Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

Ashley

“Y ou need to take a break,” Luke told her for the millionth time.

“Would you leave if this were Paisley?” At his silence, she continued, “No, you wouldn’t. You can join me or you can leave, but I’m staying.”

Carter had been asleep for a full day, sedated and recovering from the shot, the blood loss, and the concussion. She had only left his side to go to the bathroom and once to shower when Nate had shown up with clothes for her.

She hadn’t questioned how he’d gotten her clothes or that it meant that he’d rifled through her things, including intimate items. Worry for Carter had stopped her from enjoying the shower. Eager to get back to him, she’d gotten clean and returned to her chair at his bedside.

The doctor and nurses had come in and out, giving her updates on his condition, Ryker asking questions and taking notes. Her head couldn’t put the words together with all the medical information. She was smarter than that, but it was like her brain didn’t want to know.

“I’ll go get you some food.” Luke stood and left the room, leaving her and Ryker with Carter.

“He’s just worried about you,” Ryker said. “Carter won’t be happy you won’t take care of yourself.”

“I let the medics check me out. You picked up antibiotics; I got a tetanus shot. I took care of me.” They might have had to force her, but she had.

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it. Being rude to everyone that tries to help you isn’t going to wake him up faster. The doctor said they won’t wake him for another day. You should go get some sleep.”

“I don’t want to.” She wasn’t leaving him.

“I had to try. Are you going to stay here with him when this is over?” Ryker asked.

“If he wants me to. I don’t know after all this.” She bit her lip, so worried about if they had a future and him being okay.

“He will.” Ryker stood and walked to the window. “Since you’ve got nothing but time, want to talk about that job offer?”

Ashley sighed. No, she didn’t. But if it kept him from trying to make her leave, she would agree. “Go for it.” The last thing she cared about was a job right now.

Ryker sat back down on the other side of Carter and began to talk. “I know you don’t really have a plan for what to do now that your degree is finished.”

“You can’t know that,” she said defensively.

“Calm down,” he told her. “It wasn’t meant as a dig at you. I’m saying that I may have the perfect opportunity for you. How would you like to be in charge of the training center that Carter proposed?”

“What?” She gasped.

“It keeps you with him, which I think is what you both want. I also plan to have Carter not just train, but also run a team. This op wasn’t perfect, I think we can all admit that, but the four of them worked together pretty well. Liam is an outlier because he hasn’t really worked with Nate and Christian, but I think it’s a good idea.”

Her heart sank at the thought of Carter continuing to put himself in harm’s way.

“He wouldn’t have to leave as often, mostly manage the operations because Matt has decided it’s not for him. He wants to do the computer stuff and likes being in the city where we already are. I have a vision that involves turning the training center into a community, state-of-the-art gym that would help pay the bills.”

“I don’t know if that’s really warranted out here.” She couldn’t see many people needing the gym with so much work happening on ranches already.

“If it’s not, that’s fine, but my research says it won’t be a bad investment. The gym doesn’t need to be very successful, but including the community would go a long way toward them embracing us here.”

“Catherine?” Ashley asked with a grin. That sounded exactly like something a PR person would say.

He nodded, not the least bit bothered by that. “The thought is we could also eventually have you and Carter run Guardian Legion headquarters out of the building. We can have you both help with clients for meetings, and then Matt can do the backend deep dives on them.”

She was scared to get excited about it because it sounded like a dream job. Here with Carter was ideal, but working with him? That might be too much.

“It’ll depend on what Carter says when he wakes up. I won’t force myself on him, and he’s been through a lot.” She bit her lip, still concerned that when he woke up, he wouldn’t want her to stay.

“He has,” Ryker agreed. “You both have. I don’t need an answer today, but I thought giving you the information would be helpful. I’m not staying long after he wakes up, and neither is Luke.”

“You sure?” Ashley rolled her eyes. Luke had been hovering since they’d found her.

Ryker nodded. “He’s got things to do and a family to return to. We’ll all see each other, but he doesn’t need to stay here for that.”

She wanted to jump on this offer, but it helped to know she had time to think about it. “Do you have Carter’s plans?”

“He didn’t show you?” Ryker tilted his head in curiosity.

“No. I asked, and he told me some but wanted to do it on his own.”

“Makes sense.” He grabbed his briefcase and pulled out his laptop. “They weren’t completed and can use some tweaking, but you can look them over. Maybe don’t tell him I showed you.”

“What are you doing?” Luke returned with a tray of food and set it on the bedside table she’d been about to put the laptop on.

“I told her about the job offer,” Ryker explained. “She wanted to look over the plans that Carter sent me.”

“You don’t have to take that,” Luke assured her. “You can live with us if you don’t stay here, and there’s no reason to think you’ll need to work yet. You’ve been through a lot.”

Ashley rolled her eyes.

“Shut up,” Ryker said. “We’ve been over this and you’re already taking things too far.”

“This is my sister. She needs to know that she has options, and I’m just telling her what they are.”

“Do you seriously think I’d want to sit around and do nothing?” Ashley jumped in.

“Not nothing. You can help with Garrett. I know Paisley would love to have you.”

“I have no desire to sit around and spend other people’s money. I plan to work. It’s just a matter of where and doing what.”

“You’re thinking about taking it?” Luke sounded shocked.

“It depends on Carter.” She wasn’t about to pretend it was anything else.

“I’d like you to be somewhere close by for a change.” He almost pouted.

“Luke, I don’t like the city. In fact, I hate it. I can put up with it, but I don’t want to. I love it here, though. I love him, and I hope that after he wakes up and all is said and done, we’ll both be taking Ryker’s offers.” She really hoped so.

He folded his arms as he took a seat.

“Ignore him,” Ryker told her. “You do what works for you and he’ll figure out how to deal with it.”

Ashley gave Ryker a smile. She was starting to really like him if for no other reason than he ignored her brother’s nonsense.

“Eat,” Luke demanded.

“Fine.” Feeling better than she had since they’d gotten here, she took the lid off the food.

A slice of pizza, fries, a burger, and a small salad with ranch waited for her. It was such a weird mash of things that she sent Luke a questioning look.

“It was all they had that even looked decent. If you’d leave this room, you could go to a restaurant and get better food.” He looked hopeful.

She had no intention of leaving, so she dug in. Hospital food was exactly what she expected of it, not great. She forced herself to eat every bite just to shut Luke up for a few minutes.

The doctor came in shortly after she finished and gave them an update on Carter’s latest bloodwork and care plan.

“Tomorrow, we will slowly lower the sedation until he wakes up. He’ll be in pain from the gunshot and maybe have a headache, but I think he’s going to come out of this without a lot of lasting side effects. We’ll want physical therapy, but let’s determine that after we see his movement.”

“Thank you.” Ashley smiled. It was great news.

“Of course. How are you? Any new symptoms?” He directed these questions to Ashley.

“I’m fine. Really.” She pulled up her sleeves so he could see the clean bandages on her wrists. “This is the worst of it and they aren’t hurting, just annoying.”

“Glad to hear it.” He handed her a business card. “If you need anything, let me know. Same goes for him.”

She took it and set it on the table.

Ryker stood and clasped his shoulder. “Dr. Thomas, I’d like to have a discussion with you when you have time.”

“I can’t tell you her medical details.”

Ryker laughed. “Mostly unrelated. I don’t expect you to tell me anything. This is a personal conversation.”

Dr. Thomas looked down at his watch. “I’ve got fifteen minutes.”

“Works for me. Can we go somewhere private?” They left the room to talk.

“What do you think that’s all about?” Luke asked.

“Clearly, he’s trying to recruit the good doctor to the dark side.”

“Excuse me?” Luke’s shock was comical.

“I’d bet good money that he’s going to ask him to join his security business.”

Luke blinked a few times. “You think?”

Ashley nodded. “He likes him and would immediately have started thinking of how they could work together.” It seemed to be what Ryker did, and Luke should know that.

“Catherine has really changed him. He used to be the silent type and demanding. Now he’s out there being nice and collecting people to work with. It’s weird.”

She laughed at him. “Worried your bestie might find a new one?”

“Nope.” Luke glared at her. “He’s my neighbor and about to be related to me.”

“Not letting him get away then?”

“Not a chance.”

Ryker returned and made Luke leave for the hotel. He left the laptop behind for Ashley so she could look through the plans. It was nice to have some peace and quiet, but she longed to hear Carter’s voice.

“This is really good,” she said out loud. “You really had a plan, and I can see where it was going.”

Turning away from the computer, she took hold of Carter’s hand and brought her lips down to kiss his knuckles. If she was right, he was already planning on her staying and creating ways for her to be needed here. Or it was wishful thinking.