take you back to our place.”
I shake my head but groan as the world tilts and spins. Jude eases me back down on the bed but keeps his arm around me when I sway to the left.
“I don’t want to go to your place. I want my bed, my home.”
He sits down beside me and kisses the side of my head. “You can’t be alone for a few days, doll. Someone needs to keep an eye on you until you’re steadier on your stems.”
I make a fat pout and I know I’m being childish but I want my little studio where I feel safe. “I have a friend who can come stay with me. Stella will watch me. Please, Jude, I just want to go home.”
I feel big fat tears start to slide down my face and I hate them but can’t seem to stop them either. I’m always a hot mess after I have a reaction but this one seemed so much worse than any I had before. It’s only happened twice before and the doctor did tell me that each time I have a reaction it can get increasingly severe but this one happened so fast and I’m really shaken by it.
Jude wipes away my tears with a frown and kisses both my cheeks. “Okay, angel. We’ll take you home but only if you let me stay. Please, Savy, you have to let me take care of you. I almost lost my mind when you went down. I need to hold on to you for at least a few more days.”
I’m too tired to argue so I let my head slump against his chest as the world spins around me again and goes black.
“What the hell happened here? The whole street is blocked off.”
Tate’s annoyed tone has me peeling my eyes open in the back seat of his car. I reach up to straighten my glasses so I can see what’s happening and almost poke my eye out when I find them not on my face.
“Easy, darlin’. I have them right here for you.”
I blink up at Beck who I’m pressed against and sigh. I can’t seem to get away from these boys. He slides my glasses on but another wave of dizziness has me closing my eyes again to stop the spin.
“Savy, baby girl? Wake up for a sec. I need you to tell me what your apartment number is so I can run in and pack a bag for you.”
I huff out a whine. “No, Jude said I can go home. Please take me home.”
Jude’s hand cups my face and I know it’s his even though my eyes are still closed because of the warm rings that rub over my skin.
“I know I did, sweetheart, but there was a gas leak in your building last night that destroyed a couple floors. I just talked to the police. Everything is blocked off and they’re only letting people in to grab some belongings. Tell me your apartment number, doll.”
I think I mumble the number out because a car door slams. Beckett wraps me up in his cinnamon warmth and I think I’m mad at him but snuggle deeper against his warmth anyway because it feels so good, so safe there.
“I know you are, Peaches, and you should be pissed at me but I’m going to make it up to you,” he tells me so I guess I said that out loud.
The car door slams again jarring me but then the engine starts and the hum of the tires on pavement puts me right back to sleep.
I drag my heavy eyelids open and try and focus but I’m not wearing my glasses again so everything is blurry. My mind feels clearer as I search my memories and the last thing I remember is waiting to leave the hospital. Jude said he’d take me home but these aren’t my sheets I’m laying on. I roll over and squint my eyes and spot a blur that looks like a pair of glasses so I reach out and snag them and slide them on. Judging by my surroundings, I’m in Jude’s bedroom. Definitely NOT home.
I sit up and feel incredibly achy and sore and see a glass of water with two pills next to it on the nightstand. I recognize the antihistamine tablets and know I should take them. This isn’t my first rodeo, just the most severe. I drain the water after swallowing the pills and it hits my empty stomach with a gurgle. The time on the clock means nothing to me until I look out the window and see darkness. Okay, seven at night then but what day is it? Only one way to find out so I push to my feet and take in the boxer shorts and hoody I’m wearing but have to brace a hand back on the bed as the room shifts slightly. Somebody changed my clothes and I’d like to say I care but, nope. My hair falls into my face when I glance down at the clothes so I wind it up into a bun and then head for the door.
I can hear the TV on downstairs so I head that way, clutching at the handrail when a small dizzy spell comes calling. I must make a noise because Ash darts into view at the bottom of the stairs with a concerned expression.
“Hey! You shouldn’t be on your feet yet. The doctor said no stairs on your own for at least a few days.”
I ignore him completely because, because he’s an asshole, right, and slide down to the next step.
“Dammit, Savy!”
And then he’s stomping up the stairs and swinging me off my feet which doesn’t help the mild dizziness at all.
“You could have fallen and broken your neck. You should have called out for one of us.”
I roll my eyes his way and shoot him a look over my glasses. “Well, that would have solved your “she’s in my space” problem,” I mutter sarcastically.
