Page 68 of Floored By Love

“It’s okay, Luke. It’s not your fault.”

“But-”

“Your dad’s an asshole. Still not your fault.”

Well, I had to agree with that. “Still, it must’ve been hard on the two of you. I...feel bad for that.”

“We made it work. We’re doing great,” Shane said, grabbing hold of Noah’s hand and interlacing their fingers together. “Well, until this evening.”

Noah’s eyebrows scrunched up in thought. “You going to tell him what you told us? It sounds like you might have a few things to say.”

“I’m going to talk to him. If tonight has proven anything to me, it’s that I can’t lose him. I won’t lose him.”

“And your parents?” Shane asked.

I paused. That was a good question, but I honestly didn’t care. They weren’t even here. They couldn’t take anything worth more to me than Cam, and I knew that now. “Cam’s all that matters to me.” I looked over at them, trying to gauge their reactions.

“That’s all I needed to hear,” Noah said, smiling, “though the apology was nice, too.”

“And if you need a coach after Cassandra and your parents lose their minds, I’m here for you, Luke,” Shane added.

I stood up, wanting a hug, and he followed suit, and I cried into the neck of someone taller than me for the second time that night. Noah stood up as well, and my crying was mostly over when he took hold of my shoulders, looked me straight on and said, “I know you’re serious. I can hear it in your voice, Luke. You’ve grown up. But...he may need more convincing than me and Shane. You pissed us off, but you hurt Cam...a lot. Just thought I’d give you a heads up, though Cam would probably kill me for saying that.”

“Do you think he can forgive me?”

“That depends on your silver tongue.”

“Well, my tongue’s never ha-”

“Don’t finish that sentence, Luke. I take it back. You’re not grown up. None of you are. You’re all just horny schoolboys.”

And for the first time that night, I laughed, and they joined me, and we sat back down to wait.

The nurses came and left a few times. I was falling in and out of sleep, when I sat up suddenly, remembering to ask, “Has someone called Heather?!”

“Yeah, Luke,” Noah said. “She didn’t answer, so I left a message.” He looked at his watch. “I was going to try again in an hour or so.”

“Have you tried calling her hotel?”

“I’m embarrassed to admit I don’t know which hotel she’s staying in. I just hope she hears my message before she sees something on the news. I don’t think they’ve caught wind of the story yet, but that will only last for so long. It’s an international incident at this point.”

It was getting light outside when they took Cam out of the oxygen chamber and moved him to another room. This one looked more like a typical hospital room and less like a science lab. He had the same tubes as Colton, and an IV drip I noticed for the first time. Noah, Shane, and I were able to move from the hallway into the actual room. It was the closest I had been to him and I felt my heart rate pick up. My phone started vibrating. Cassandra was calling. It was six o’clock, and I assumed she just discovered I wasn’t there. I silenced my phone. I’d deal with that later.

“What’s the IV for?” I asked Noah.

“I think it’s an antibiotic. Just a precaution.”

“Do you think he’ll be able to compete?”

“That depends on how he feels. I know they’ve done a chest x-ray and a bronchoscopy to-”

“A what?”

“They looked down his trachea with a tiny scope for damage,” Shane explained.

“They recommended the oxygen therapy chamber, but didn’t find enough damage for anything more invasive,” Noah added.

“A tiny microscope down the throat sounds invasive to me.”