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His thoughts lingered on his parents and the lecture Spur had given the brothers a little over a week ago.
They need us, Spur had said.We owe everything to them. So whatever it is keeping you from going to see your own mother when she lives five minutes down the road, get over it. Figure it out. Make peace with it—and then go make peace with her.
His eyes had blazed like the depths of the ocean—unrelenting and absolutely lethal. All of the brothers had hung their heads and murmured their assent. Blaine was still trying to figure out how to show up at his mother’s doorstep and tell her all of the things that sat between them.
He knew the biggest one: Alexandra Alloy.
She came from a family of Southern socialites, and that meant she’d been perfect for one of the Chappells. His mother had paired Blaine with Alex for a fundraising dinner they’d hosted at Bluegrass Ranch, and the rest was history.
They’d started dating. Blaine had fallen hopelessly in love with her. He’d thought she was hopelessly in love with him. Then he’d learned she’d been stepping out on him with other men.
Even then, he hadn’t broken up with her. That had taken an extreme amount of courage, and Blaine had taken almost a month to store up enough to be able to do it.
His mother had been livid. Absolutely irate, and she still didn’t know the real reason Blaine had called off the wedding and asked for his very expensive diamond ring back.
Alex hadn’t given it to him, though. He hadn’t fought her for it, and as far as he knew, she still had it. More likely, though, she’d sold it for as much as she could get. Her family might have money, but Alex was the type of woman who would never have enough.
He blinked as another man came into the room, making the small space very crowded. Blaine shifted back over to the chair he’d been sitting in earlier and picked up the bag with Tam’s clothes in it.
“I’m Doctor Millstone,” he said, extending his hand to Tam. She took it and shook it, all with that blood smeared on her arm. “I understand you’re ready to go.” He took the clipboard from Terrance, who cocked his eyebrows at Tam.
She had the decency to look somewhat ashamed as she dabbed at her wrist again.
“Your vitals do look good,” Dr. Millstone said. “Look here.” He held up a light and shone it in Tam’s eyes. “Good response. I don’t think you have a concussion, Miss Lennox.” He looked in her ears and then listened to her heart.
“If she starts to act strange, or sleeps too long, she needs to come back in.” He spoke to Blaine as he wore his stethoscope.
“You got it,” Blaine said, though he thought it would take an act of God to get Tam back in this hospital.
“Throwing up, disorientation, dizziness. Vertigo.” The doctor continued to lecture Tam about symptoms to watch for, but Blaine knew she wasn’t even listening. She was like a caged tiger, on the edge of breaking free. She’d agree to anything just to get out of there.
Finally, the doctor handed some papers to Blaine and said, “All right. I’ll send in Catrina with the discharge papers. You just have to sign those, Miss Lennox, and you’re free to go.”
“Thank you,” she said with a smile, and Blaine saw that honey-coated version of his best friend. He waited until everyone had left, and then he shook his head at her.
“What?” she asked.
“You ripped that out on purpose,” he said.
“Of course I ripped it out on purpose,” she said.
“I’m not even sure it hurt.”
“It did,” she insisted, her blue eyes so bright.
Blaine chuckled and handed her the bag of clothes. “Do you need help changing?” he teased.
“Get out,” she said with a laugh. “And we’re driving through somewhere on the way back to my house. I’m starving. Plus, I’ve got to get these drugs out of my system.”
“I’ll check with the doctor,” Blaine said. “Maybe you’re supposed to drink clear fluids or something.”
“I don’t care what he says,” Tam said as Blaine left the cubicle.
“I know that,” he muttered. Tam was fiercely independent. Blaine actually really liked that about her. He liked that she wasn’t afraid of a challenge, and she wasn’t afraid to get hurt. He’d seen her ride in a barrel racing final with a fractured collarbone, refuse to ride in the ambulance, and only go to the hospital when her trainer threatened to pull her from the next rodeo.
As he thought about that, Blaine realized that she was far more ready to take their relationship out of the friend zone than he was. “She’s not afraid of a challenge,” he mused. Transitioning from best friends to lovers would definitely be a challenge.
“She’s not afraid to get hurt,” he added. At the same time, she’d told him shewasafraid to lose him. Apparently, she did have boundaries, and she did experience fear.
