Untimely Love (Book 3)

♤Chapter 30♤

We waited for hours. More people came in and out of the waiting room, one or two other accidents brought in a couple and a little boy who needed immediate assistance. Outside of that there was a desert in the space between all of us.

At the same time, it could be my head making it out to be that way. There were conversations and Charlotte and my mother had stepped into the hallway to talk at some point. Neither of those lasted very long though. In the silence, I felt eyes constantly on me, but I never looked up from the ground to meet them.

I only glanced up to check the clock on the wall behind the receptionist at the front of the room. It was a little past two. Four hours. It shouldn't be taking this long.

Clasping my shaking hands together, I shoved them between my thighs and squeezed, temporarily forgetting my injured wrist. Hissing, I eased up and clutched my swollen hand gently. A thick lump sat under my skin where it was swollen, pressing against my pulse and making it throb painfully. Not to mention it had started to bruise; dark blue, pink, and purple mixed where I felt the pain the most.

All I needed was some ice when I got home.

I'd been too caught up in my head that I didn't hear his name, only understood what was happening when everyone stood and Charlotte rushed forward to meet the woman in the white coat.

I stood a few feet behind the crowd, hardly hearing what the doctor was saying. When I felt the collective exhale from them all, I tilted my head back in relief, blinking rapidly to clear my blurring vision. He's fine. I didn't know how fine exactly, but I knew he was alive and that's what mattered over everything.

What I did hear, tacked on at the end of the conversation, was "He's sleeping and will be for a while. Until then, only family is allowed in the room, two at a time."

I heard Sean say, "I'm kicking his ass for scaring me like that."

"We will henceforth address this period in time as 'the event slash incident of Christian '19''," Thion said dramatically, smiling proudly. "You know... cause Christmas and Christian, he's nineteen and it's twenty ninet- I'm a genius, y'all get it." He waved off their confused and amused stares.

When the doctor left, Charlotte turned toward everyone. "All of you go home." She held her hand up at the protests that came after and they died almost immediately. "You've been waiting here for hours. Christian's going to be fine, head home, freshen up, eat—whatever you need to do and I'll let you all know when he's awake."

Reluctantly, they looked at each other and began filing toward the exit with low conversations. The girl from before, I didn't know her name, nodded at Charlotte who returned the gesture and squeezed her shoulder.

My chest burned watching the exchange. They knew each other.

My gaze dropped to the ground and I stared blankly at the tiles for a second. Then turned to my mom who was next to me.

"We should go," I muttered.

"You sure?"

I didn't expect her to ask. She wasn't fond of Chris, especially not after everything, so I knew she'd been here mostly for me. As much as she didn't like him, I'm sure she didn't want him dead either. I guessed the same could go for his mom. They only wanted what was best for their kids; Chris and I weren't looking too good for each other right now.

He'd been following me out that door. If I wasn't so hung up on how she touched him- how he looked at her...

He wouldn't be in here if it wasn't for me.

I glanced at the door where the last of the group disappeared. "I might have to still go to work." I wasn't sure if the plant shop was open but I hoped it was. I needed the distraction for at least an hour. Even though I was relieved he was okay, I was still worried, but I knew I wasn't welcome anywhere near him. I got the news so I should go.