Chapter 32

"Would you get off your phone?"

I looked up from my screen and laughed as Chase tried to do yet another handstand in the sand. We'd been out here for half the day, and he was hell-bent on landing the trick. If we'd still been teenagers, it might not have been an issue, but our bodies just didn't move or hold ourselves up the same way anymore.

"I haven't been on it that much. Aiden's been sending me messages. You know how I worry about him."

Before I knew it, Chase landed in the sand next to me. He leaned his head on my shoulder and grabbed the phone from my hand. "So what does baby bro have to say?"

I sighed. "Not a lot. Just that he wants to talk to me about something when I get back."

Chase's head bounced off my shoulder, and a hurt expression crossed his features. I hadnt decided to return to Seattle yet. It wasn't like I had a job I was going home to. Whether I stayed here or went back, made very little difference.

"When you..."

"Chase..."

We both cut each other off as he stood back up and headed to the water's edge. I couldn't leave it like that anymore. Even if he hadn't been ready to hear it, Chase needed to know how I felt.

My arms wrapped around his waist and I breathed him in. The smell of sea spray and sunshine overwhelmed me as Chase's hat fell off, but neither of us made a move to retrieve it. It had been worn and tattered with some faded beer logo on it, so maybe it wouldn't be missed if it was dragged out to sea.

"Chase, I never want to leave you like that again."

He tensed in my embrace, but didn't pull away. He said nothing as I kept talking. "You wanted this to be a summer hookup, to go back to what you seem to think we once were, but we were always so much more. I can't separate my feelings like that. At least not with you. You mean too much to me."

There was no fighting Chase when he turned in my arms, his hands framing my face as his lips crashed to mine. When he pulled away, his gray eyes sparkled with tears that threatened to fall. "I'm so freaking scared that you'll hurt me all over again."

My heart ached at his admission, but I couldn't fault him. I'd fucked up the best thing that had ever happened to me. "I can't promise that I won't do something stupid along the way, but I love you, and I want to try."

A sob broke free from his throat as we kissed again, his arms winding around my neck. We kissed for a few moments before the spell was broken by my phone ringing in my pocket. I ignored it, wanting to go back to Chase when it started ringing again. I still hadn't answered it, but when it rang a third time, I knew something was wrong. No one called that many times unless something had happened.

"Shit. I'm so sorry. I need to answer that."

Chase didn't look judgmental when I pulled the phone from my pocket. I didn't recognize the number on the display, but it was the same number that had called the last few times. Something gross and slimy unfurled in my gut as I answered and pressed the phone to my ear. "This is Nathan Grant."

"Hi, Mr. Grant. We have a Mr. Drew Morris with us. He's in transport to Providence Medical Center in Olympia."

My heart stopped. "What do you mean, he's in transport?"

"Sir, it appears he had a cardiac emergency and we're taking him there for further testing. We won't know conclusively until he arrives."

I pinched my eyes closed. If it weren't for Chase, I would have dropped into the sand. My knees felt so damn weak. At least I wasn't stuck in the middle of college classes this time.

"You couldn't take him to the hospital in Aberdeen?"

"No. They aren't equipped to handle an emergency of this magnitude. We want to ensure he receives the best care possible."

I nodded, which was stupid because whoever the hell I was talking to couldn't see it. "Thank you. We'll start heading that way."

When the call ended, my lungs seized. I couldn't catch my breath and everything around me spun. Chase's arms tightened around me as I tried to sink to the ground.

"What happened?"

"We need to get to the hospital in Olympia."

Chase didn't even question it. He reached into my pocket, grabbed my keys, led me to my car, and helped me into the passenger seat. It felt so weird not driving my own vehicle, but driving after getting that type of news would have been a mistake. Was Uncle Drew okay? Was he awake and alert or barely hanging on? I probably should have asked those questions, but the person on the phone was only obligated to tell me the bare minimum.

That was the other thing I hated. Olympia was almost an hour and a half away. The whole reason my family hated that Uncle Drew stayed out here by himself after that stroke was because there was nothing close by. Aberdeen was larger and had a hospital, but the lady was right. They weren't equipped for large emergencies.

"Are you going to be okay?" Chase's voice was gentle, and I threaded my fingers with his when he reached across the console and held my hand.

"I really don't know." Maybe I would be once I saw my uncle, but this was only a small taste of what Chase had lived through when he'd gotten the call about his parents.

I instantly felt like shit. What was he going through at that moment? Outwardly, he seemed composed, possibly for my sake. Would he collapse the second everything calmed down again?

This time, I would be there for him the second he fell apart.

The drive felt like it took five hours. Maybe time always felt like it slowed down when you were in a hurry to get somewhere. The ominous white building that made up Providence Medical Center was overwhelming, and my feet didn't want to move to enter the building. What if the worst occurred during our drive? They'd call us to let us know he'd passed, wouldn't they?

Maybe not. Who wanted to receive that sort of news over the phone? "Hi, Mr. Grant, sorry to tell you that your boyfriend just broke twenty different traffic laws for no reason. Your uncle died en route."

Chase looked at me like I'd lost my mind when I snorted a laugh, shaking my head before heading to the front doors. My heart thudded so hard against my ribs that I was sure I was going to have my own cardiac emergency. At least we were already at the hospital.

There was a large U-shaped desk that was staffed by a bored-looking woman wearing a headset. She tapped lazily at the computer as if the lives of others' loved ones didn't hang in the balance. I approached slowly, and she lifted a manicured finger in a gesture to wait as she took a sip from a coffee cup before giving me a tight smile. "How can I help you, gentlemen?"

I frowned. "My uncle was supposed to have been brought here. I got a call to come find him..."

The woman posed with her hands over her keyboard and cocked an eyebrow at me. Crap, she lacked empathy and proper customer service skills. This had to make things miserable for anyone trying to visit a friend or family member.

"His name is Drew Morris. He was brought here from Ocean Shores with a cardiac emergency."

The woman typed, her fingers pecking one at a time over the keys. When Chase's hands landed on my shoulders, they lowered from my ears and then relaxed further when he began rubbing soothing circles into my shoulder blades with his thumbs. "It's all good, babe."

Was it good? The woman looked up at us, a faint blush spreading across her cheeks and out of nowhere she started typing much faster, as if realizing that I wasn't going to go off on her.

"It looks like he's on the fourth floor. They are only allowing one family member in with him at this time, and it looks like someone is already there. You can head up to the nurse's station if you want and let them know you're here."

I shot for the elevators. What the hell did she mean someone was already here? I was listed as his emergency contact and I hadn't called anyone.

"Would you slow down?"

I huffed as the elevator doors closed and the car began to rise.

"I'm just a little freaked."

Chase's eyebrows rose. "If anyone gets it, it's me."

I instantly fell into him, wrapping my arms around him. "I know, and I'm so thankful you're here with me for this."

Chase hugged me back, kissing the side of my head as the elevator doors opened again. A couple stood there and smiled at us before stepping aside to let us off. My palms were slick with sweat because it was one thing to have been open with my friends and family about being bisexual, but this was my first time out somewhere so public with a boyfriend. Ocean Shores was so tiny that it hardly felt like it counted.

The fourth floor was busy. Nurses were moving in and out of patient rooms and working around a big desk in the middle. I felt out of place, but walked up to the desk and asked for my uncle's room. The nurse gave me the number, but directed me to the waiting room, keeping up with the information that only one family member would be allowed in with him at a time. She refused to answer me about who was currently in his room.

Chase sat on the couch while I paced the waiting room. My legs wouldn't let me rest until I saw the man with my own two eyes. My mind raced with all the outcomes. They still hadn't told me about his current condition and maybe I'd settle the fuck down as soon as I knew something.

The clicking of heels down the hall had my heart racing. Was that the doctor coming to tell me the horrible news? A nurse to tell me that visiting hours were over and that we'd driven all this way for nothing? No... I wasn't prepared to see a very sheepish-looking Gabriella come around the corner. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a half ponytail and she looked a little too put together for what was happening with my uncle.

"Gabi..." I didn't get to finish before she ran at me and wrapped me in a tight hug. Her whole body shook with sobs. I patted her back and held her for a moment before Chase got up and joined us.

"I'm sorry. I had been giving him this cough medicine when he was sick and I wasn't thinking. They said it's not good for people with high blood pressure and it's what made his go through the roof."

I shushed her before I pushed her gently on the shoulders. Her perfect makeup was all smudged and I wondered just how long she'd been trying to hold it all together.