Delayed Call Read online

  Brie: They’re for sure waking him in the morning.

  Brie: What if he doesn’t wake up?

  Brie: I tried calling you. I guess you’re sleeping.

  Brie: Okay. Yeah, I guess, call me in the morning.

  Each message hurt him a bit, and he didn’t understand why they did. He was doing everything to get there. He couldn’t do it all, but fucking hell, he wanted to.

  For her.

  Ignoring everything that was swirling inside of him, he made it to Rodney’s room after verifying with the nurse where he was. Thankfully, he had his NateWay ID so he could get in as a caregiver, or they would have made him go home. Or he would have had to call Brie, which he didn’t want to do. He was glad he hadn’t when he reached Rodney’s room. Curled up in the chair beside her brother, Brie held Rodney’s hand as she slept with her head on the bed. She was wearing sweats and a tee that he recognized as the one he had left at her apartment a few nights ago.

  His heart couldn’t take it, and soon he crossed the room, picking her up into his arms with ease and then sitting down with her in his lap as she woke, her eyes widening. “Vaughn.”

  “Hey, baby.”

  “You’re here?”

  “I am. Shh, go back to sleep.”

  As she gazed into his eyes, her own filling with tears, she shook her head. “How?”

  “I told Elli I had to be here.”

  “You did?”

  He nodded, a grin pulling at the side of his mouth. “Yeah, for my resident who had a heart problem.”

  Her eyes widened even more. “You told her about NateWay?”

  “I did, I knew I had to be here.”

  “I can’t believe you came.”

  He smiled. “Why? Didn’t I say I was here for you?”

  “But the game—”

  “I’ll make it. I have to leave tomorrow morning, but I’m here until then. Right here—with you.”

  Her lips started to quiver as her eyes filled with more tears. “Do you understand how much this means to me right now?”

  Leaning his head to hers, he shrugged. “Well, since I’m so amazing and all, I’m sure a lot.”

  A sob escaped her lips, and she covered her mouth before wrapping her other arm around him and nuzzling her head into his neck. “You’re such an asshole.”

  “I know.”

  “But it’s endearing.”

  “I think you’re the only one who would say that.”

  He held her tightly as she cried, a little laugh coming from her. He smiled as he moved his nose along her hair, his eyes falling shut. “It’s okay, Soledad. Don’t cry, I’m here.”

  “I needed you,” she whispered. “So bad.”

  “I know, I’m here.”

  Her body shook with her cries as he placed kisses along her temple. She pulled back to look at him, her wide blue eyes full of tears as they continued to rush down her beautiful face. He reached up, wiping them away with his thumbs as he held her gaze. Her eyes were so full of an emotion that scared him more than he cared to admit, and he discovered that his friends weren’t just giving him shit. She might love him, and it scared him that she was about to utter the words that would probably stun him stupid.

  Vaughn wanted to beg her not to say the words. That everything was perfect as it was. They were happy. There was no reason to put those three words out there because then, then it meant that someone could get hurt. He wasn’t sure he could say them back, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care. His heart skipped beats regularly just by staring into her blue depths. But love… Fuck, it was so uncertain. And something as precious as love could shatter in an instant, and he didn’t want that.

  He just wanted them.

  He didn’t want to be the fools who rushed in. He had been there before, and now he wanted them to take their time. He wanted to enjoy them; he wanted this to work so fucking bad. It worried him as he started into her eyes, holding her sweet face, that the moment she said them, she would expect him to. And when he couldn’t, she’d leave. Then he would be heartbroken. Again.

  Gathering her in his arms, he kissed her mouth before whispering, “Go to sleep.”

  She held his gaze. “You won’t leave?”

  He shook his head, knowing what she meant. “I’m not going anywhere till you wake up.”

  Her jaw clenched as she held back her sob, and he placed a kiss to her nose once more. When he pulled back, running his thumb along her lips, he knew more than ever that he was in infinitely more trouble than he could ever comprehend. This girl had him. Entirely.

  “Vaughn,” she whispered, and everything stopped as her eyes searched his.

  Please don’t say it. Please.

  “I’m so fucking scared.”

  Relief flooded him as he leaned his head on hers. “I am too, babe.”

  While he knew she was talking about Rodney, and he was worried for that too, he was mainly talking about them. Because she scared him to the point that he wanted to run. He didn’t even want to chance it. He should just end it. Keep his heart intact as well as his pride because she would ruin him, completely. He knew that. But as he held her, the soft smell of her perfume intoxicating him as his lips trailed along her temple while she fell asleep, he knew he wouldn’t go anywhere.

  He couldn’t.

  As Brie sat there, one hand in Vaughn’s, her other in Rodney’s, her heart was in her throat while she waited. It had been three hours since they had stopped the medication keeping Rodney asleep, and everyone was extremely optimistic. But she wouldn’t be okay until she heard his voice and saw his eyes. Chewing her lip, she felt her heart pounding as she watched her baby brother. The steady rhythm of his heart with its new pacemaker filled the room as her breathing was in rhythm with Vaughn’s.

  She prayed so damn hard to God and to her mother that this was the fix. Apparently, there had been a malfunction with the original pacemaker that had been installed. The defective equipment meant they couldn’t get a good read, and then it failed. But what could have killed him didn’t. Because of that, Dr. Miller really felt the new pacemaker was the key, and that things would be great. They just needed him to wake. She needed him to wake. Keeping her eye on the clock between staring at him, she begged time to pause. She didn’t want Vaughn to leave yet, but they were almost out of time.

  She wanted him to see Rodney. She wanted Rodney to wake with both of them there. A team. They were a fucking team, and her heart couldn’t take it. She couldn’t believe that he had told Elli about NateWay or that he had flown in just to sleep in a chair with her, holding her through the early morning hours. She felt so safe in his arms. So protected, and she wouldn’t have been half as calm as she was if it weren’t for him.

  “I should have brought some vodka. This is stressful.”

  A grin pulled at her lips as she glanced back at him. She was still sitting in his lap, which was a little ridiculous, but he wouldn’t let her move. His arm was around her waist, his hand in hers, and it was right. They were right. “It’s a little early.”

  He scoffed. “It’s five o’clock somewhere.”

  Leaning her head to his, she closed her eyes. “When do you need to leave?”

  “That doesn’t matter. Just relax.”

  “It does.”

  “It doesn’t. I’m here until I can’t be, so shut it.”

  Her lips quirked. “Don’t talk to me like that.”

  “I said, shut up, woman,” he said before tipping her chin up and capturing her mouth with this own. Closing her eyes, she clung to him as their lips moved together in a caress she craved. When they parted, he nuzzled his nose with hers. “I don’t want to leave.”

  She ran her finger along his bottom lip. “But the legendary Vaughn Johansson doesn’t miss a game.”

  His eyes turned playful as he shook his head. “This is true. I gotta play up to my name.”

  “Yes, can’t let the many whores down.”

  He smiled wryly. “I’m only worried about my main one