Chapter 28

twenty-eight

. . .

Demi

My momand Romeo walked through the door, and the tears started all over again.

“Hey, sweetheart.” My mom rushed to the side of my bed as Romeo stood back, hands shoved in his pockets, looking like he’d just robbed a bank and was ready to confess. “How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been better,” I croaked.

My gaze moved to my boyfriend, who was just watching me with concern. I answered my mom’s questions the best I could, but everything was jumbled, and my head was pounding.

“We’ve been so worried. You’re going back for surgery, and they said we can come back tomorrow. They’re going to get you all fixed up, Demi.” My mother’s words trembled.

“They said I’ll be good as new in a few days. I’m fine. Do you think you could give me a minute alone with Romeo?”

“Of course. I’ll be back first thing in the morning. I love you, Demi.” She kissed my forehead, and I flinched the slightest bit. Everything hurt. My arm, my head, my face.

“Love you, Mama.”

She left the room, and I turned my attention to the man who was clearly in despair, standing just a few feet from me. “Why are you standing so far away?”

“Jesus, Demi. I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t have come into that alley, baby.”

I tried to remember what happened. My head spun as flashes came back to me. “I heard something. Shouting maybe? And I looked out the window. There were guys with masks dressed in all black, and they were attacking you. I don’t remember what happened after that.”

He walked over to me and stroked my hand so gently I barely felt it. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

A tear landed on my hand, and I realized it was coming from him.

He looked—broken.

“Why are you sorry? You didn’t do anything.”

“It was a message from Leo. And I dragged you into my shit. And now you’re lying in this bed, and you need surgery to fix your arm. I did this to you.”

The sadness in his eyes made my chest hurt more than it already did.

“I’m going to be fine. I know we’re supposed to leave tomorrow, and I asked Dr. Westman if he could release me early, but he still hasn’t answered me.”

“You’re not going to this fucking fight. I don’t want you anywhere near him. Hell, I don’t even know if you should be near me anymore.” He ran a hand over his face, swiping the moisture from beneath his eyes.

“Don’t say that. I want to be there for you.”

He shook his head. “No fucking way. We’ll talk about it after the fight. But I’m not getting on that plane until I know you’re okay. And I’ll call the whole fucking thing off if I need to. That fucking guy did this to you. To us.”

“You’re not calling anything off. You’ve worked so hard.” My words broke on a sob. “You are not seriously breaking up with me in the hospital, are you?”

“Baby, let’s just make sure you’re okay. That’s all that matters right now.”

“I’m okay. I’m talking to you, aren’t I?” I said, not hiding my irritation. This was ridiculous. He’d been jumped by Leo’s guys, and now he thought he was bad for me?

“You’re going into surgery to put your fucking arm back together. You hit your head hard enough to get knocked unconscious. Your dad doesn’t want me anywhere near the hospital or near you. And I don’t fucking blame him, Demi. My life is messy.”

“So is mine,” I cried, just as my father came rushing into the room, with my mother shouting as she chased after him.

“What the hell is going on in here? Is this your way of helping her? Have you not done enough already?” My father’s voice boomed through the room, and my head was pounding so much that I thought it would explode.

“Stop! This is not his fault, Dad. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” My words were jumbled by my cries, and three nurses came rushing into the room.

“Everyone needs to leave now.” One of the female nurses pointed at the door as she moved beside me and checked the monitors. “We’re taking her back now, and this is not helpful.”

Romeo just stared at me as he stood beside the door. And then he bowed his head and left the room.

My heart ached because there was something in his eyes.

Something that told me he believed my father.

And my heart broke a little more with each passing minute.

My parents left the room, and I rolled to my side and let the tears fall.

And they didn’t stop until I was in the operating room with a nurse counting down from ten and telling me to relax.

I woke up to a blood pressure machine squeezing my arm and two nurses whispering. I’d been woken up every two hours through the night to make sure the concussion hadn’t caused more issues, and I’d barely slept. My arm was wrapped and sore, but it hurt less than it had before surgery.

“Can you imagine if that was your boyfriend? He’s so freaking hot.”

“And he’s a boxer and has that sort of bad-boy edge. But did you hear what everyone was saying about how devastated he was when they brought her in last night? He’s obsessed with her, apparently.”

I kept my eyes closed because the conversation was too good at the moment, and I didn’t want to interrupt.

I wanted to hear more.

“Damn. I want a man who loses it if he sees me hurt. And a man who looks like that.”

“Excuse me, ladies, but is this a conversation that we should be having with the patient sleeping beside you?” a voice interrupted. She sounded older and much more formal. I wanted to tell her it was totally fine. I liked hearing that Romeo was obsessed with me, and I already knew how hot he was, so I didn’t mind listening to them gush over him.

“Sorry,” one of them said, clearing her throat, and then they both started laughing, which told me the other woman had left the room.

“How did she possibly hear that?” one voice said.

“It’s those eagle ears,” the other one said.

“Is she awake yet?” A man’s voice entered the room.

“Good morning, Dr. Westman,” one of the nurses said, and her voice was very professional now.

I started to stir to let them know I was waking up because I was hoping to get out of here today. I was determined to get to Romeo’s fight.

I blinked a few times and opened my eyes.

“Good morning, Demi,” Dr. Westman said as he flipped through my chart. “How is the pain this morning?”

“It’s tolerable,” I said, using my uninjured arm to reach for the controller on the bed to sit up a bit.

“All right. And not being on all those heavy pain meds will help you recover much quicker because you won’t be sleeping all day. But we need to keep taking the Tylenol every four hours, all right?” He continued to study the chart.

“Do you think I can be released today? Would I be able to travel if so?”

He set the chart down and studied me. “I heard there was some excitement in here last night. That can’t be helpful after all you went through yesterday.”

“It’s fine. It was my dad making a scene.” I shrugged.

Dr. Westman rolled the stool on wheels over to the side of the bed. “You had a pretty major surgery last night, so leaving today is not an option. I’d also like to keep an eye on that concussion, so at the very least, you’ll need to stay one more night. You could get out of here sometime tomorrow, providing I like what I see with your recovery.”

Romeo’s fight wasn’t for two days. He had the weigh-in tomorrow and the fight the following night. I could still make it.

“And travel?”

“I wouldn’t recommend flying, if that’s what you’re asking. You took a hit to the head, and you need to be cautious.”

I chewed on my thumbnail as I thought about my options. “Okay. But I can be in a car, right?”

Vegas was a couple hours’ drive, so I could still make it.

“Demi, that should be the least of your concerns right now. Let’s see how you do today. We’ll take a look at the test results, and then we can discuss this further tomorrow. You need rest right now. Your body went through some serious trauma, and rest is the best thing for you at the moment.”

I nodded. The timing wasn’t great for that because I was not missing this fight. It wasn’t an option.

“I need to be in Las Vegas in two days,” I said, just above a whisper. One of the nurses was still in the room, and her gaze softened as she looked at me. “I was supposed to be on a flight this morning.”

“I understand that. But you were attacked last night, and things have changed. It doesn’t seem like your boyfriend made that flight either.” Dr. Westman pushed to his feet and jotted something down in the chart before walking out the door as I processed his words. How would he know where Romeo was? I glanced around for my phone, suddenly realizing I hadn’t had it with me when I’d run outside last night.

“Hey.” The nurse walked closer to me. “I’m Maggie, by the way.”

“Hi. I’m Demi.”

She glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was listening. “Dr. Westman is right about Romeo. He slept in the waiting room. He was there when I walked in this morning, and everyone said that he slept there.”

My chest squeezed. He was supposed to leave this morning. “Could I ask you a favor?”

“Of course.”

“Could you go see if he’s still here? He should have left for his fight this morning. And I don’t have my phone or any way to reach him. Maybe you could ask him to come back here and talk to me?”

“I’d be happy to go check.”

I used my fingers to comb through my hair, and I waited for what felt like forever. They brought breakfast to me, and I took one bite of toast and sipped the hot tea that was on the tray. I had no appetite. I was a bundle of nerves after what happened, and my anxiety was off the charts about making sure I got to the fight on time.

Maggie hurried back into the room, glancing over her shoulder again, but now she appeared to be much more nervous. “Your dad is here, and there’s some shouting out in the waiting room. But I was able to speak to Romeo before your dad arrived. He said to tell you that he wasn’t leaving town until he knew you were okay and you were going to be released from the hospital. He told me to tell you not to worry about the fight. He had it under control.”

A tear rolled down my cheek. “He needs to be there for the weigh-in tomorrow.”

“That seemed to be the least of his worries.”

“Why isn’t he coming back here to see me?”

“I asked if he wanted to come back with me, but he said after the scene in your room last night, he didn’t want to make things harder for you. He said he just needs to know that you’re okay. And then your dad came in and started screaming when he saw him there, and I ran back here because someone called security.”

“My father is unbelievable.” I shook my head. He didn’t give two shits when his rich friend’s son tried to attack me, but Romeo sleeping at the hospital because he was worried about me, that pissed him off?

He was such a hypocrite.

“Thank you so much, Maggie. Can you do one more thing for me, and I’ll never bother you again?”

“You can bother me as much as you want. This is the most excitement I’ve had since I started working here,” she said with a smile.

“Could you grab me a piece of paper and a pencil?”

She walked out of the room and came back with a sticky note pad and a pen. “Will this work?”

“This is perfect.” I quickly scribbled out a note to Romeo and folded it into a small square. “Could you find a way to get this to him?”

“I’m on it.” She left the room before looking back and waggling her brows. “I love this undercover operation.”

I chuckled, even though my heart was aching. My father would probably have Romeo escorted out of the hospital because what I’d learned over the last few weeks was obvious—my father was a bully. He would do whatever it took to get the outcome he wanted. And Romeo was not part of the outcome that he wanted for me.

But he was the only outcome that I wanted. And my father was not going to change that.

Maggie walked back into the room with my parents, and she gave me a little thumbs-up from where she stood in front of them, letting me know she’d given him the note.

I nodded in thanks, and she stepped out of the room.

“That boyfriend of yours needs to let you recover. He’s making a scene out in the waiting room.”

“I’m fairly certain the only one making a scene was you, Jack.” My mother’s tone was harsher than I’d ever heard it. “I actually spoke to him. He’s extremely worried about you, and he spent the night in those chairs because he wanted to be close if anything happened. He’s not the bad guy here.”

My father’s eyes widened. “Am I the bad guy again? Did I cause her to get her arm broken in two places and slam her head against that filthy alley? I’m the one protecting our daughter, Rose. And you better get on board.”

My mother moved closer, her jaw clenched and shoulders ramrod straight as she stared at my father. “I’ve always protected our children. You are the one who needs to get on board. And Romeo Knight is not my enemy, nor is he a danger to Demi. He loves our daughter fiercely, and he would protect her at all costs. I don’t believe you can say the same.”

I couldn’t believe the tension between them, and a part of me wondered, for the first time since everything had come out, if they’d ever be able to repair their relationship.

Maybe all the secrets that had been uncovered were too much for my mom to forgive.

“I’ve admitted that I made mistakes. Hell, I’m not even living in my own home, and I’m doing my best to fix that. But you can’t keep throwing it in my face if you want to move forward. A crime was committed last night, and I am here to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

I shook my head as anger coursed through my veins. “Then go after the guys who jumped him. I love him, and he loves me, and I don’t care if you are on board with that. You don’t get to tell me who to love, nor do you get to push him out of my life. You may have the power to get him removed from the hospital, but I’ll get released, and I’ll fix things with him the minute I’m out of here.”

My father crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me. “You’re not going anywhere until they run those tests and we make sure you’re okay.”

“You can drag this out as long as you want to. It won’t change a thing.”

And that was the honest truth.

Because I will never stop loving Romeo.