Enjoy Your Stay (13 page)

“Hi.” I shake her hand, noticing how satiny smooth her skin is in comparison to mine, then I stand up, because it feels weird being so close to him when his ex is right in front of me. My cardi falls away from my waist and she looks down, taking in my swollen belly.

“Oh, you’re … you’re pregnant.” Chelcie’s not being snide; at least, I don’t think she is. She seems genuinely surprised. “Jack didn’t mention that.”

“Yeah, twenty-one weeks.” I grab the cardigan, and pull it tightly around my stomach, feeling even more self-conscious than I already was.

“Wow, that’s … really great. Congratulations,” she says. Her brow furrows, and she swallows hard, and clears her throat. Then she eases past, placing the orchids on the shelf to the left of his bed.

Chelcie stares down at him, and a tear rolls down her face.
Of course her mascara doesn’t run the way mine does. Oh, no, she probably planned ahead and wore waterproof so her perfect face wouldn’t look as though she was imitating a panda.

Goddamn it, be nice, Holly.

I force the frown from my face, and shove the nasty thoughts to the depths of my black soul. I know she’s probably feeling a thousand different emotions right now, because I feel them every time I look at him, too.

“What happened to him? Ana mentioned a crash?”

“You spoke to Ana?” I try not to sound accusatory, but I’m not gonna lie, it annoys the shit out of me that this woman is here.

“Jack calls me every Saturday without fail. When he missed this week, I called the house. Ana said he was here.” She gazes down at him, and absentmindedly brushes the hair from his forehead. I clench my teeth, and fight like hell not to punch her in the vagina. Either she’s a mindreader or she just realised the way she’s touching her ex is wildly inappropriate, because she pulls her hand away like she just got burnt, and looks at me sheepishly.

“We were camping when he got bitten,” I bite out. “I was the one driving his car when we crashed.”

“I didn’t know you two were involved.”

“We’re complicated.”

She gives me a weak smile. “Would you mind if I visited alone with him? This is all just a lot to take in.”

“Yeah, of course. I have to go meet Ana in the parking lot, or she’s gonna start having conniptions.”

“Thank you.” She sits down in the chair I was just occupying, the one that’s still more than likely warm from my fat, pregnant arse. “It so nice to finally meet you, Holly. Good luck with the baby.”

“Thanks,” I say, and steal one last look at Jack before I walk away.

I
WAKE
with a start. The first thing I feel is my throat constricting around the tube that’s shoved down inside it. A machine beside me beeps wildly, and the noise slices through my pounding head. I cough and sputter, and reach up and to rip the tube from my mouth. But Chelcie’s removing my hand, and then a nurse is talking in my ear, trying to get me to calm down, and easing me back against the pillow.

I feel like I’m choking with this damn thing in my mouth. My stomach flips. My chest tightens as I gasp in panic. I blink, and then when I open my eyes again my tube is being pulled from my throat. I dry retch as it slides out, and vomit into the basin the nurse holds in front of me. I feel as if I’ve swallowed sandpaper, and I’m dizzy to the point of wanting to knock myself out again, just so I don’t have to deal with the mind-fuck.

I gotta say, waking up from a coma kinda tops my list of weird experiences in life. Well, that, and being bitten by one of Australia’s deadliest spiders, having my car totalled by a tiny redhead, and waking up to find my ex-fiancé keeping watch beside my hospital bed. I catch sight of her standing against the wall, out of the way of the swarm of hospital staff that are milling around checking vitals, taking blood.

Hi
,
she mouths with a sad smile.

The corner of my mouth turns up in about as much of a smile as I can muster. I blink, and when I open my eyes again a smoking hot doc is shining her little penlight in my face, and ordering the nurse beside me to have someone run a CT scan. There’s a million different wires running from all parts of my body, tubes and electrodes, and all I want is to have them off, have them out of me.

“Sir, I’m Dr Ryder, can you tell me your name?” the doc asks.

“J …” I begin, and have to clear my throat because it hurts like a motherfucker. “Jackson Rowe.”

“Good. Do you know where you are, Jackson?”

“Holly,” I grunt as the doc flashes the light in my eyes again, and has me follow her fingers. “Where is she?”

“Mr Rowe, you’re in the hospital—”

“Yeah, no shit.” I lift my arm to pinch the bridge of my nose, but several different wires get tangled up, and I yank at them in frustration before the Doc places her hand on my bicep and eases it back down on the bed.

“I know this must be very disorientating for you, Mr Rowe. I’ll try to make this brief. Do you remember what brought you here?”

“Yeah, a big, fucking-scary spider,” I say, and watch as the doc processes my anger. I flop my head back against pillow, which makes it hurt even more, and decide to play nice, despite the panic rising like bile in my gut. “The redhead that totalled my car. She was pregnant. Where is she? Did the baby make it?”

Chelcie moves closer to the bed, and places her tiny hand over mine. “Holly was released this afternoon.”

“I have to see her.” I sit up, and attempt to pull the IV from my wrist. Doc looks like she’s about to pitch a fit. She starts harping on about me moving too soon, and how they won’t hesitate to restrain me if they have to, and then she stomps her expensive-looking shoes out into the corridor to bark orders at more people.

My aching head begins spinning, so I don’t struggle when the nurse eases me back against the pillow. I don’t have the strength. I just pray like hell that they’re not lying. I silently plead with Chelcie, even though I shouldn’t. Even though I know she’s still not over our break-up, even though I know it hurts her to see me like this over Holly. I feel like an arsehole, but I have to know if Hols is okay, and I know Chelcie would never lie to me.

“Jack, Holly’s fine. You need to concentrate on you right now.” She smiles, but it’s full to bursting with sorrow. I know she’s trying not to let it bother her, but I also know Chelcie. If you’ve ever broken someone’s heart—really torn it to shreds, and hate yourself for it—then you’ll know how I feel when I look at her. I wish it had been enough. I wish I’d wanted the same things she wanted.

I nod, but even that hurts. Closing my eyes, I turn my palm up on the mattress. Chelcie places her hand in mine, and I squeeze it as tightly as I can muster. “What are you doing here, Chelc?”

“Making sure you didn’t kick the bucket without saying goodbye.” She laughs, but then her expression turns into a tight-lipped grimace. “I called your house when I didn’t hear from you on Saturday. You scared the crap out of me, Jack.”

I give her a lazy smile. “Sorry.”

She squeezes my hand. “So, what’s going on with you and the pretty redhead? She’s awfully young, Jack.”

“We’re just friends.”

“Jack, were you and Holly ever just friends?

I grimace when a nurse jabs my arm with a needle. “Friends with benefits.”

“That’s a lot for a pregnant woman to deal with, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know. It was fine. We were fine, and then something changed. Now I don’t know what to do. I think I just fucked everything up, Chelc.”

“I don’t know about that …” She begins, but the rest is lost to my ears on account of the sexy-as-fuck redhead walking toward us. Holly’s wearing a floaty summer dress that’s just a little too tight across her perfect rack, and she walks along with her head bowed. As she gets closer to my room, she glances up. Her jade-green eyes meet mine through the window. Her face contorts with surprise, and something close to pain, and then she lets out a sharp, slightly hysterical laugh of relief and throws her head back. If the sound of the ECG machine weren’t beeping out a relentless reminder, I’d think I had just flatlined.
Jesus Christ. Am I in love with Holly Fucking-Make-My-Life-A-Living-Hell Harris?

Holly comes running through the doorway, but stops short when she eyes my hand tucked into Chelcie’s. She frowns, and moves out of the way of the nurse exiting with vials of my blood for testing. Chelcie draws her hand from mine, and rests it in her lap.

“You’re awake?” Holly says, as though she doesn’t quite believe it. There are a thousand different emotions all playing on her face right now. It’s as if she’s having trouble settling on one. I think we’re somewhere between jealous She-Hulk and outright ecstasy—two of my favourite Holly Harris traits.

“I am.” I smile up at her. Seeing her is both good, and awkward as fuck. Does she remember what I said in the car? Did she say anything in return? I don’t remember much of the drive, just feeling like I had to tell her how I felt before I died, and then the sound of metal folding in on itself in the crash that followed. Fuck, this is weird. I chew my lip and make out like it’s not this fucking awkward. “How you doin’, Mamma? How’s the baby?”

“Good. We’re good.” She holds a hand over her stomach. It seems like her belly’s grown in the time that I’ve been out.

“That’s good,” I say, as I stare at her in awe. Chelcie makes a startled little sound, half way between a gasp and a sigh. I feel like a complete fuck-stick, because it’s the first time I remember she’s in the room since Holly came bounding in. “Shit, sorry, Chelc have you met Holly?”

“We met yesterday while you were taking a nap, Jackarse,” Holly says, and then looks at Chelcie for the first time since she walked in. “So I guess you guys have some catching up to do, huh? I’ll leave you to it.”

“Hols, you don’t mind hanging around so Chelcie can follow you home, do you?”

“Why would she need—”

“She’s gonna stay with us for a few days.”

“I am?” Chelcie asks.

At the same time, Holly says, “She is?”

I glance between the two of them and try my best to shrug, but my misused body’s not really on board with that, so I just flop my head back, and talk to the ceiling, “Course. Motels in this town suck arse, and I’ll be home in a few days. It’ll be good to catch up.”

Holly looks about ready to gut someone. I smile, because the fact that she might be jealous is fucking hilarious, considering the epiphany I just had
.
I really do want to catch up with Chelcie, though, and it has nothing to do with the idea of making Hols green with envy. I might not be interested in bending Chelcie over the bed and screwing her every which way from Sunday, but she’s family. I’d like to spend a little more than five minutes talking to her without the beep of a heart monitor in my ear. Seems like a long way to come without getting to spend some quality time with one another.

Holly folds her arms over her chest, and heads for the door. “Well, there’s an entire line of people here to see you, and we’re already pushing our luck with the nurses, so I’ll be down stairs in the cafeteria drinking non-coffee when you’re finished catching up on old times.”

“Thanks, Holly,” Chelcie says ruefully, and I can already see how much she hates this idea, though she’s too polite to turn me down. Even now.

Holly turns at the door, and gives me a weak smile. “I’m glad you finally woke up. Next time, maybe do it a little earlier, so you don’t have us all picking out a casket large enough to fit your arse in, okay?”

“Hols?” I say, before she can leave. “We should talk.”

“Later, Spiderman. Your fans are getting angsty.”

And she leaves without looking back.