A Fire That Burns (30 page)

Chapter Fifty-Four

TYLER
had never been a martyr
– except when it came to Austin. He would become her greatest hero and pray
that he did it right. He stuck his neck on the line to make Michael see sense,
but even that had been futile seeing as Michael got in the car with Austin’s
other colleagues and disappeared back to New York.

Austin had taken that hard. Even though she put a smile on and carried
on with life, Tyler read her best and stepped in to protect her from that hurt.
Even with his disappointment in Michael gaining momentum, Tyler still remained
devil’s advocate and sang the man’s praises.

Then Michael had arrived just after Austin had gone down for her new
surgery. He hadn’t left, not even when Tyler had been granted to go and see
Austin post-op. He stuck by like a good best friend and still stayed here.

Now, with Austin waking up, the two men formed a happy alliance to stick
well by Austin’s side.

“Hey,” she croaked as she saw Michael sitting in the chair by her
bedside. “You’re supposed to be on the other side of the country,” she commented
as she became adjusted to the post-op buzz of the
anesthetics
and drugs. The rush from the mixture of narcotics wasn’t helping her much as
she saw Michael sitting next to Tyler.

“I thought my best friend needed me,” Michael admitted softly and leaned
in.

Austin’s eyes began to water at that, “You don’t mean that.”

“Course I do,” Michael defied her claim. “I lied to you once and it cost
me a lot. I don’t want to lose what I can have with you. I love you too much to
let you think I hate you. I was letting my ego and pride work overtime, and in
doing exactly that, I hurt you. I know you love me, and I now know you love me
enough to give me someone that will love me completely. The way I know you love
Tyler.”

He watched as Austin was overcome with emotions and he knew he had to
change the subject or she ran the chance of becoming a little unstable - both
medically and emotionally.

“Right now, it’s not about me,
Aust
,” he told
her with a smile and exchanged a look with Tyler. “It’s about your recovery and
getting you back on track.” He looked to Tyler and smiled. “We want our Austin
back.”

“One that doesn’t cry daily or one that doesn’t think she’s not worthy
of love now,” Tyler pointed out and he saw that Austin was disbelieving of
that. Leaning forward, Tyler reached up and took her hand in his, “Before the
fire you cried too much, and since then you’ve kept a piece of you locked down,
Sunny. You give me your all, but as soon as you’ve done that you withdraw like
it was a mistake.”

Austin was quiet for a moment, “I don’t mean to.”

“I know you don’t, Baby, but you seem to forget that I love you and only
you and I don’t care if you come scar free or with battle wounds,” Tyler told
her with a warm smile as he slipped his hand into hers. “I don’t care about the
scars that you’re worried about, Aus, they don’t change you in the slightest. I
think I can have Michael vouch for me here that not seeing your brightest smile
is what changes you most.”

“Oh yeah,” Michael nodded vigorously as he agreed fiercely with it. “But
I think we’ve now done enough to tire you out.”

“I’m really not sleepy,” Austin reported back, denying them the right to
dominant her into resting.

Tyler rose a brow, “And the pain?” he asked her simply. Tyler had sat
and watched Austin intently. He had already seen her expression when she had
first woken up, and he knew she was putting on a good poker face to hide the
pain that she was in with the new incision to help her healing process.

“She’s in pain,” Michael answered in her silence.

“I’m really not in pain,” she retorted in the same manner.

Michael laughed as he watched her get caught in a simple lie, “Of course
not.”

“You know the deal, Baby,” Tyler told her with a calm smile. “You get to
sleep a lot, take a heap load of drugs, and then you get to go home once the
doctor’s fully satisfied.”

“If you loved me you’d help me escape,” Austin grumbled at him
unhappily. “You know I hate being held up in this place.”

“Just a couple of days, Aus,” Tyler responded with a grin. “Now behave.”

“Or what?”
She bit back and looked up with tease filling her sleepy eyes.

Tyler leaned in, “Or I’ll just have to tie you to the bed.”

Austin smirked and exhaled a laugh, “Seems like a prior experience to
me.”

“Behave,” Tyler chided her as he kissed her gently. “We’ve
gotta
head home, but we’ll be back first thing.” he told
her hesitantly. He watched her nod as she was finally slipping into slumber and
he was happy just to see her resting and relaxed. “I love you, Austin Pearson.”

“I love you more,” Austin managed in an almost inaudible voice.

Tyler took a moment to lavish looking at Austin as she slept
comfortably. He knew he wanted a life with her, he knew he wanted it
immediately, but he was well aware that Austin might not be ready to jump the
gun and give herself to him wholly.

“C’mon, Tyler,” Michael called from behind him. “Let her get some
sleep.”

Turning back hesitantly, Tyler looked at Michael, “You’re right. I just
hate leaving her here of all places.”

“Makes the two of us,” Michael confided strongly in Tyler and gave a
supportive grin. “You need rest too. It’s been a long day for us all.”

Tyler couldn’t argue, and he knew that Austin would kill him if he
didn’t keep in top form. “We’re coming back first thing though,” Tyler
countered his side of this deal.

“Thought as much,” Michael kidded, and then allowed Tyler one last look
at Austin before pulling him home for the night.

***

Austin was laying awake that next day, her mind was a
live wire with how life would roll out now that she would have both Tyler and
Michael in her life. It had been the first thought beckoned forward the moment
her eyes had opened.

She thought about Tyler’s words the day before. She might have barely
seen the day, but when she had him there loving her, supporting her like
always, and when her mind was filled with self-doubts and hating on her scars,
he was the one that stopped them and made her see sense.

Even though she knew that Michael was there for that too, Tyler’s
attempts were much more comforting. Her feelings towards Michael hadn’t
entirely iced over, and she realized what she felt were platonic ebbs compared
to what she felt when she looked and thought about Tyler.

This was a poignant milestone in her life; one that she knew would be
the sealant to everything. She had them both here with her, looking after her,
and she knew that as long as Michael wasn’t here under any form of a lie, or
guise, they would be fine.

After everything that’s happened, what if Michael was here under false
pretenses
to worm his way back in and win her over? What if
he was here to break her and
Ty-

“Well I didn’t think my sunny girl would be quite this awake,” Tyler
interrupted her doubts, his body relaxed as he leaned against the doorframe of
the room and watched her.
 
He smiled
brightly at her as she looked at him and gave him a sleepy smirk. “Morning,
Gorgeous,” he said as he entered, giving her one of his warm welcomes.

“I’ll show you a good morning, Handsome,” she chirped back against her
dry throat. Her thoughts instantly dissolved into mush on the floor as she
looked at Tyler and knew that nothing would tear them apart now. She found it
astonishing that she was laid up in a hospital bed, wires and tubes wrapping
around her to make her look weaker than ever, and yet, her spirit was shining
bright.

“That beautiful smile just gave me that already,” Tyler told her and
approached her bed to give her a kiss on the lips.
“How you
feeling?”

“Better,” she mused lightly, “My arm doesn’t hurt like it has been so
I’m guessing the op worked.”

“I definitely say that is a good sign,” he replied with a confident
smile. “Just
gotta
get you back home now.”

“Sounds like heaven,” Austin offered back a bigger smile and then looked
around the room. “Where’s Michael?” Austin pondered as she wondered why Tyler
had turned up alone. She could tell from just the one time she was awake that
the pair of them had formed a new alliance, one that enabled them to be
friends, best guy buddies at least, and be there for her how they both needed to
be.

“He’s just parking the car,” Tyler told her with a smile. “Told me to
come and get our
favorite
girl up.”

    
“And here I was, already up,”
Austin replied with a wink. “Now what is the deal, because I can’t deal with
you two arguing and fighting
anymore.
”

“No more fights, no more animosity,” Tyler said as he sat on her bed
putting his hands up to show his defeat and that a new change had occurred. “He
understands your choice, and I understand it too. I know you love him, but
you’re in love with me, and I understand that you want him in your life, I
wouldn’t expect it differently. He now sees that too, and he recognizes that
you did him a good deed by setting him,” Tyler scrunched his nose at this term,
“
Free
.” He saw Austin laugh at that, “He just realizes that you want
what’s best for him and he wants the same for you without losing you.”

“Good,” Austin replied and relaxed with a satisfied grin. “That’s what
keeps a girl happy.”

“That’s all you’re
gonna
hear,” Tyler told her
honestly and leaned in. “Now I hear you didn’t try to escape during the night,”
Tyler teased her and he watched her smirk, her eyes glinting with undying
tease.

“I’m not going far as long as my arm’s like this,” she joked, while
being serious at the same time. She looked to her arm as it lay heavily
bandaged for the moment. The bandage was worse than before, making it
impossible for Austin to use her arm, but she guessed it was all part of her
recovery and she just knew soon she’d get her arm free again. “I’m trapped
here.”

Tyler placed his hand on the other side of Austin’s body, and watched
her intently, “I’m amazed right now.”

“With?”
Austin asked cautiously. Her mind panicked over what he was going on
about. “I don’t see anything amazing right now.”

Smirking, Tyler watched her innocence, “You’re beautiful,” he said
simply to her and watched her face light up with tender surprise. “Even when
you’re not feeling on top of the world, you just never lose that smile.” He
went silent after that, his heart thrumming in his chest harshly.

“Tyler?” Austin asked out to him, her free hand moving to his face so he
had to look at her. “Where did your head go?” she continued to ask him as she
noticed the sudden rush of emotions in his face. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s stupid,” Tyler told her.
And you’ve heard it
all
before
,
his thoughts sneered up at him.

“
Don’t be ridiculous, talk
to me,” she pushed
him lightly, her worry becoming clear in her tone. “You don’t get to shut down
on me, Tyler Armstrong.”

Tyler smiled at her then, a light appreciative grin. “I just get a
little shot of reality every now and again and I realize that you were always
right.”

“With what?” she asked with elated confusion. She knew the two emotions
shouldn’t have been together, but she couldn’t separate her happiness at having
him here, and feeling confused at what he was hinting at.

“Knowing that everything happens for a reason,” he finalized and looked
at her. “I had to lose the best thing in my life to gain it all back, and
sometimes reality catches up on me and tells me again that I might have messed
up, but I got my life back.”

Austin smiled bright, about to speak up when she noticed a new presence
around them.

“Not interrupting
am
I?” Michael asked as he
entered the room.

Austin tore her attention from Tyler, her smile still illuminating her
face, “Hey you!” she chirped at him happily.
“Was starting to
get worried.”

Smiling awkwardly, Michael walked in and gave her a kiss before backing
up. “Parking was a nightmare,” he told them and looked at the pair of them. “Do
you want me to leave and come back in a minute or two?”

“Nah,” Tyler started and gave Austin a wink, “
Just
having
a little chat. Nothing that can’t be continued later when you
head off to find the car again and I do want a
long
goodbye.”

Austin giggled, “I like enduringly long goodbyes. Just as much as I love
those long kisses in the rain.” she closed her eyes against the memory, “
Mmm
,” she sounded and opened her eyes, “Or long showers
when the water goes from hot to freezing before you get out.”