Chapter 8

CHAPTEREIGHT

The emergency roomwas crowded for a Monday evening. Luckily, Trey’s recognizable face and the nearly unconscious woman in his arms allowed him to bypass triage. He wasn’t normally “that” guy who used his celebrity to jump the line. But at the moment, he’d do anything to ensure London was taken care of. When one of the staff suggested he wait in the lobby, Trey pinned her with the murderous glare reserved for receivers who dropped his passes. As a result, he was loitering in the hallway, trying not to get in the way.

On the other side of the curtain, he could hear the staff murmuring to London as they undressed her before beginning their exam. Every time she hissed or moaned in pain, it felt like moments were being shaved off his life. A portable X-ray machine was wheeled in. Trey sucked in a breath when London cried out. It was all he could do not to storm in there and wrap his hands around the throat of whoever was manhandling her.

There seemed to be a choreographed dance to the chaos of the ER. One Trey didn’t know the steps to because every time he started to pace, he nearly collided with someone. If they recognized him, no one made a big deal. Twenty agonizing minutes went by before he heard someone behind the curtain ask if London had any family with her.

Trey stormed in. “She does.”

Three heads turned to look at him inquisitively. For her part, London scrunched her face up in disgust.

“And you are?” one of the men wearing a surgical cap asked.

“Trey Van Horn.” No way was this guy going to keep him from making sure London got the care she needed. “I’m her brother.”

The looks directed his way were a bit more incredulous now. The woman manning the IV bag in the corner arched an eyebrow as if to say “for real?”

“Oh please,” London moaned. “Not this again.”

Trey ignored her protest. “Will someone please tell me what you are doing to make her feel better and when the hell that is going to start happening?!”

The guy in the surgical cap analyzed Trey for a long moment before turning to London. “Miss Headley, do you give me permission to share your medical information with—” He glanced back over his shoulder. “—your brother.”

She nodded her head with a huff. “He’s just going to bully you for it anyway. He’s an ass like that.”

Scrub cap guy nodded to the woman in the corner who began administering something through the IV tube stuck in London’s arm. Then he stood and extended his hand to Trey.

“I’m Doctor Chang. Miss Headley has a bad case of appendicitis. As soon as I get an open OR, I’m going to remove the offending organ and she’ll be feeling better by morning. Is that amenable to you?”

Trey didn’t appreciate the guy’s snark. But given that he was here under false pretenses, and they likely knew it, he ignored it. He also bit back the questions swirling through his brain about the guy’s credentials. Instead, he nodded brusquely.

“Excellent,” Dr. Chang replied. “I’ll see you both in pre-op.”

The doctor and one of his companions pushed through the curtain. The woman remaining readied the gurney to be moved.

“Pre-op?” London wheezed. “I can’t have surgery without my mom knowing.” She gestured frantically at Trey while the nurse pushed the gurney out into the hallway. “Give me my purse. I need to call her.”

Trey dug through the evening bag still draped over his shoulder and pulled out her cellphone. The nurse steered them into an elevator.

“You won’t be able to get any real reception downstairs,” she announced.

London sucked in a shaky breath. “Just great. I’m not even sure I’ll be able to reach her anyway,” she groaned. “My mom is in Banff, out on some mountain with no cell reception.” A tear leaked down her cheek. “She won’t know if something happens to me.”

Trey reached up to loosen the laces on his shoulder pads compressing his chest, only to realize he wasn’t wearing any. “Nothing is going to happen to you.”

The elevator doors opened into another beehive of activity. A large man in scrubs appeared at the end of the gurney wearing a welcoming grin as if he was the greeter at Walmart.

“Hey there, gorgeous,” he said. “I hear you’ve got a little gremlin inside of you that needs to be evicted.” He took over steering, guiding London into another curtained-off area.

The ER nurse followed, handing off the IV.

“My name is Victor. I’m your attending nurse slash bartender this evening. I’m going to get you ready for the main event, starting with this lovely cocktail.” He injected something into the IV line.

“Actually, it really doesn’t hurt anymore,” London said. “Maybe we can postpone this until another time.”

“That’s just the pain meds talking,” the ER nurse told her. She handed Trey a plastic bag, presumably filled with London’s clothing. “Good luck, you two.”

“He’s not staying,” London protested, her voice beginning to rise. “Whoa. What the heck was in that cocktail?”

Victor chuckled. “Right? Can’t beat it on a Monday night.”

He began sticking pads and wires to London’s chest. Trey danced out of the way when the nurse came over to the other side of the bed.

“Looks like you guys were on the way to a nice evening out,” Victor said. “The little buggers always seem to pop up when you’ve got something fun to do.”

Trey looked down at the sparkly handbag he still carried against his sports jacket.

“Oh, definitely not fun.” London let out a little giggle. “It was supposed to be work. I had to miss spa night for it. Now that is fun.” She attempted to make air quotes with her fingers, but the bulky pulse monitor on her finger suddenly distracted her.

“Ah.” Victor slipped some heavy socks on her feet.

London continued to fiddle with the monitor. “My client wants Mr. I-Only-Eat-Clean to be the national pitchman for his cheese. I had an awesome campaign laid out but nooooo!” She barked out a frustrated laugh. “Seff wants him, a football player who eats cardboard and has the personality of a robot, to be the face of his cheddar.”

Ouch.

Whatever was in that IV line had turned her into the drunk date of every guy’s nightmares.

“Not gonna lie, he does have a pretty face,” she continued. “But Mooz-R-Ella has more personality. And who doesn’t love a cow puppet? Am I right? But does Seff see that? Nope! Now Seff is going to take his money and run.” She seemed to deflate. “And there goes my best shot at moving into big-time advertising.”

Wait, what?

London smacked Trey in the chest. “All because this guy couldn’t resist getting in my face at the diner. I had to tell everyone I knew him. Even though I rather I didn’t.”

Victor moved to the head of the bed where he hooked up the cables and avoided looking in Trey’s direction.

“Trey thinks he can boss me around because his dad once bamboozled my mom into marrying him.”

For fuck’s sake.What were they pumping into her arm?

“London, maybe we should table this discussion until later,” Trey said.

She ignored him. “Thankfully they didn’t last long. Turns out this guy’s dad likes the idea of being married more than the actual marriage.” She shook her head. “Of course, my mom shoulda known better. She’d been buhboo—baaboo--bamboozled before. And look what that got her.” She gestured a little wildly at her head. “Me.”

Her voice trailed off. The beeping of the monitors became jarring in the awkward silence that followed.

That long ago summer, Trey had wondered about her father. She’d told him she’d been raised by a single mom, but he hadn’t pursued the subject. It felt a little hypocritical to pry when he was concealing his own identity. But now he wondered where the bastard was. Why would he abandon his child? Trey’s own parents were selfish at times, but they’d never walk out of his life.

“Are you married, Victor?” London asked out of nowhere.

The other man looked up from where he was entering something on the computer. He winked at London. “Eight wonderful years.”

“Mmm.” London sighed contentedly before reaching up and taking Trey’s chin between her fingers.

Her grip was still surprisingly strong.

And warm.

And arousing.

“This guy doesn’t believe in marriage, ya know. Just breaking hearts.”

Trey was beginning to get annoyed at her rambling. Especially since most of it was directed at him. He wrestled her hand away from his chin.

“I do not break hearts,” he ground out. “Some women just want to change the game plan midway through the relationship.”

That got a belly laugh out of her. “No chance of that anymore. Not after that article. Everybody knows your game plan verbatim.” She dropped her voice several octaves. “Marriage is a trap. An exercise in torture.”

Trey glanced over at Victor in desperation. “How much longer until they take her in to surgery?”

Victor moved toward the curtain, presumably to check. London grabbed the man’s wrist before he could escape, however.

“Ohmigosh! You should have seen his face when his grandfather told him he’d eloped. He looked like he swallowed a bug.” She broke out into another round of giggles, pointing to Trey’s face. “Yep, jus’ like that.”

“What do you expect?” he snapped before he could stop himself. “My grandfather is suddenly married to a woman I’ve never met. Maybe I’m concerned she’ll take him for everything he’s got.”

“Ooooh, that’s so sweet of you to be worried about Lars.” She slapped a palm against his chest. “But dumb.” Her head lolled back over toward Victor. “His pops married Olivia Parsons. Of the timber Parsons. Her toilet paper touches more butts than my ex-boyfriend.” She was overcome by another fit of giggles.

Well, shit.

He was beginning to feel like the dirt bag depicted in the Vanity Fair article.

“Oh, don’t look so sad.” London reached up and delicately traced her fingertip along his bottom lip.

Her touch mesmerized him.

“You have the most amazing mouth,” she whispered as her eyes followed the movement of her finger. “Did I mention he’s a great kisser, Victor?”

Victor cleared his throat. “I’ll just go check⁠—”

London sighed. “Even better than Alek Bergeron.”

Fuuuuck.

Trey followed Victor to the end of the bed.

“Hold up,” he whispered frantically. “That damn drug you filled her with is making her spill her guts. She’s a private person and she’d be mortified if anything she said made it out there.” He gestured toward the hallway with his thumb. “Even if what she’s saying is a bunch of nonsense. Spread whatever the hell gossip you want about me, but her life stays private. Got it?”

The corners of Victor’s lips slowly turned up into a smile. “Dude, not to worry. What happens in pre-op stays in pre-op. She won’t even remember what she said afterwards. But it’s not nonsense. That stuff is actually used as a truth serum in some instances.” He looked over at London who was mumbling more nonsense about kissing. “She’s lucky to have you.” The nurse winked at him. “I mean, for a brother.”

Trey dragged his fingers through his hair. Could it be true that everything London was going on about was a fact? If so, how had he gotten everything so wrong?

“You were my first kiss, you know.”

London’s softly uttered words slammed into Trey’s chest with the force of a defensive lineman.

For the first time all evening, Victor looked flummoxed. “Uh, I’m just gonna go check the status of the OR,” he mumbled before hurrying out.

“It was so magical,” London continued. She was tracing her own lips now. “I thought I was special. That it meant something.”

He returned to her bedside. His throat was so tight, words weren’t possible. Good thing, because Trey had no words. His head was reeling with the idea that everything he had believed about her these past ten years might have been a lie.

She slapped him on the chest again. Hard.

“I waited for you,” she hissed. “I waited all night. My mom had just done something insane, and I was so scared. I needed someone to talk to.” She slapped him again. “I needed you.”

Trey was having trouble reining in his pinballing thoughts. He’d messed up. Instead of trusting his gut—his heart—he’d listened to the words of Pops’ caretaker. A woman he didn’t know from Adam. A woman he’d like to strangle right about now.

Victor entered the room. “We’re ready to rock and roll.”

“Wait.” London’s voice rose in panic. “If something happens to me, you have to make sure my mom knows I love her. And Kyle. Tell him to be a good boy.” She hiccupped a sob. “And Chuck. Thank him for loving my mom. Omigosh the baby! And Lucy. And Bennie.”

“Shh.” He brushed a kiss onto her forehead. “I got this, London. You’re going to be just fine. I’ll be waiting right here for you.”

Her blue eyes were awash with unshed tears. “You promised me that once before. And I believed you. I trusted you with my heart. I waited.” She shook her head. “I won’t ever make that mistake again. I’m doing just fine on my own.”

Victor rolled her through the curtain, leaving Trey standing alone among the now silent monitors, gutted.