Her Prince (A Sequel to "His Princess")

9. Home Sweet Home.

      I wake up with light streaming through the one small window in the hospital room. My eyes open and I wince as I try to sit up, my head pounding. I look next to me and see Ryder sleeping in a small chair. He must be so uncomfortable, he is slumped over with tear stained cheeks. A nurse walks in with a tray of food and gives me a small smile, I just try to back up into the bed as far as I can, my heart beat spiking.

"It's okay sweetie."

I just stare, afraid to look away and be injected with another shot.

"Ms. Hart, my fellow nurses feel horrible about what we did. You started freaking out so we had to calm you down. To make it up to you, we let Mr. Slade stay. That and we knew he wouldn't leave so..." The nurse tries to explain.

I just nod my head and take the tray of food from her, placing it onto my lap. The nurse sighs and leaves the room, shutting the door behind her. I look over at Ryder, and see his chest rise and fall with every breath he takes. I look away, remembering the pained expression he wore on his face when he saw me flip out last night. I hear him move around in the chair and keep my head down, using my long hair as a barricade to block my face from his.

"Avery?" His voice croaks beside me.

"Yea?"

"Are you alright, love?" The concern is evident in his voice.

"Um yea. You want my food? I'm not really hungry." I ask, hating it when people worry about me. The bed dips down next to me, and Ryder gently moves my hair behind my ear.

"I think you should eat the food, Ave. It will give you the strength you need to get out of here."

"This will help me get out of here?" I ask, looking down at the nasty food. Ryder smiles, shaking his head. I grab a big spoonful of yogurt and eat it.

I shudder. "Yum! It's so good!" I exclaim with a high level of sarcasm. We both start laughing.

Ryder sighs. "I missed this. Ya know, hearing your laugh. God, it's so beautiful."

      I blush and look down, eating another spoonful of the awful yogurt. "Hey Ryder?"

"Yea, Ave?"

"Remember when I made you promise that nothing would tear us apart...?"

"Yes."

I sigh and chuckle humorlessly, shaking my head. "Look at where we are now."

Ryder sighs sadly. "I know."

I take his hand. "What happened after the car hit me... I was knocked out up until the point when a man was shouting to see me. I couldn't open my eyes, but I heard him."

Ryder takes a shaky breath. "After I heard what happened on the phone, I ran to get a taxi... I heard the waves crashing on your end of the phone, so I knew you were close to the beach. I told the taxi driver to haul it down there, and when we did, I saw you on the sidewalk. You were just laying there. So I picked you up into my lap and called 911... It was hard for them to understand since I was crying the whole time, though... They got there in like five minutes, and got you into the ambulance. They didn't let me go with you... So I came here demanding to see you.  That man was me, Ave."

Ryder looked at me with watered eyes.  I wipe the stray tear that fell, and give him a shaky smile. "Thank you."

"Why are you thanking me?"

"I probably would have died if you didn't come and get me."

Ryder cringes at the thought. "I couldn't just leave you there, Ave."