AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 13
Ember
What the hell did I drink last night? Did anyone get the license plate because I feel like I got hit by a Mack truck? Damn.
My mouth felt like it was filled with cotton, and it tasted like a penny. I tried to wet my lips, but my tongue was like sandpaper against the soft tissue. My limbs were heavy, and my head was spinning.
The worst part about it was I didn’t remember a damned thing. I thought I’d been home cleaning my apartment. I’d been thinking about fresh starts and getting to know Colt better, and then—Wham!—I was waking up with the worst hangover ever.
“Ember?” Someone picked up my hand. “Ember, sweetie, open your eyes.”
Was that Colt? I tried to open my eyes, but they felt glued shut.
A cool hand brushed my cheek, and I turned toward it. “Ember, can you open your eyes?
I tried to open them again, and they parted slightly but then closed again. I tried one more time, and they got a bit further. Jesus, what the hell did I drink?
“Colt,” I got out between my lips, and he squeezed my hand.
“I’m here, baby, I’m right here. See if you can open your eyes.” His voice was closer now, as if he were standing over me. I tried to do as he asked, and my eyelids fluttered a few times before they blinked open. My sight was blurry at first, but it cleared quickly.
“What the hell did I drink last night?” I muttered as I let my eyes fall closed again.
I heard a husky chuckle. “You’re in the hospital, Ember. You didn’t drink anything last night.”
I forced my eyes open again. “What?”
“I came by your apartment last night to talk to you, and I found you writhing in pain on your bed. Your appendix was about to rupture, and we had to rush you to the hospital. You had surgery about three hours ago. You’re going to be alright now.”
“You came by my apartment?” A groan floated out of my throat.
He laughed, “Yes, did you know that my kitchen is bigger than your whole place?”
“That’s not funny.” He was right of course, and he knew I would have normally been upset that he had come to my place, but I guess if he hadn’t, well…
“Thank you,” I mumbled.
“You’re welcome. Get some sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up”—and he was, and then he was there the next time, and the next time, too.
The fourth time I woke up, I felt almost human. I mean, I could actually think in complete sentences, and even talk, and I was dying of thirst.
Colt was seated in a chair beside the bed, his head back, his feet kicked up onto the end of my bed. His lips were slightly parted, and he was breathing evenly. Well, look at that, I thought, he’s even sexy as hell when he sleeps.
I tried to sit up and must have made noise because within two seconds, he was standing over the bed, “Are you alright?”
“Water, I just want water.” I leaned back into my pillow and watched him fill a cup before he put a bendy straw in it. “I thought those straws were for kids.”
“And people who can’t sit up in bed.” He winked. “How are you feeling?”
“Not as bad as I was. Do you want to tell me again how I ended up in the hospital?”
“What, you don’t remember the last three times I told you?” He pulled the chair up closer and held my hand.
“I remember. I just like hearing how you saved my life.”
He blushed at my words, and I began to laugh but stopped immediately as a stab of pain crossed my stomach.
“Yeah, laughing is not a good idea right now. You might want to wait a few days.”
