Love Resisted (The Real Love Series) (24 page)

Gillian snorted a laugh as she got up and made work of taking the baby from her, saying, “I’m quite certain Mike is very accustomed to bitchy Allie.”

“Hey,” she said in protest, “I’m not always bitchy.”

“Of course you aren’t, but we both know you’ve definitely shown him your colors a time or two.”

Dropping her head to her chest in shame, she admitted, “I know.” She couldn’t help but pout as she thought of all the times she acted badly. Fortunately, as of late, there were less of them to recall. But last weekend, she wasn’t very nice as she all but told him he was using her and she needed space.

Space that he gave her. Space that showed her she didn’t need it. Space that told her she wanted Mike. She needed to be with him, to touch him. And she needed to tell him, even though he claimed to know, she loved him.

Allie sat up straight and looked at her best friend. “Gilly, can one of you give me a lift home? I want to see him. I need to tell Mike.”

Gillian smiled. “Thank God you figured it out. I was trying so hard to pretend like I was fine with being patient while you did, but it wasn’t easy.”

Allie laughed; she should’ve known better. Shaking her head, she asked, “Why didn’t you just come out and tell me? Tell me to get over my shit and suck it up like you usually do?”

“Because for some reason, when it comes to Mike, you’re a stubborn pain in my ass. I didn’t want to push and have you go the opposite direction.”

“You’re a giant pain in my ass, too, Gilly,” Allie said with a smirk.

Gillian smiled back. “Takes one to know one.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

ALLIE was a ball of nervous energy
as she sat in the passenger side of Jake’s jeep. He would occasionally let out a chuckle, clearly noticing she was bouncing in her seat. When they pulled up to a stop light, he said, “So, do you think this is going to be easy? Or is he going to be hesitant?”

Allie looked to him. “I’m not sure. I was definitely a bitch to him. I know I hurt him.”

“Well, I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but I’ve seen the way he looks at you. It reminds me of the look you told me I had for Gillian once, and everyone can see it.”

She smiled. “Yeah, I know that look. He told me he loved me, Jake. I know that, I just haven’t been able to tell him yet.”

The light changed and Jake moved with the cars around them, saying, “Well, then let’s get you there as quickly as we can.”

Once again grateful for the friends in her life, they made it to her parking lot in no time. She all but hopped out of the jeep before he even stopped, waving back at him as she ran toward Mike’s place. Jumping the steps, she knocked on the door before trying the handle. The door was locked and there were no lights on inside. She knocked a little louder the next time, but still no answer. Making her way
back toward the parking lot, she could see that Mike’s truck wasn’t there.

Her urgency to see him only increased when she couldn’t find him and had no idea where he was. Rushing back to her place, she was inside in record time, searching for her phone, which she forgot to bring with her earlier in the day. Finally finding it within the rumpled sheets of her bed, she picked it up and suddenly wasn’t quite sure what to do.

Should she call him? Should she text him? What she wanted to tell him couldn’t be said either way—she just needed to find him, to see him. That was, if he even wanted to see her. She groaned and dropped her head in her hands as she thought of how awful she was to him, how it was entirely possible that she had screwed things up enough to be permanent.

“No. No, he loves me, I know it. I just need to make sure he knows that I love him too,” she declared to her empty bedroom. Her resolve to bring Mike into her life completely was getting stronger by the minute. Deciding she would call him and make plans to see him was the best way to do it, so she dialed his number.

When it went to voicemail, she hung up and dialed a second time. Figuring she would leave a message if she got his voicemail again, she was surprised when the phone was answered. But it wasn’t Mike.

“Allie?” came the questioning voice of Mike’s sister.

“Paige, is that you? Did I call your number by mistake?” Allie asked as she pulled the phone away from her face to glance at the screen. No, it was Mike’s number she dialed.

“No, you called Mike’s number,” she said hesitantly, which signaled Allie’s alarm.

“Paige, where’s Mike? I need to talk to him,” Allie said in a not so steady voice.

“Um, I’m holding his phone for him. He can’t talk right now.”

“Paige,” Allie said in a more forceful voice. “What’s going on? I can hear that something is wrong in your voice. Tell me!”

Allie heard Paige let out a big breath. “We’re at the hospital, Allie. Mike’s been hurt. I don’t know how badly yet. We followed the ambulance here, but I haven’t been able to get any news yet. I promise I was going to call when I knew something, but I don’t know anything.”

Panic, sharp and fierce, gripped her by the throat as she imagined Mike being hurt badly enough that he needed an ambulance. Fighting to catch her breath, she managed to ask, “What hospital, Paige?”

When she got the name of the hospital, she was relieved to know it was the one where Gillian worked. “I’m on my way. Call me if you get any information.” Grabbing her keys, she was out the door in seconds as she dialed Jake. Telling Jake what was going on, she jumped in her car and
sped out of the parking lot, her only thought was how she had to get to Mike.

Jake’s jeep was in the ambulance bay when she pulled in. Thankful that he was already there, she quickly made her way inside to find someone that could tell her what was going on. She’d been able to push down the panic she felt simmering under the surface. Focusing on what she needed to tell Mike was her primary purpose at the moment, and it kept her sane.

Walking into emergency, she had a momentary déjà vu as she recalled storming into the same place over a year ago when she got news of Gillian being shot. Thinking about how her best friend made it through that bolstered her hope further as she mentally told herself over and over again that Mike was going to be fine. Looking around for Jake, she couldn’t find him, so she sent him a text telling him she was there. When she found Paige and her husband, Brett, she made her way over. The two of them were sitting with their heads together as Allie approached.

Paige looked up and saw Allie a second before she stood up. A moment of concern crossed her mind when she thought of how Paige might not want her there if she knew how she had treated her brother. But that concern was put to rest when Paige folded her into a hug and squeezed tightly. “I’m so glad you’re here, Allie.”

Allie hugged her back. “Any word yet? What happened?”

Pulling back, it was then she saw the blood on both Paige and Brett. Gasping, she asked again, “Is that Mike’s blood? Oh God, where’s Hannah?”

Paige soothed her, “Don’t worry, Hannah is fine. We left her with our neighbor.”

“So it’s Mike’s blood?”

Paige nodded, her hands still planted firmly on her shoulders. Allie took a deep breath, once again willing the panic to retreat. “My friend Jake is here. He’s a paramedic, so I called him to come thinking maybe we can get some information sooner.”

“Okay, that’s good. I could use a little bit of information,” Paige said as she led Allie to where they were sitting.

The three of them settled into their seats and waited a moment before she asked, “What happened?”

Brett was the one to answer, “We all got together to play some softball. A group of people from my neighborhood do that some
weeknights. Well, I was on deck and swinging the bat, when next thing I know I hit something. I turned around to see Mike on the ground bleeding from the head.”

Allie gasped. Brett closed his eyes and sighed. “My Hannah was walking in my direction and would’ve been hit, but Mike saw her and rushed to stop it. I hit him instead.”

Paige was consoling her husband as Allie watched, knowing he was feeling unnecessary guilt. Mike had suffered an injury in place of his niece, and it was something Allie knew he would do over and over for that little girl if he had to.

“It’s not your fault, Brett. It was an accident,” Allie said, but he just kept his eyes closed and remained silent. It was about twenty minutes later that Jake came out with a doctor and escorted him to where they were seated. Allie recognized the doctor immediately as the one who took care of Gillian last year and silently hoped he delivered similar news.

The three of them stood as they were approached. While the doctor took a moment to introduce himself, Allie looked to Jake for some sign of what they were going to hear. He gave a slight smile and nod, which calmed her down enough to absorb some of what the doctor was telling them. It wasn’t until she heard him say, “Mr. Lawson should be fine. He has a concussion, so we’re just going to keep him overnight for observation.”

Paige questioned the doctor some, but all Allie could hear echoing in her head was the doctor telling them Mike should be fine. Relief, hard and fast, swamped her system and chased the residual panic away. Taking in a shaky breath, she felt a single tear slide down her cheek. Jake saw and was immediately at her side. “Hey,
shh, he should be fine, Al.”

Wrapping her arms around him, she just nodded into his chest as he rubbed her back. She stayed there, being comforted by Jake as Paige and Brett continued to speak with the doctor. Feeling another hand on her hair, she
opened her eyes just as she heard Gillian say hello to the doctor.

“Well, hello there, Gillian. Are you a friend of the family?” he asked.

Jake moved to accept a sleeping Ella from Gillian, as she answered the doctor and pulled Allie into a hug. “He’s more than a friend, but not quite family yet, if you know what I mean.”

The doctor nodded and laughed. “Of course I know what you mean.”

Gillian looked to Paige and asked, “Is it okay with you if I ask Dr. Goldstein a few questions?”

“Please, feel free,” Paige consented, and Allie turned to listen to the conversation as Gillian went into nurse mode on them.

“Can you give me the basic rundown, Dr. Goldstein?” she asked.

With another laugh and nod he said, “Anything for you Gillian. And that’s not just because I think you’ll go back there and find out whatever you want to know.”

“You know me well,” Gillian replied.

“Mr. Lawson suffered a blow to the right side of his head, rupturing his superficial temporal artery. There was bleeding prior to arrival, but controlled in the field. We were able to repair the external damage down here. A CT scan reveals no sign of hematoma, which is likely because the injury broke the skin, preventing that from happening.
He does have a concussion from the blow, and we’ll be keeping him for observation. A repeat CT will be done in twelve hours to make sure that a hematoma doesn’t become a problem.”

Gillian nodded. “What floor will he be on? Is he going to the ICU?”

“He’ll be on the fifth floor. I don’t feel ICU is necessary since the there’s no current signs of hematoma.” Allie was certain he probably informed Paige of this, but knew it was also probably done in a less clinical fashion. Looking over to Paige, Allie checked to make sure she was okay with Gillian intruding, but Paige looked to be absorbing the conversation, too. It was comforting for Allie to hear Gillian speak with the doctor knowing that he wouldn’t sugarcoat. She knew the information she was getting was real, and that Mike really
was
going to be okay.

MIKE heard the door to his room open, but he resisted opening his eyes. The lights were too damn bright, even if they were on a low setting. It felt like the light was going straight through his eyes and into his brain. The feeling had to be ranked up there with extracting your own teeth. He heard someone approach his bed but continued to battle the urge to open his eyes. The blood pressure cuff on his arm started to tighten, and he could hear the monitors being adjusted, confirming his assumption that it was just someone checking on him.

Knowing they would most likely make him open his eyes to check his pupils again, he pleaded, “Since I’m awake, can we just skip the whole pointing a light directly in my eyes again?”

He heard a laugh and then a familiar voice, “Sure thing, handsome, but I’ll miss looking into those blue eyes of yours.”

He smiled and cracked one open a little, noticing the lights in the room were almost completely off. This helped significantly and allowed him to open both eyes, although he hooded his view with his hand to protect them from the little bit a light coming from behind the bed.

When he saw Gillian standing over him with a smile, he said, “You come back from maternity leave just for me?”

She huffed a laugh. “Not hardly, but I would’ve. How do you feel?”

“Like I was hit in the head with a bat,” he stated dryly.

“Good, that’s exactly what you’re supposed to feel like when you have, in fact, been hit in the head with a baseball bat.”

A small laugh escaped him which only made his head ache a little more. He groaned and closed his eyes, letting the throbbing subside. He felt her hand touch his and he squeezed it. “Your sister and brother-in-law are here and should be up any second. I used my connections to get into see you first, but I need to get back to the baby before she needs to eat. You have not seen a man in panic until you see Jake Michaels holding a crying Ella—it’s comedy at its best.”

Mike fought the urge to laugh that time, and only smiled. “Nothing more upsetting to a man than when one of his ladies cries.”

“She’s downstairs, you know,” Gillian said.

Opening his eyes a crack again, he looked to Gillian, not sure which
she
she was talking about. She gave him a knowing smile and added, “Imagine how much fun Jake is having trying to keep both Allie
and
Ella happy.”

“She came when she heard what happened?” he asked. It was tormenting him to know she was close by and he couldn’t touch her. But it bothered him to think she was only there—just like Jake and Gillian were—because he’d been hurt. He tried to keep hope from swelling in his chest, but it was there regardless.

Gillian shook her head. “Actually, she was coming to talk to you when she found out, so get that thought out of your head right now. Allie is not here out of obligation as a friend. She’s here because it’s where she belongs. You of all people should know that coming here had to be a stressful event in itself, but she did it on her own.”

“Really?” he asked in a questioning tone.

Gillian nodded with a look of satisfaction. “That’s right. She hopped in her car and drove herself down here, just for you.”

He wasn’t sure what more to say to Gillian, her being Allie’s best friend and all, but he could assume that she
was only laying the groundwork for her friend. Giving her a nod, he said, “Thanks for coming down here, too.”