This One Moment (Pushing Limits, #1)(12)
“How about your head?” the nurse asked.
“Especially my head.”
“Let me adjust your pain meds.”
“What about how she can’t remember the attack or what happened for several days before it?” Nolan asked. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the worry in his tone. He didn’t have the right to be worried about me. He’d forfeited that right after giving me the silent treatment for years.
That was what I kept telling myself, but deep in my bones I knew that was a lie. He’d come back. For me. He hadn’t forgotten about me after all.
I smiled inwardly and let my thoughts drift to how it would feel to kiss him again. To really kiss him. Despite the pain plaguing my body, a different kind of ache tormented me at the thought of that kiss.
“Sorry, the drugs won’t help her there,” the nurse said. “But the physician on call will be here soon to check her out.” To me she said, “Is there anything else you need?”
“Water, please.”
She grabbed the pitcher from the nightstand beside my bed and went into what I guessed was the bathroom. She returned shortly after and filled the plastic glass next to where the pitcher had been. After adjusting my bed so I was partially sitting, she handed me the glass. I took the container with shaky hands and sipped the cold water through the straw. Nolan helped me hold the glass since my muscles weren’t quite ready to do this alone.
Once I’d had enough, he placed it on the metal nightstand, the nurse long since gone. “Thanks.”
He then lowered the side railing on the bed. Without asking me if it was okay, he sat on the small available space next to my legs. But he wasn’t close enough, in my opinion, and I subtly shifted my leg so it touched his hip. Despite the bedding and his jeans between us, his warmth seeped into my leg, and I sighed, the sound too soft to be heard by him.
I closed my eyes, fighting the urge to go to sleep. “I feel lost,” I mumbled. “What day is it?” I somehow managed to find the strength to open my eyes again.
“Tuesday. You’ve been in a coma since Friday.”
It took me a moment to register what he said. “Coma?” The word poured out slowly, like it was a foreign term I was trying to wrap my brain around. “Who…attacked me?”
“I don’t know. The police don’t know either. Can you think of any reason why you’d be in Westgate?”
I shuddered at the name. I only knew the place by reputation. It was the part of town good girls like me never went to. “Westgate? Why…why would I be there?” I said, more to myself than to Nolan. He clearly knew as little as I did. My gaze jerked back to him. “I still don’t get why you’re here, Nolan.”
Pain flickered across his gorgeous face, but it vanished so quickly that maybe I’d imagined it. I kept staring at him, afraid that if I blinked, I’d wake up for real and he’d be gone.
Not that it mattered if he did disappear. It wasn’t like he’d be sticking around. He had no need to. His life wasn’t here. It was in L.A., with his band, and with his new girlfriend, Alyssa Graham. Those two were perfect together, as the media loved reminding me every chance they got.
“When Brandon told me you were in a coma,” Nolan said, “I got scared. I was afraid I’d never see you again.”
I laughed, the sound slightly bitter even if the attempt to laugh had been weak. Pain slashed my ribs at the movement, and I cringed. I’d been hurt plenty of times during soccer games, but I’d never hurt this much. And I was sure that if it hadn’t been for the drugs pumping through my system, I’d be hurting a lot more than I currently did.
The frown was back on Nolan’s face, the deep lines on his forehead peeking through his bangs. I craved to smooth away those lines and brush his hair out of his warm chocolate-brown eyes. A girl could get lost in those eyes, and many already had.
“Why would you be…scared you’d never…see me again?” I asked. “You haven’t exactly…made a lot of effort to…see me as it is.” The bitterness from my laugh had moved over to my words. I hadn’t meant for them to come out that way. Guess the drugs were more powerful than I realized. The truth serum of emotions.
Well, if that was true, I’d have to work super hard at making sure Nolan didn’t figure out how I really felt about him. That’d be the last thing he’d want to hear.
Nolan looked away, his gaze landing on the window. From my vantage point, all I could see was the crisp late-fall sky, blue and almost cloud free. I couldn’t even tell if there was new snow on the ground. The last I remembered, it had been in the forecast.
“I’m sorry, Hailey.” His gaze returned to me, and the sexy one-sided smile crept back onto his face. And once again the stupid heart rate monitor proudly announced the effect that his smile had on me. Seriously, heart, don’t you have something better to do?
“I know I’ve been an *,” Nolan continued, and no way was I arguing against that. “I should’ve at least answered your texts and let you know I was okay. I figured you were better off without me in your life, and as selfish as it sounds, I wanted a new start. I couldn’t do that if I kept in contact with people here. I wanted to forget this town. I wanted to forget everything about it.”
Part of that I could understand. And part of it was a lie. “You kept in contact with Brandon.” If he claimed he only kept in contact with Brandon because Brandon was his best friend, I’d nail him on the side of his head with my pillow.