Rose In Bloom (32 page)

Sebastian

Two days after the attack, Lucas’ name finally pops up on my caller ID.

“Where the fuck are you?” I shout into the phone, prepared to give him a fucking piece of my mind. Skylar asks about him every freaking hour and I’ve run out of excuses and diversions. Harrison’s contact had confirmed that only one body had been recovered in the fire. Although there has not been an official announcement, the contact had said that it’s definitely Brandon. Knowing that, I am fucking pissed Lucas has waited this long to contact me.

“Is this Sebastian Thorne?” A female voice comes over the line.

Confused, I look back down at the phone to make sure I hadn’t seen that wrong. When I see that it is indeed Lucas’ number, I grow anxious.
Why is she using Lucas’ phone?

“Yes, I’m Sebastian Thorne. Who is this?”

“I’m calling from Seton Medical Center.”

“Seton Medical Center? I’m here now with my wife. Why are you calling from Lucas Drake’s phone? Is he looking for us?”

“No, Mr. Thorne, we have a male patient that was brought into our critical care unit the day before yesterday. He had no ID on him and the emergency workers managed to retrieve this phone from the accident. You were the last number on it and we were hoping you could help identify him so we can notify his family. You say his name is Lucas Drake?”

“Yes, well, I mean this phone number belongs to Lucas, but unless I was to see him, I wouldn’t be able to say for certain. I’ve been expecting to hear from him since the day before yesterday and haven’t been able to reach him. You said he was in an accident. Do you know what happened?”

“I’m afraid he was involved in a severe automobile accident. That is all I know. Would you be willing to see if you can confirm his identity?”

“Yes, of course. You say he’s in critical care. How is he doing?” I ask, making my way to the elevator.

“I’m afraid Mr. Thorne that, unless you’re family, I can’t speak to you about his condition.”

“What floor are you on? I’m on my way to the elevator now.”

“Critical care is on the ninth floor. If you come to the front desk, I will meet you there. My name is Katie.”

“I’m on my way up now,” I say, hanging up the phone and pressing the
9
button on the inside panel.

Critical care? This really doesn’t sound good.

I see a short brown haired girl with glasses at the desk, so I make my way to her.

“Katie?” I ask and she nods.

“I’m Mr. Thorne.”

“Yes, of course. Thank you for agreeing to do this, follow me, Mr. Thorne. We need to confirm the patient’s identity immediately.”

“You say he’s been here for two days now?”

“Yes, sir. The authorities tried tracing the registration of the car he was driving, but they came up empty handed. Since he had no ID on him when they brought him in, we have had no way of knowing who he was or how to contact his family.”

Swiping her badge, the doors open and we enter the critical care unit. Katie walks us to a nurses’ station where several men in white coats are standing, looking over some sort of chart.

“Dr. Morris, this is Mr. Thorne. He’s the name on the phone we retrieved for the man in Room 108. Hopefully he can help us identify the patient.”

“Hello, Mr. Thorne. We were just discussing the patient in question. Come with me, he’s in the last room down the hall. I’ll take you there myself.”

Nodding, I follow him back down the hall past several glass rooms where patients are currently occupying. When we reach Room 108, he opens the door and waves me inside. The chilly room is so dimly lit that I can barely see. However, as I move closer, I catch a glimpse of his upper face, and immediately, I know it’s Lucas.

Draping over the bed are tubes of all shapes and size, all of which attach his body to a machine. The large white accordion breathing tube covers most of his lower face. Stunned, I listen to the loud beep, and then the quiet swoosh of air being forced into his chest.

Dear Lord, this is bad.

“Mr. Thorne?” The doctor’s voice brings me out of my trance.

“Um, Yes. I’m sorry. This is all just a shock. I thought I’d be more prepared.”

“So it is your friend, then?”

Friend? I wouldn’t go that far. I owe him, though. He’d saved her and I will always be in debt to him for that.

“That’s definitely Lucas Drake. I can have my secretary send you a list of his family to contact if you like. I know they’ll want to know.”

“Certainly. I’m sure they will be thankful for that. You can just give Katie the information and she will contact them,” he says, ushering me out.

“Can I have just a minute with him alone?” I ask.

The doctor hesitates for a minute, but then nods.

“Yes, of course, but just for a minute. I’ll be just outside the door.”

I wait for him to leave before I make my way closer to Lucas. Flashbacks of seeing Skylar like this before sicken me.

How can so much horror have occurred to all of us?

I wait for the right words to come, but I don’t know what to say. Regardless of whether or not he can hear me, I need to thank him.

“Lucas, I don’t know if you can hear me or not, but I need to thank you for what you’ve done. You saved my family, and I can’t ever thank you enough for that. If you hadn’t been there… I’d have lost everything,” I say, choking up.

“Skylar and the baby are all right, but she won’t be able to handle it if she loses someone else she cares about. You have to fight through this for her, because she will never forgive herself if she didn’t get to thank you for what you’ve done.”

Turning to leave, I look back to him.

“Thank you, Lucas. Now fight.”

Exiting the room, I follow the doctor out of the unit. Before I leave to check on Skylar, I put them in touch with Sara to get the rest of the info on his family. I just wish I could do more to help, especially after everything he’s done.

Approaching her room, I stop and look at the people staring into the nursery. Dads smile, grandparents hug, and friends congratulate one another. I just hope and pray everything goes all right and that we’ll get this opportunity. I worry about keeping this from her. She’ll be so angry and I promised I’d never do it again. I just also know Dr. Lewis had said she didn’t need to be upset unnecessarily. It’s one reason the police haven’t been back to question her yet.

Her beaming smile greets me as I enter the room, but her smile quickly fades when she sees my face. It’s no use trying to hide this. This woman knows me all too well. She sees right through me.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s Lucas.”

“What? He doesn’t want to come see me?” she asks.

“No, baby. We’ve been trying to contact him since that day. He’s been in the ICU upstairs. They didn’t have an ID on him until just a little bit ago when I confirmed it. They’re trying to contact his family now.”

“What happened?” she says, covering her mouth in shock.

“Car accident. That’s all I know right now.”

“I have to go see him,” she says, throwing off the covers. “His mother will be beside herself.”

“No, not yet, Skylar. I can’t risk you getting upset and the contractions returning. I debated on telling you anything in the first place, but I know you need to know.”

“What if he doesn’t make it? After everything he did for me… for us, he can’t die. Why does everyone I care about get hurt because of me?”

“You know that isn’t true. Nothing that has happened has been your fault. You know Lucas would tell you the same thing,” I say, pulling her into my arms.

“I just want everything to be okay.”

“I know baby, me too. Me too.”

Skylar

It’s been four days now and finally they are discharging me to go home. The baby looks and sounds great on the ultrasound we had this morning. Sebastian couldn’t take his eyes off the screen the entire time. He even joked and said he wanted to buy a sonogram machine for our house. Or at least I think he had been joking. That’s just it, with him you never know.

He’d even bought us frames from the gift shop downstairs to put the ultrasound pictures in. The same gift shop he has damn near bought out in the past four days. Since I had so many beautiful flowers, I had them share them with patients on the cancer floor in hopes that it brightens someone’s day.

Sebastian had been in close contact with Lucas’ family about his condition. His mother, Rebecca is staying here at the hospital with him. She’d told Sebastian that they were able to take him off the ventilator and move him into a regular room. His doctors are optimistic that once some of the swelling in his brain subsides that he will wake up. I pray that happens soon because I need to thank him for saving me.

Sebastian walks into my room pushing a wheelchair, just as the nurse is removing the last of my IV needles in my arm.

“Who wants to break out of here?” he teases, pulling the chair next to the bed where I’m sitting.

“There you go, Mrs. Thorne. You are ready to go,” the nurse says, handing me my official discharge slip.

“Dr. Lewis will see you next week for your follow up. Oh, and a reminder,” she pauses, looking at Sebastian and then turning back to me, “no sexual intercourse until the doctor clears you.”

Sebastian extends his arm to help me in the chair.

“Hear that, babe? You have to control yourself around me. No more tying me up and spanking me for a while.”

“SEBASTIAN!” I say, slapping his chest. The nurse just laughs and leaves us alone. Turning the chair around to face him, he places his hands firmly on the armrests and inches forward to kiss me.

“Let’s get you out of here. Nik and Kylie are waiting at the house for us. I think she has some sort of surprise or something. I never know with that friend of yours. She’s been cracking the whip at Nik since she got here. I love it!”

Kylie and Nik had flown in the day before yesterday. When they’d stopped by the hospital, she nearly had a nuclear meltdown about my appearance. Clearing the room, she’d helped me wash and dry my hair and with a little help from her makeup kit, made me feel like a human being again. Kylie had winked at me when Sebastian’s eyes lit up the moment he walked back in. After being attacked and lying in the hospital for days, I suppose I looked pretty damn rough before.

Since she knew I was coming home today, she’d decided to wait for us at our house. I am grateful they are staying with us for a few more days. I really need my best friend right now. Sophie has been beside herself when Sebastian called her to tell her about what had happened. She wanted to fly in, but I had insisted she stay at her training camp since I am doing fine and she would be visiting soon for her next school break.

As we approach the elevator, my heart tugs.

“Sebastian?”

“Yes, baby?”

“Can we please go to Lucas’ room?”

“I told you I already talked to his mother this morning. He’s slowly improving.”

“I know, but I just need to speak to him. Even if he can’t hear me, I need to talk to him.”

“Skylar, the doctor said to not get upset. I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m sorry.”

“I promise, I won’t get upset. Please just for a minute, that’s all I’m asking.”

“Ugh. Fine! Five minutes and we’re leaving!” he says, huffing as he selects the button on the panel.

“Thank you.” I reply, reaching above me and grabbing his hand. Squeezing it, he lifts it up and kisses my fingers.

“You’re lucky I love you so damn much,” he says, earning a chuckle from me. It still hurts to laugh, but it feels so good.

Rolling us down the hall, I spot Rebecca, Lucas’ mother, standing in the hall talking to her oldest son, Michael. Michael spots me first and forces a smile. Rebecca turns in my direction and I hold my breath. I haven’t seen her since Lucas and I were together. I don’t know how she will react to me being here.

Sebastian helps me out of the chair and steadies me as I walk to her.

“Oh my dear Skylar!” Rebecca says, gently taking me into her arms.

“How is he?” I softly ask in her ear. Pulling back, she tips my chin up.