Even lose her.
“Megan, someone threatened you tonight.” Her eyes widen, and I see I’ve got her attention. “I found a note in my locker from a stalker fan. She said that she’d seen us together, and if I didn’t stop seeing you, she’d hurt you. Then the next thing I know that asshat is pushing a mic in my face asking me about you. I couldn’t tell the truth and risk your safety.”
She frowns in confusion, and her eyes are still hurt, and it’s killing me.
“Babe, I’m so sorry that you got hurt. I don’t ever want to hurt you. But I panicked, and I didn’t know what else to do.”
“You embarrassed me, Will. I know I’m not anyone special. I know that you shouldn’t be interested in someone like me. We are from two totally different worlds. Maybe it’s just best if we take a step back and stop seeing each other now before you completely break my heart later.”
“Stop putting yourself down like that! I’m more than interested in you. For the love of Jesus, I can’t stop touching you. I’m not going to break your heart, Megan.” Goddamn it! She’s breaking my heart right now!
“Oh yeah, you will.” She shakes her head slightly and backs out of my grasp. “It’s inevitable. People don’t stick, Will. Everyone leaves eventually, and I think that I’d rather you left now rather than later, because I don’t think I could survive it later.” The last part is whispered, and I take a step toward her to hold her and reassure her that I’ll do everything in my power to never hurt her again, but she evades me.
“Please,” she whispers. “Just go.”
Well, I’ll be damned if I’m going to stand here and beg. I take a moment to look at her. Really look at her. God, she’s so strong and sweet and gorgeous and she is mine.
“I’ll go, Meg, if that’s what you want.” I take her face in my hands and kiss her forehead, breathing in her sweet smell, her wet hair against my nose. “You are not a dirty secret,” I murmur into her ear. “You are everything.”
Before I make an ass of myself and beg her to forgive me, I walk out of her house, gently close the door behind me, and climb in the car to drive home. Fuck.
Chapter Twelve
You are everything.
It just plays over and over in my head all day. You are everything.
I picked up the swing-shift at work today. I needed to occupy my mind and I wanted to check in on Nick. He’s worse. Much worse. His family has chosen to honor his wishes of no extreme life-saving measures, so we just keep him as comfortable as we can and pray that his body is strong enough to fight the infection. Unfortunately, because of the amount of chemo in his system, he’s not strong enough to fight much.
I’ve spent the majority of my evening watching his vitals like a hawk and standing vigil. I don’t want him left alone for long. He’s so fragile, anything could happen so quickly, we need to be with him pretty much every second.
“Meg, there’s a call for you.” Jill pokes her head into Nick’s room and offers me a sad smile. Nick’s turn for the worse is affecting us all. “I’ll relieve you for a bit.”
We all invest ourselves into these kids, whether we want to or not. They’re all so great, how could we not?
I quietly leave the room and cross to the nurses’ station.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Meg, this is Lyle with security. I have a delivery for you.”
I frown. “Okay, bring it up.”
“I can’t, I’m the only one in the office right now. Do you mind coming down?”
“Sure, I’ll be right there.”
God, I’m tired. Bone tired. I didn’t sleep much at all last night after Will left. I kept replaying the conversation in my head over and over again. Asking him to leave was for the best. I need to put some space between us. I meant what I said, he’ll eventually come to his senses and break it off, or I’ll get sick of his arrogance and break it off, and why waste time on something that will end, most likely sooner rather than later?
Lyle is indeed the only guard in the security booth right now. The others must be on foot patrol. I walk up to the plexi-glass window and offer him a smile.
“Hey, Lyle. You have something for me?”
“Yeah, I’ll bring them out to you.”
Them?
Flowers. I should have known. Lyle comes walking out of the glass office with both his arms loaded down with gorgeous red flowers. Roses, peonies, poppies, calla lilies. All beautifully red.
Damn him.
I pull the white card out of the bouquet and rip it open. There is only one word:
Everything.
I take the flowers and ride the elevator back up to my floor and set the flowers in my office. I read the card again and then tuck it into the pocket of my scrub top and pat it in place. I’ll carry him with me tonight.
I pull out my phone and text him, one word: Beautiful.
Before I can put my phone back in my pocket, there is a response. Not as beautiful as you. Forgive me.
“Meg, come quick, something’s wrong.” One of the techs, Brandi, pokes her head in my office, her face ashen.
“Nick?” I ask, my stomach clenching in fear. She nods yes, and we run to his room. The monitors are beeping frantically, and his parents are huddled together in the corner of the room, crying.
“His lungs are failing,” Dr. Lee, a young and handsome doctor is urgently checking monitors and listening to Nick’s chest. He looks over at his parents, his eyes worried. “We need to intubate him.”