Adversaries by T.L. Hodel

Epilogue

Igently brushed the hair off Chase’s face and dabbed the cloth on his forehead. It’d been almost forty-eight hours since the day my heart stopped. I’d never known fear like that. I was terrified laying under him, and not for me, for him.

People were shooting at us, and the stupid idiot was out in the open. He got shot three times for me. I couldn’t stop thinking about that. Chase Mathers risked his life to keep me safe. Maybe love did exist after all.

Micha did the same for Riley and almost died doing it. He was okay now, but it was touch and go there for a while. Twice, he coded on the operating table.

Riley was a mess. Mr. Kessler’s presence didn’t help. He’d walked around the halls, demanding to be let in the room with his son. The hospital staff had to calm him down more than once. I’d never seen him like that.

It probably would’ve been worse if Micha’s brother Mason came. I guess he was on a class trip, and their father couldn’t get a hold of him. He was going to lose his shit when he found out. Logan was halfway across the country at MIT, but he was on his way. That wasn’t important right now.

All I cared about was Chase. His wounds weren’t fatal. He was out of surgery in a couple of hours. It was his mood that had me worried. He slept most of the time, which was to be expected. When he was awake, it was like he wasn’t there. He’d stared blankly ahead and gave one-word responses, even to Riley.

He was not okay and probably cold.

Riley wheeled herself in and nodded at Chase asleep in the bed. “How’s he doing?”

“He’s cold.” I tugged on the hospital blanket, trying to cover him up more. “Why do they make these things so thin? Who the hell could stay warm in this?”

“I’m sure he’s fine.”

“He’s not fine,” I snarled while raising my finger at the nurse carrying in a tray. “What is that?”

She glanced down at the cargo she was carrying. “It’s his dinner.”

“Get it out of here,” I waved at her to leave, “he’s not eating that.”

“Ma’am…”

Did she just ma’am me?

“He has to eat.”

“Not that! I’ll get him some real food.” I’ll get him a damn blanket too.

“Naomi.”

“What?!” I barked out at Riley.

She reared back in her chair with wide eyes and then turned to look at the nurse. “You heard the woman, get that shit out of here.”

Apparently, the nurse didn’t want to take on both of us because she gave me a snide glare and strutted out of the room with her tray in hand. I returned to my sleeping man and continued to dab the beads of sweat off his brow.

“You really care about him, huh?”

I rolled my eyes. Why was she still here?

“Listen, Naomi,” Riley sighed, “Chase has been through a lot.”

She thought I didn’t know that?

“Just don’t hurt him, okay? If you do, I’ll have to hurt you, and he’ll be all mad. It’s not a good situation. Anyway,” she turned her chair and wheeled away, “I’ll leave you alone now.”

“Riley.”

She stopped and looked back at me, “Yeah.”

“The same goes for Micha.”

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t Micha Kessler’s biggest fan, but I grew up with the guy. He was like family.

She nodded and left.

I stayed there for a while, watching Chase sleep until it was time to go order his food. There was this great little place that had the best steak, and most men I knew loved a good steak.

Since I didn’t have my phone cause someone kidnapped me and my apparent best friend kept forgetting it, I had to leave the room to make the call.

On my way back, I ran into Ava, who was talking to Logan and his girl Shelby. Shelby was dancing around from one foot to the other while Logan and Ava stood there casually chatting.

“Oh my god,” Shelby whined, “I need to see Rye, like now.”

“Calm down, Baby. She was just shot.”

That was the wrong response for Logan to give. Moron was all that flashed through my mind as Shelby’s hand swung in the air, whacking off the back of his head.

“Logan Hudson, if you don’t take me to see my best friend right now, you’ll die of blue balls.”

She may as well have torn out Logan’s heart right then and there. His face dropped, and he quickly scurried her down the hall without even saying goodbye to Ava.

Rude.

I shook my head and stepped up next to my best friend.

“You know,” Ava said, “I like that girl more and more every time I meet her.”

As much as I hated to admit it, Shelby Grace was growing on me too. “She’s alright.”

Suddenly the hall was filled with squeals so loud I had to cover my ears. Riley came out of her room, and both she and Shelby screamed.

“Hey,” I yelled as they ran into each other’s arms, “keep it down. Chase is trying to sleep.”

Ava leaned over and whispered, “I get that they’re friends, but do they have to be all handsy like that?”

I grunted in agreement. There was such a thing as too close.

“Did you bring that blanket I asked for?”

Ava nodded and passed me a large plastic bag. One look inside made me want to shake my head.

“Ava?”

“Yeah?”

“This blanket has Care Bears on it.”

“I know,” Her big eyes turned my way. “Cute, right?”

I weighed the complications of trying to explain to her why a man like Chase would not want cartoon characters on his blanket and then decided it wasn’t worth the headache. It would be easier to tell Chase that Ava brought it.

“Well, I’m going to go give this,” I held up the bag, “to Chase. I don’t suppose you brought my phone?”

Her nose crinkled. “Don’t you have it?”

“No,” I sighed, “I don’t have it.”

“You should never leave home without your phone. What if an emergency happened?”

I just stared at her.

“Geez, Naomi, think ahead.”

“I’ll remember that,” I said while reminding myself that there were far too many witnesses around to commit murder. “I’m gonna go.” Before I didn’t care about the witnesses.

“Okay,” Ava waved and skipped down the hall.

The first thing I noticed when I entered Chase’s room was the empty bed. The second thing was the open bathroom door. Where the hell was he?

I dropped the bag and searched around. The wheelchair was still there, so I didn’t think a nurse came and took him, and his clothes weren’t in the closet.

It wasn’t until I sat down on the bed that I noticed the folded-up piece of paper. Inside were written two words: I’m sorry.

Tanner sauntered through the door as I glanced up from the note. “Where’s Chase?”

“He’s gone.”

“What do you mean he’s gone?”

“I mean, he left,” I slapped the note on his chest and headed out the door.

Tanner tipped his head and called out, “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to hunt his ass down.”

You’re not running again, Chase Mathers.

Not on my watch.