29. Mercy

Lucy stumbledout of her room at five-thirty, rubbing her eyes as her high ponytail flopped on her head from rolling around in her sleep. Despite looking like she hadn't slept a wink, I knew better. I'd heard her snoring all night long. It took everything in me not to walk into her room and smother her with a pillow just so I didn't have to hear her sleeping peacefully as I paced the hotel room.

I tried going to sleep. Hell, I even took a sleeping pill that Patrick offered me when he dropped by last night to check on me. Yet, I still tossed and turned until I finally got out of bed at three in the morning and made myself some coffee. I was now on my fifth cup and feeling shittier for the caffeine racing through my system.

Lucy stretched with a big yawn as she grabbed a mug. "Man, that was an amazing bed. Do you think they'd let me bring it back with me?"

"I doubt that."

Setting her cup down, she picked up the coffee pot and glared at the minuscule contents. "There's no coffee."

"There was coffee. You just didn't get up in time for it."

She glanced at the clock, her eyes bugging out. "It's only five-thirty! What am I even doing up? And how did you drink all the coffee?"

"I poured it, then drank it. It was pretty straightforward."

She shoved the carafe back into the coffeemaker and snarled, "You know, a girl without coffee is like…" She squinted as she tried to come up with something to say. "It's like a person who really needs coffee!"

I set down my own mug and walked over to refill the coffee. I was going to have another cup anyway, so I made a whole pot, knowing it would take several cups to wake her up.

"Maybe I should get one that raises at the head," she said thoughtfully.

"What?"

"You know, a new bed."

"There's nothing wrong with your mattress at your place."

"Nothing wrong is not the same as sleeping on clouds. And I am a girl who needs to sleep on clouds."

"I would take any sleep at all right now."

"Why didn't you take the sleeping pills?"

"I did. They didn't work."

"They should have knocked you on your ass."

Didn't I know it. But apparently, the power of my mind was greater than any drug I could be given.

A loud knock at the door had me nearly jumping out of my skin. I wasn't expecting anyone this early in the morning. I nearly fell out of my chair in my race to get to the door. When I swung it open, Patrick stood there with a grin on his face.

"Ready to go?"

"Go where?"

He laughed and swung a dry-cleaning bag in my direction. "To the hospital, of course. We can sneak in when they're getting him ready for surgery."

"He doesn't want me there."

"Yeah, and that's a good idea, why?"

"It's not, but I have to respect his wishes."

"Right," he said, drawing out the word. "The wishes of a man who hallucinated your death and was absolutely devastated. See, what he doesn't know is that if we sneak in there, he'll think he's hallucinating you again. See? It's perfect! He'll never know you were there."

"I can't do that to him!" I shrieked.

"I would totally do that to him," Lucy said, walking up behind me with a bowl of cereal. "Any chance I could get in on some of the action?"

"Lucy!" I snapped.

"I was hoping you'd say that. I have a uniform for you also. If you could provide the distraction?—"

"You will not do that," I insisted.

She grabbed it out of his hands. "Cool." Shoving the bowl of cereal into my hands, she headed into the living room. "Any chance there are any other hotties hanging around?"

"Tons of them," Patrick said, whistling as he entered the suite. "Damn, Cash put you up in a nice room. He even got you food," he said in astonishment as he opened the fridge. "Just how long are you staying?"

"Are you single?" Lucy asked Patrick.

"Happily unattached," he grinned. "But always looking for a good time."

"We're not doing this," I said, slamming the bowl down on the counter, spilling cereal everywhere.

"Yeah? I'm always looking for a good time," Lucy said as she stripped off her pants right there in front of him.

"I would be more than happy to stay here with you for as long as you need," he grinned. "You know, for protection until Chase is out of the hospital."

Striding over to him, I got in his face. "I don't need protection and I don't need you staying here." Then I snatched the clothes out of Lucy's hand. "And we are not going to the hospital to trick him into thinking I'm a hallucination. That's just?—"

"Mean? Evil? Twisted?" Patrick grinned. "Trust me, this is what I do."

"Why would you do that?" I asked in astonishment.

"I like it," Lucy grinned. "It's exactly the type of fun I'm looking for."

"Because life is too boring to always be serious." He plopped down on the couch and kicked his feet up on the table. "Do you have cable?"

"You know, it's really early. I'd appreciate it if you could leave. I have things to do."

"Right," he said, flipping the channels. "Lots of pacing and muttering to yourself. I heard all about it from the guys."

"How would they—" I stopped and narrowed my eyes at him. "Patrick…"

"Hmm?" he said, not bothering to look at me.

"Are there cameras in here?"

He snickered, which made me feel better. "Of course there are."

And then I felt like shit. Taking a deep breath, I swallowed down my anger. This was what they did. It wasn't his fault that all his friends were massive assholes.

"I want you out now."

"No can do, se?orita. Nope, where you go, I go."

I grabbed him by the ear and yanked him out of the seat as he screamed like a girl. Marching to the door, I ignored his pleas for me to release him. "You will not come back. Do you understand me?"

"Well, that's kind of hard since I have a key and all."

Glaring at him, I slammed the door in his face.

"I'll just wait out here!" he shouted through the door.

Turning, I huffed my way over to the couch and sat down, screaming into a pillow. Lucy still stood there naked, striking different poses.

"What are you doing?"

"Uh…if there are cameras in here, I'm ensuring that I end up with a really hot guy at the end of the night." She looked down at her bra and panties. "Do you think I should put on a different set?"

Storming off to my room, I slammed the door, then flopped down on my bed. It would have been so easy to take Patrick up on his offer. I desperately wanted to see Chase, but I would never do that to him. I knew what it was like for people to not care about your wants and needs when you were the one who was sick. I would never put him in that same position. It would be a total betrayal of the trust between us. And if we had any hope of surviving, I needed him to still want me on his side when this was over.

If he survived the surgery.