3. Xander

3

Xander

Once I’m face-to-face with him again, it takes a moment to catch my breath. After two years, Bjorn Osouf still makes my pulse race. Even in a drab hospital gown, his pallor gray, with dark circles under his eyes, and recovering from a stab wound that almost killed him, he’s confident and sexy as ever. Bastard. I spare a glance to the person standing near the bed and slow my progress, taking a second, longer look. The strikingly attractive stranger is all angular features and loads of self-confidence. I snap my eyes to Bjorn, pointedly ignoring his incredibly attractive guest since they don’t fit into my plan. “Excuse me. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ll come back.”

“It’s alright.” The blond’s bright green eyes peer into my very soul. I do my best not to stare back, but damn, it’s difficult. “I was just leaving.” Hesitantly, they reach in Bjorn’s direction before patting the blanket over his leg. “It was good to see you. I’m glad you’re better.” Their eyes meet briefly, and I narrow mine, wondering who they are to each other. “Take care, Bjorn.”

Bjorn looks like he wants them to stay, and a stab of absolutely unwanted jealousy slices through me. With gritted teeth, Bjorn pushes himself into a sitting position, and what little color he had drains from his face. “Kaino.”

Kaino. An unusual name for an uncommonly beautiful person. I hate it on principle. Kaino smiles at Bjorn but turns away. It’s only as they glide past me with effortless grace that I realize how petite they are, barely coming past my shoulder. I feel like a lumbering, graceless clod in comparison. Not needing the negative energy, I refocus on Bjorn, who gives me infinitely better feelings. “Are you up for another visitor? Or should I come back?”

Bjorn is obviously lagging, but he smiles and holds out his arms. “Get over here.”

With a rush of relief, I stride across the remaining distance, and rather than sitting in the chair, I plop myself on the edge of Bjorn’s bed, leaning down to sink into the hug. “You’re an idiot.” I bury my nose in his hair and breathe in the mix of shampoo, sweat, and hospital. It’s not the best combination, but there’s still the scent of Bjorn under it all. “Do you not have a single ounce of self-preservation?” I sit up and let him go, bringing his hand to my lips to kiss his knuckles.

His laugh fills the room, and something inside my chest relaxes. “Hello to you too, Xander.”

“Oh, fuck off.” Unable to help myself, I press a kiss to his cheek, which, to my surprise, he leans into. “How are you doing?”

He slowly lowers himself onto his pillow, and I smooth out the blanket for him. “Honestly?”

I look at him over my glasses. “No. Please lie to me.”

His smile is a fraction of what it was. “I’m tired. And there’s still a bit of pain, even though they gave me a low dose of the good drugs earlier. With all the moving around I’ve been doing, I’m counteracting the effectiveness.” I give him my best displeased look, which only makes him waggle his eyebrows. “That’s also not having the intended effect. You know your stern professor look does it for me.” He squeezes my hand. “Do you want me to play the naughty student?”

In spite of myself, I laugh. “You’re ludicrous.”

“But you looooove it.” He singsongs the words, and I hate that he’s right. His energy wanes, and he sags into the mattress. “It’s good to see you.”

Swallowing past the unexpected lump in my throat, I manage a reply. “It’s good to see you, too.” In fact, it’s wonderful to see him.

“So, what’s up? Why are you here?”

He asks like I dropped by on a whim. Okay, it might have been a whim. There had been a hard-fought battle with myself over opening closed doors and leaving well enough alone, but I didn’t put up much of a fight. “You were stabbed. According to the news, you almost died on the way to the hospital. And yes, I know, it’s the press , but when they kept you in the hospital for a few days, I knew it was serious. You’ll be pleased to know that I held off visiting until I thought you might be up for company.” Bjorn’s expression is all dopey affection. He’s tiring, or the medication he mentioned is kicking in. And as much as I’d love to, I shouldn’t stay longer. “This is a brief visit, though. I have class, and you look like you need some sleep.”

He rolls his head back and forth on the pillow, like a small child. One with a heavy five o’clock shadow. “Nooo. You only just got here.” He pulls my hand toward him and rests it on his chest. “I want you to stay.”

I glance toward the door, thinking of Kaino. “No one will mind?”

He furrows his brows and frowns. “Who would mind?”

“I thought perhaps Kaino…”

I trail off at Bjorn’s chuckle. “No. Kaino came by to see how I was doing, too. Although they didn’t berate me. Much. But we’re not together. Not now, anyway. It’s been years since I’ve seen them.” I note the pronouns, though I doubt I’ll have a need to remember them. “We dated a handful of years ago, but we broke up. Schedules didn’t mesh, and our focus was on our careers. Gunnar was also going through a bad patch, and I just couldn’t give a relationship my full attention. It was an amicable split.” He attempts a wink, but his eyelids won’t cooperate, so it’s more of a slow blink. “Sounds familiar, huh?”

“A bit.” Okay, maybe more than a bit. “Though it seems the two of you were more mature about things. Our breakup wasn’t my finest moment.”

I try to ease my hand from his, but he clings to it with a surprising amount of strength for someone lying in a hospital bed. “Breakups are rarely anyone’s finest moment. You and I eventually parted on friendly terms, so it all worked out.”

“Please. Have you had a hostile split with anyone? Ever?” Bjorn is almost always even-tempered and amiable. One might even say he’s more of a jokester, if dad jokes count. The only person I’ve ever seen him lose his temper with is Gunnar. I’m sure there’ve been others, but it’s so rare as to be almost inconceivable.

To his credit, he gives my question due consideration. “No? I don’t think so. As you frequently told me, I’m too empathetic for my own good.”

Groaning, I cover my face with my free hand. “God, why do you remember all of my worst moments?”

He presses my palm against his cheek, his stubble scraping against my skin. “Mmm. Your hand is soft. And I don’t think it was your worst moment.” His grin is wide, and if he were more awake, he’d probably be laughing.

“Thank you for that.” I’m positive he misses my sarcasm.

Leaning into my hand, he closes his eyes. “If you keep things amicable, it makes running into exes so much easier. There aren’t any unnecessary conflicts to tiptoe around.” I don’t doubt he’s left a trail of broken hearts behind him.

“You have enough stress from your job and Gunnar.” That seems to make him pause, and for a moment, I wonder if I’ve overstepped. We haven’t seen each other in years, though from how things are going, you’d never guess. Being with Bjorn was always easy. We just never seemed to have time.

He settles deeper into his pillow. “My job, yes. Gunnar, not so much anymore. We’re working on things.”

“That’s good.” And it is. They both deserve some peace after everything life has thrown at them. Bjorn yawns widely, and that’s my cue to leave. He’s wiped out, and I need to get to class. “If it’s alright with you, I’d love to catch up when you’re not quite so sleepy.”

He hums, leaning harder into my palm. “Yeah. I’d like that.” He yawns again. “Need your number.”

“I can make that happen.” I stay still for another minute, letting the quiet settle around us, soaking in the moment as he drifts into sleep. Carefully sliding my hand from under his cheek, I ease myself off the bed and grab a pen from my pocket. Looking for a notepad or something to write on, and finding nothing, I scrawl my name and number on the paper hospital menu, then circle it, leaving it for him to find when he wakes up. With one last, fond look, I quietly slip out the door.