Toxic Bad Boy (19 page)

“
No,” he said. “A nurse is
waking her every so often because of her concussion.”

“
When is the next time?” I
asked, deciding I could wait for it.

Scott looked at his phone
for the time. “Forty-seven minutes.”

“
I’ll wait,” I told him,
determined to speak with her.

“
Did you eat?” Caleb asked
at my back.

Scott perked up. “Could
you two could run and get something?”

My dinner was interrupted
and now that everything had settled down, I felt hungry again. And
it would kill time until my mom woke. “What do you want?” I asked
Scott.

He shrugged broad
shoulders. “Hamburger, burrito, whatever is easiest.”

“
There are a couple fast
food places in the shopping center across from the hospital,” Caleb
said.

Scott looked at his phone
again before telling me, “Forty-six minutes.”

I pulled my own cell out,
setting a timer. “We’ll be back before then.”

“
Let’s go,” Caleb urged,
stealing my hand in his again.

I yanked it away as soon
as we were out of sight. “Quit doing that.”

His expression said I was
the one with the problem. “Just offering comfort in your time of
need.”

“
What ever happened to you
not wanting to see my deceitful face again?” I reminded
him.

He laughed, his mood
better than the last time we’d been alone. “You
are
a liar, gotta admit that
much.”

“
Where are you parked?” I
asked once we were on the first floor.

“
In the lot closest to the
ER,” he said, walking ahead of me out the automatic sliding
doors.

I trailed behind him,
noticing his back looked incredibly muscular in the thin white
t-shirt he wore. I wasn’t sure if I imagined it, but it looked like
he was either wearing another shirt underneath or he’d gotten a new
tattoo on his back. A very large one.

His walk was confident as
usual, the blue jeans hugging his perfect behind, perversely
irritating me. Must be nice to feel so sure of who you were and
unafraid of where you were going in life. Even in juvie he hadn’t
lost his swagger.

He opened the passenger
door, appearing patient in his wait for me to slip inside. I
purposely took my time. As he went around the hood to get behind
the wheel, I scanned the inside of his Camaro. It had been months
since my last trip in the vehicle. Resisting the many memories
trying to bombard my mind, I instead texted Cece, Jared and Gage
all at once to let them know about the accident.

Cece texted back
immediately, her fingers as fast as her mouth.
Do you need me to do anything?

My phone beeped with
another message as I replied to Cece.
Everything is fine now. Could you or Jared pick me up from
the hospital in an hour?

Gage’s text said,
Call me if you need to talk.

Jared’s came a moment
later.
Cece said you needed a ride. Which
hospital?

Caleb started the car,
snatching the phone from my grip. “What the heck?” I exclaimed.
“Give it back!”

He shoved my cell into his
left pocket. “I’m giving you a ride home.”

“
No, you’re not,” I told
him firmly. “I’ll call a taxi if I have to.”

“
I’ll just steal your
money,” he said.

“
This isn’t the time for
this,” I told him.

He nodded slowly. “You’re
right. Better not argue with me about it because it’ll upset our
parents.”

“
I hate you.”

He pulled into the
drive-thru of a Jack in the Box. “I think you may be lying about
that also.”

I stared out my window,
refusing to gaze at his gorgeous face. “Whatever. I want a
hamburger, fries and strawberry milkshake.” I added with
satisfaction, “You’re paying.”

He huffed out a laugh and
rolled down his window. “As if I’d let you pay.”

After ordering, he
adjusted to reach into his back pocket for his wallet. Something
about the move was incredibly sexy. The cashier handed him the
drinks on a tray. He inserted a straw and took a sip from my
milkshake before giving it to me.

I glared, causing him to
chuckle. “Get your own.”

“
I love your milkshake,”
he rumbled suggestively.

He handed me the paper bag
with our food and drove back to the hospital, parking in the same
spot. I leapt out of the vehicle before he even had a chance to cut
the engine, hoping to ditch him. He could take a different
elevator.

No such luck. He caught up
with me, carrying the drink tray and took the bag of food from me.
I rammed my thumb against the up arrow button, drinking from my
milkshake with a scowl.

Caleb hadn’t attempted to
finish our earlier conversation and for some reason that pissed me
off. It was possible he’d liked the freedom of the past two weeks
and had no intention of tying himself to a girlfriend
again.

Which was exactly what I
wanted, of course, for him to move on.

It was for the
best.

Stomping out of the
elevator, I thought about tomorrow instead of my ex-boyfriend. I’d
stay with my mom and Chance for a few days to take care of them.
After my mom was better, we could take turns caring for Chance
until his leg healed. My dad would be happy for him to spend a few
weeks this summer with us. It would give my mom the opportunity to
figure out whatever drama was going on between her and
Scott.

I almost tripped as an
awful thought came to me. Holy crap, if my mom and Scott hooked up,
got
married
again, Caleb would be my stepbrother once more. I’d never
escape him or my feelings.

How would I deal
with
years
of
having to face him at family functions? What about when he brought
another girl home for the holidays someday? I would be like a
freaking aunt to his children!

I would seriously move
across the country. No, across an ocean! Europe or Australia or
anywhere that was thousands upon thousands of miles away. I’d
always wanted to live in London. But Australian guys had the
hottest accents. I’d be perfectly happy in either place!

“
What are you thinking
about?” Caleb asked as he strolled next to me.

“
Foreign accents,” I
ground out.

“
You hate them?” he asked,
likely confused by my angry demeanor.

“
We’re here,” I announced,
charging into room 214 ahead of him.

A nurse hovered over where
my mom was still sleeping. If I had my phone, I’d check the timer.
I was positive we were back early. Scott’s head turned to me. “Six
more minutes.”

Caleb held out the drink
tray for his dad to take one of the sodas. He then motioned for me
to sit down in a chair by the window and pulled out a hamburger,
even opening up the wrapper for me in my lap. My fries were set on
the wrapper next to my hamburger.

“
Thanks,” I snapped
ungratefully. I didn’t want him being sweet. He could save it for
that nameless girl who he’d bring home for the holidays.

I was sure Christmas in
the English countryside was beautiful. I’d rent a cottage with
friends who had cool British accents and it’d be freaking
picturesque.

While we ate, the nurse
said it was time to wake my mom. I shifted my food onto the chair
as I got up. The nurse woke her and my mom drowsily opened her
eyes.

“
I’m here, mom.” Tears
formed and I fought to hold them back.

“
Honey, don’t cry,” my mom
whispered.

That was all it took for
the salty floodgates to open. My upper body tilted forward to hug
her and I cried out my relief. We may not get along or agree
ninety-nine percent of the time, but I loved my mom. While her love
was often misguided, I knew it existed.

“
I was so worried your
head was going to explode,” I joked through my sobs.

She laughed softly. “The
MRI came out okay. But my head is pounding so hard it feels like
it’ll burst.”

When I straightened, I saw
the nurse was gone but Caleb and his dad watched us. “Look, mom,
Caleb is here to see you.” Maybe she could drive him
away.

Expecting her to grimace,
her eyes instead searched the room to find him sitting in a chair
next to his dad. “How are you, Caleb?”

His expression wary, he
said, “Good. I’d ask how you are, but I already know.”

“
Are you hungry?” I asked
my mom.

“
No, just tired,” she
replied, closing her eyes.

I turned to Scott. “Is she
allowed to sleep?”

“
Yes, but the nurse will
be back to wake her in an hour.”

My mom cursed, surprising
a laugh out of me.

“
Okay, go back to sleep,
mom. Scott is spending the night with you and I’ll be back in the
morning to see you and Chance.”

“
Your dad?” she
asked.

“
He’s with Chance. I’m
spending the night with Cece.”

“
Bye, honey,” she
mumbled.

I squeezed her limp hand.
“Goodnight, mom.”

I wrapped up my leftovers
and tossed the crumpled ball into the trash can by the door. Scott
pulled me into a hug as I reached him. “I’ll watch over
her.”

“
Thanks,
Scott.”

Caleb and I were in less
of a hurry as we left the hospital. “Can you take me home so I can
pack a bag and drive myself to Cece’s?”

“
Sure,” he said, pointing
his car toward the freeway.

“
Can I have my phone
back?” I asked.

“
Nope.”

“
Jerk,” I snapped, making
him chuckle.

I used a hair tie to pull
my hair back in a low ponytail and rolled down my window as we
winded around downtown on the freeway. The summer evening air was
refreshing. Caleb turned it to an alternative rock station and an
upbeat indie pop song came on. The drive to my dad’s house was
short now that rush hour was over. The sun had set and the large
buildings of the Denver Tech Center were aglow with what I figured
were the night cleaning crews hard at work.

My dad’s house had cost a
mint, being so near the Tech Center in Englewood. They’d tried to
replicate the DTC up north in Broomfield, close to my mom’s house,
but with the ups and downs of the economy it never took off. Living
down here was much more chaotic.

Caleb pulled into our
driveway, shutting off the engine. “I need my phone before you
go.”

Instead of giving it up,
he opened his door, getting out and coming around my side. I
stepped out of the car, holding a palm up for my cell. Deliberately
ignoring my silent request, he took my hand in his. “I texted Cece
while we ate, told her I’d spend the night with you at your
house.”

“
What?”

He reached his free hand
into my purse, pulling it out when he’d retrieved my keys. “There
we go.”

“
You’re not sleeping
here.”

He shot me a look I pretended not to understand.
“We don’t have to sleep.”

“
If you love something let
it go free. If it doesn’t come back, you never had it. If it comes
back, love it forever.”

-Doug Horton

CALEB

Gianna’s eyes were wild
with what I identified as fear, but there was something else there,
too. Excitement?

I ran a hand over the
scruff on my jaw as I took a look around the bottom floor of
Gianna’s new home. “I’ll have to borrow your dad’s razor in the
morning.”

She followed me into the
kitchen where I opened the fridge and took one of her dad’s beers.
Keeping my eyes on her, I drank from the bottle. My beautiful girl
was on the other side of the granite bar, gripping the back of a
fancy barstool. “Can I have my keys back, Caleb?”

“
Nope.” Like I’d be stupid
enough to help along her escape plan.

She got bottled water from
the fridge, gulping it down angrily. Some of it spilled out of the
corner of her mouth, making me laugh. She slammed the half-empty
plastic bottle on the counter. “I’m going to bed.”

“
Aren’t you going to show
me the guest room?” I asked, trailing her up the stairs. Her ass in
those jean shorts was criminal.

She stopped at the top,
turning halfway. “Sleep on the couch in the basement!”

My lips tipped up at her
smart mouth. Fuck, I missed that. “Do you need me far away so
you’ll keep your hands to yourself?”

Only
Gianna
sneering could be adorable.
“You wish!” Her boldness disappeared as she ran to her room and
slammed it shut, locking it.

I stared at the white door
and began laughing. Who did she think she was dealing with? As if
that flimsy lock on the doorknob could keep me out.