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I dragged his comforter up to his bandaged shoulder.
“Are you really going to stick around?” Mason asked, his voice barely above a whisper, his brow slightly furrowed.
“Of course,” I assured him while smoothing back his hair. “I’ll be out on the couch. Just call out if you need me for anything.”
“Stay with me?”
“Iamstaying.”
“No.” He slid his hand across the mattress between us. “Here. Beside me.”
I studied his exhausted eyes, expecting the stronger meds he’d been given in the hospital still lazed through his system. “You’re inviting a stranger into your bed?”
“I’m not asking for a hookup,” he stated, once more glancing away from my gaze. “Just to sleep. My couch is wicked uncomfortable.”
I eyed his queen-sized mattress and how he hugged one edge. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” he didn’t hesitate to answer.
Slowly releasing an exhale, I nodded.
The furrow between his eyebrows smoothed out, and he closed his eyes. “Thank you.”
I turned down his blinds against the hint of the sunrise, kicked off my shoes, and laid down atop his comforter so there would be less chance of snuggling into Mason while I slept. Thankfully, I didn’t work on Sundays, so I could spend the whole next day with him. But even if I’d been scheduled to go into the office, I felt sure the board I worked for would understand the situation and allow me a day off.
Being up for nearly twenty-four hours straight along with the adrenaline-filled events of the night knocked me out before I could overthink my situation.
It seemed I’d barely closed my eyes when I woke.
The clock on the bedside table told me only two hours had passed.
Mason shifted, a quiet moan pulling my focus to his side of the bed. A wince of pain lined his face again.
“No,” he muttered, his entire body flinching. P-Please…don’t.”
“Mason.” I lightly touched his good shoulder, taking care in waking him from what must be a nightmare.
“N-Not again,” he begged with an anguished groan that sent pain through my chest.
“Mason,” I repeated a little more firmly, needing to end his suffering.
He stilled and blinked open an eyelid. Recognition lit on his face as he slightly turned his head toward me. “Hurts,” he whispered, once more clenching his eyes shut as his body relaxed into the mattress.
I hopped up and got a glass of water and the pain pills the doctor had ordered. While in the kitchen, I checked my cell I’d left on the cluttered table.
My no-show date from the night had texted his apologies an hour earlier, explaining he couldn’t make it.
As if I hadn’t figured that out.
I didn’t bother responding. I was glad he hadn’t shown up—I’d found someone with much more potential. I smiled regardless of my exhaustion, the tiny burst of adrenaline at the thought of Mason giving my feet extra pep as I walked back the hallway toward his bedroom.
Sitting on his side of the bed, I touched his forearm. “Mason?”
He moaned again, but his eyelids fluttered open.
I helped him lean up so he could take his medication and drink some water. He gingerly laid back down.
“Do you need anything else?” I asked.
