WITH YOU- I Never Had A Choice ✔️

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

AVERY

"Aah!" I shriek a little as the nurse presses the cotton soaked in the antiseptic liquid against my cut. It gives a burning feeling on the wound in my forehead. I flinch a little and suck in a breath. There is a crepe bandage tied around my left wrist. I got a little crack in the bone there.

Melissa is standing on side of the room, leaning against the wall with her hands crossed against her chest. Her white shirt has a tinge of blood near her shoulder. My blood. Well, yeah, it wasn't that serious of an accident but I did bleed. Fine, it was medium, I passed out. But not for long. I asked Melissa not to tell Dylan that I passed out.

"Ma'am, you can drink a little water if you want. We have to make sure you don't have a concussion, " the nurse says gaining my attention. I look at her and smile. With a nod, she steps to the side and pours me a glass of water. She holds it in front of my lips and I take a little sip, just enough to wet my dry mouth. She keeps the glass back at where it was.

I look at Melissa who is frowning down at the white floor. Her jaw is tight, I can say that she is clenching her teeth. "Meli." She doesn't respond, just keeps looking down at her feet. "Meli, " I call again, this time raising my voice a little. Her head snaps up and seems like she was in deep thoughts.

She straights up quickly, "yeah?"

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah." She laughs. "You are the one lying in the hospital bed."

The door of the room opens suddenly and Dylan comes running in. He looks terrified and about to flip. His eyes fall on me and he visible relaxes. His eyes travel from my head to my toes, running over all the little scratches which have now been covered with bandaids. As his eyes travel down my body, his eyes harden more. He looks at my ankle which has a cut, pretty deep. Also, it is sore, so I don't know how long I won't be able to walk. He brings his eyes to mine and his expression visibly changes. He loses the angry look and walks towards me. He brings his hand to my face but as soon as his hand touches my right cheek, I flinch. He quickly withdraws his hand and a look of pain crosses his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"I'm alright."

"How much does it hurt?" He whispers as he slowly sits beside me at the edge of the bed.

"Not much." He gives me a look, more of glare so I admit, "a little." Melissa slowly comes to stand at the foot of the bed.

Dylan turns his head sideways and asks, "it was pretty bad, wasn't it?" I can hear the anger in his voice.

I quickly add, "I told her not to tell you. I didn't want you to worry."

"Worry? Have you looked at yourself?" He raised his voice and it causes a pang of ache in my head making me squeeze my eyes closed.

"Sir, please don't raise your voice. She might have had a concussion. We don't know yet. The reports are yet to come, " informs the nurse, rushing to my side.

Dylan runs his hands through his hair and tugs on it. He puts his head in his head and lets out a small whimper. "I'm okay, " I say. He looks at me with a pained expression making me want to hug him but I don't have the energy too.  I was sent for a CT scan pretty much immediately.

"Dylan, I need to talk to you, " a man's voice comes. He is standing at the door, looking pretty worried. He was tall, almost the same height as Dylan. Heavily built. Seems like a cop to me. Wait...a cop? I don't know yet. Dylan looks at him and nods. He turns around and leaves with a peck on my forehead. 

Melissa stares at the door and then at me. "I'll be back." With that, she is gone too. My head hurts, bad. Groaning, I put my head in my hand.

"How are you doing Mrs Walker?" The doctor says entering the room. I look up at him and give a tight smile.

"My head just hurts a little."

Dylan enters the room and nods at the doctor as a greeting. He nods back with a smile and brings his attention back to me.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that. Looks like you do not have a concussion, though it was a pretty bad bash on your head." I nod in understanding. "I'm prescribing a few painkillers. I don't think you would have any problem after taking these. If the headache continues more than a week, then come back otherwise just come for a little check-up after a month."

"Thank you, Doctor," Dylan says and come to stand beside me. The Doctor leaves and the nurse helps me get up. Oh yeah, I got crutches. Through they are going to use a wheelchair to take me out to the car. Dylan picks up my stuff from the nurse and she rolls me to the elevator. Melissa and that man follow us.

As we reach the car, Dylan picks me up and puts me on the front seat and hands me my crutches. Bear is in the back seat braking and jumping. I reach out and caress his head. "I'm ok, baby, " I say in a baby voice. He sits down and starts wiggling his tail. I look out to find Dylan talking to Meli and that man. I take a note in my head to ask him about the man. I don't remember seeing him or even Dylan mentioning him. If he is Dylan's friend then he must have been at the wedding, right? That wouldn't matter anyway. I barely remember anyone who came to the wedding. I wasn't in the right state of mind.

Suddenly it occurs to me. Even though I was considering the wedding to be the worst thing to ever happened to me, it was pretty fortunate. I mean I know there is a lot for me to figure out still but I wouldn't choose to not meet Dylan. If the wedding happened the way it was supposed to and Dylan married Julie instead of me, I wouldn't get to know him the way I do now. I talked to Melissa about it and I have come to my decision to let go of the guilt, at least for as long as we are married. I could do that.

I see Dylan jog around and get into the car. He buckles his seatbelt when I ask, "who is that man?"

He glances at me and while fixing the rearview mirror, he says, "my friend, Mike." He looks back and then in front and starts to drive out.

"Did he come to our wedding?"

"Yes, he did, " he answers.

"I don't remember." I shrug and look out of the window. Unable to stop, I ask, "Is he a cop?"

Dylan peeks at me and asks, "no, why do you ask that?"

"Just his body." I heard it. I look at Dylan and as expected, he is giving me say-it-again looks.

"I don't mean to come out rude but I don't like my wife checking out another man's body." I hear the playful edge of his voice. He knows I would not be doing that. Especially provided that I am his wife. Seems pretty good to be finally accepting it.

"You know I wasn't checking him out, " I pout. I would've probably played along and tried to make him jealous but I need to make full use of a mushy Dylan.

Dylan smiled at me and says, "I know, babe." Seems pretty natural now, the word 'babe' coming from his mouth. It's just been a little more than a week that we've actually started coming close and I've gotten a lot used to it. Feels good, to be honest.