Liability (Suncoast Society #33)(72)

Mason had a CT scan that afternoon, Tilly reported, and the good news was that it did look like the swelling was starting to marginally decrease. But Mason still needed to stay in the ICU for now.

Mason’s mom and stepdad weren’t there, but his dad and Tilly were. Tilly greeted them with a hug when they walked into the waiting room. “Hey. No change.”

“Is that bad?” Kim asked.

“It’s…expected,” Tilly said. “This is a healing process at this point. As long as he doesn’t have any infections or other complications, it’s just waiting for Mason’s body to do its own thing and heal.”

She walked back with them to Mason’s bed. Kim briefly closed her eyes and swallowed hard when she saw his face, his bruises in stark contrast to his pale skin.

The anger—rage that washed through her.

This isn’t fair.

They were happy. They had everything they wanted, and more.

They had Mason.

What right did that guy have to think he could try to take Mason from them?

Tilly rested a hand on Kim’s shoulder. “You okay?”

Kim shook her head before opening her eyes.

It wasn’t a nightmare. It was real, and it was their life for the foreseeable future.

“PT came by today and—”

“PT?” Cole asked.

“Physical Therapy,” Tilly clarified. “Sorry. Force of habit. They came in today to evaluate him. There are exercises we can start doing for him to keep him from having as many issues…”

Kim and Cole both paid attention as Tilly unhooked the air-activated boots that covered Mason’s feet and lower legs, like large blood pressure cuffs. Then she showed them how to manipulate, stretch, and move his legs and feet without jiggling him too much. Exercises that should be done ideally several times a day.

“And the good news is that hopefully in a few days they’ll be moving him into a different ICU section. He’ll be stepped down from there based on how he does. Right now, he needs the ICU monitoring because of the skull fracture and swelling. But when they move him, you’ll be able to spend more time with him then.”

Kim studied Cole’s face. Not only did he bear deep lines around his eyes, around his sweet mouth, but he looked as heartbroken as she felt. And, of course, she knew he was.

“Thank you for all your help, Tilly,” Kim said as she put the boots back on Mason under Tilly’s watchful eye. “We couldn’t have gotten through this without you.”

“Well, I have to go back out to LA next week, so I want to do as much as I can while I can. But I’m a phone call or text away. If something happens you don’t understand, call me, day or night, and put me on the phone with whoever it is and I’ll talk to them for you. Seriously, any time of day or night.”

It was nearly midnight by the time they left the hospital. Mason’s dad had left earlier, as had Tilly.

“We never ate dinner,” Cole said.

“I think there’s still leftovers in Master’s—” Her jaw snapped shut on that, trying to seal the choked sob inside her and not let it out.

Cole reached over and patted her thigh, squeezing. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Call him Master.”

“I’m torn between feeling numb and feeling shredded inside.” Her hand found his and she laced fingers with him.

“I know. Me, too.”

When they returned to Mason’s condo, they fixed a quick dinner together and then collapsed into bed. She’d brought Mason’s pillows back with her from her place.

“I love you,” she whispered against Cole’s chest. “I never want to forget to say that to you in case it’s the last thing I ever get to say to you.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I love you, too, sweetheart. And ditto. But you’re not allowed to go dying on me and Mason or anything.”

She snuggled even closer. “Neither are you.”





Chapter Twenty-Eight


Wednesday night, Cole was at Mason’s bedside in the ICU when they came to take him for another CT scan. Cole had already made Kim go back to Mason’s, the exhaustion and the stress wearing on her in a painfully palpable way.

He couldn’t deal with his own pain and hers, so he’d somehow faked a “masterly” tone to order her to get some sleep. Corbin had dropped her off on his way home.

Now Cole was alone with Mason.

Well, except for the medical staff.

“Can I go with him for the scan?” he’d asked the nurse.

She offered him a kindly smile. She’d been the nurse on duty when Mason had been admitted to the ICU after surgery. “Sure. Come on.”

Cole followed along to radiology, even helping transfer Mason to the machine, and standing back in the control room with most of the staff.

“Can you tell if there are any differences?” he asked as they finished up the scans.

The nurse touched his hand and gave him another of those smiles. “They can, but they’re not allowed to. We’ll hear from his doctor. I’ll make sure to page the on-call to see if we can get a reading sooner than in the morning.”

“Thanks.”

Cole helped get Mason transferred back to his bed, which they’d rolled him in down to the radiology department. It was over an hour later when a doctor about Cole’s own age walked in with a laptop and closed the door behind him.