Love Simmers

Chapter 7

I woke up in a hospital bed with a cast already on my arm. Looking around groggily I found my brother in the chair beside the bed starring at me intently. He moved to sit beside me.

"How are you feeling?" He asked in a quiet voice, his distressed expression making him look years younger.

"Fuzzy." I used my left hand to rub my face, annoyed that my dominant hand was broken. It would make the next little while difficult.

"You broke your arm," he stated the obvious. I knew from the snapping sound and excruciating pain when I fell it was broken. I'd had a fracture once before as a kid, this had been far worse. "And you have five stitches in your head."

"I figured," my vision took a minute to focus. I saw Ollie clearly, his eyes troubled and his face pale in the terrible hospital lighting. I felt bad for him. His restaurant and his sister had been damaged tonight.

"Now you've broken two more bones than me," he said.

"So you're finally admitting you did break my toe and not just bruise it?"

"I'll give you that if you admit it was an accident on my part," he smiled, "I mean, what type of six year old drops a Lego set on his sister's foot on purpose?"

"An angry one. I did take your cupcake just before it happened."

I looked up as Nate entered the room with two cups of coffee. He handed one to Ollie. "I thought we'd put the great Lego accident of 95' to bed years ago," Nate said as he caught the end of our conversation.

"We reopened it," I said, feeling a sense of relief that he was here beside me now.

"I called your mum and Maddie," he told me as he took the seat Ollie had left. "Your mum wanted to cut her trip short."

"I hope you told her I'm fine."

I didn't want to ruin her relaxing night away. My poor mother, one of the few times she leaves town for the night and her daughter breaks her arm. There was no such thing as vacation when you were a parent.

"I'm sorry," I said at the same time Ollie said a heartfelt "Sorry."

We smiled. We'd done that all the time when we were young. Not so much lately though.

"I shouldn't have thrown you out. I mean, you had been targeted by a hate group and I pushed you out on the road alone with no ride home." Ollie shook his head in disbelief at his own actions.

"I'm sorry about Sails. Please let me try and make it right," I apologised again, taking a sip of the water on my bedside table. The pain in my arm and head was a dull throb now. I guess I was pretty dosed up.

"That would be great," Nate said. I leaned my head back onto the pillow, reaching a hand up to my head to feel around the large plaster on my forehead. I hoped the scar wouldn't be too bad. If it was, at least it was a badass story to tell. The scar on my wrist was from when I'd fallen at an ice-skating rink. That was a lame story to have to tell over and over.

"The police will be in later but can you tell us what happened," Nate asked, a strength in his tone that reminded me he was a force to be reckoned with when angry. Nate had never been in a fight he'd lost.

"I was walking home. A car pulled up and three guys wearing rabbit masks hopped out." I stopped to laugh, "hopped, get it."

Neither of them was amused. I laughed loudly, the painkillers more to blame for my outburst than the joke I think.

"I ran. One tackled me. I hit the ground and he landed on top of me. My arm broke and I hit my head. They ran when they saw the injuries."

"Can you describe them?" Nate pressed, his jaw clenching in fury.

I shook my head lightly; figuring the last thing he needed was to take justice into his own hands. He needed to focus on fixing Sails.

"I'll go tell the doctor you're awake." Ollie gave me a light kiss on the head before leaving the room.

Nate moved closer to me, picking up my left hand and kissing it softly. His stubble tickled my skin.

"You gave me a heart attack when I saw you standing there covered in blood," he said raggedly. I pulled my hand from his and touched his face tenderly.

"You're always so calm in the face of chaos." I used to hate that about him. When I was young I thought a man had to be explosive to be passionate. But calm in the face of crisis didn't mean that a man was not passionate, it meant that he was rational. That when you were broken and in need of help, he could take care of you first and react later.

"I don't feel calm. I want to smash something," he took a deep breath to calm himself, "but I also want to be here for you. And that outweighs everything else."

His words filled me with happiness. I felt a warm fuzzy emotion tighten in my chest. I didn't want to analyse it too closely. Nate was the only guy who had ever touched my heart. And I'd run from him.

"Miss Blake, I'm Doctor Scott. How are you feeling?" A young, handsome doctor came into the room followed by Ollie, his face friendly yet professional. I bet the female nurses and patients had wild fantasies about him. He was this hospital's very own McDreamy.

"Fine," I replied tiredly, ready to go home and hopefully sleep peacefully in Nate's arms for the night.

"Let's run through some questions. If all goes well, I'll send you home. Are one of you staying with her tonight?" Doctor Scott looked between Ollie and Nate. "She'll need to be woken up every few hours to make sure she has no concussion."

"She's staying with us so I'll check on her," Ollie answered, crossing his arms to watch as the doctor checked my vitals. I squeezed Nate's hand in a gesture that hopefully conveyed I wanted him to check on me.

"I can do it," Nate said to Ollie. I noticed my brother frown, as if finally realizing how close Nate and I were becoming.

Half an hour later we headed home. I'd barely made it through the door when mum called to check in on me. I soothed her concerns and promised not to walk the streets alone anymore at night. Apparently, I was a trouble magnet, even in a small town with a near non-existent crime rate.

Maddie had sent me a brief get-well text but when I tried to call there was no answer. I was more worried about her now than myself.

Nate and I headed to his room. We'd almost made it when Ollie's voice stopped us.

"How long?" He asked and we both knew what he meant.

"Today," Nate answered and put an arm around my shoulder.

"Hmm," was the only sound that Ollie made as we walked into Nate's room and closed the door.

"He's worried about what happens when I leave." I guessed, knowing my brother as well as I knew myself. That's what I was worried about so I'm sure it was what he was worried about.

"So am I," Nate said as he pulled off my clothes and tucked me into bed, his body wrapping gently around mine. He made certain there was no pressure on my arm.

"I'll wake you up in a few hours." He kissed my check and I sighed in relief that I was here with him. I was safe with him.

"Thank you for taking care of me," I whispered in the dark, quiet room.

"Always," he said and there was a truth to his words. Ever since kindergarten he'd been there for me whenever I'd been in trouble or sacred or even just lonely. He'd been there for me.