Page 40 of Beneath Your Beautiful

Killian held me in his arms, stroking my hair, his touch so gentle I thought I was imagining it. “Killian?”

He pressed his forehead against mine. “Why did you do that, baby?”

Did he just call me baby? Was he sitting on the ground? With his forehead pressed against mine? Mm, he smelled good.

“I didn’t want you to get hurt,” I murmured.

He pulled away and looked at my face. “I’m built to take a punch. You’re not.”

Did I get punched? I rubbed my head and felt a lump under my fingers. “My head hurts.”

“I’m sorry.” His voice cracked on the word, and his arms around me tightened. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

“But what—” I looked over at two police officers who had just arrived on the scene. A small crowd had gathered, and everyone was talking at once. Why were the cops here?

“Killian,” one of the cops said, like he knew Killian. “Do we need to call your father?”

His father? “Don’t callhim,” I said, without thinking.

Killian gave me a little squeeze. “Shhh. It’s okay.” Somehow, still holding me in his arms, Killian got to his feet. I couldn’t imagine what kind of muscles he needed to perform that maneuver so smoothly.

“No,” Killian said, shaking his head at the cop. “That won’t be necessary.”

“Are you okay, miss?” the other cop asked.

“I’m okay.” I had no idea what I was, except drunk and confused, and in Killian’s arms where I felt safe.

“She’s not okay,” Killian said. “She needs a paramedic. She fell and hit her head.”

“The paramedics are on their way,” someone said.

“Can you tell me what happened?” the cop asked me. “How did you hit your head?”

“I don’t know.”

“We were told there was a fight.”

Hailey rushed over and stood next to the cop. “I saw it. Killian tried to get Eden out of the way because that guy…” Hailey was pointing at something or someone I couldn’t see. “Adam. He attacked Killian. And she jumped in to…I don’t know what Eden was doing. But she would have gotten punched by that asshole if Killian hadn’t pushed her out of the way. We’ve been drinking so she stumbled and fell,” Hailey said, as if that explained everything.

Oh my God. I was an idiot. I closed my eyes. All I wanted to do was sleep. “You need to stay awake, baby.” Killian’s voice came from somewhere far away. “Open your eyes.”

Baby. There it was again. Was I dreaming? “But I’m tired,” I mumbled. “So tired.”

“I know you are. But just stay awake for me.Please,” he said, a desperation in his voice I’d never heard before.

“For you…” I forced my eyes open and snuggled against his chest. It wasn’t a bad place to hang out. Not bad at all. “I’ll stay awake.”

The paramedics arrived and whisked me off to the hospital in an ambulance, despite my protests I was fine. Because Killian insisted I wasn’t.

* * *

I woke up when I heard a door shutting and the locks clicking into place, still groggy, my mouth desert-dry, and a jackhammer pounding inside my head. A soft knock came on my bedroom door followed by the door opening. Killian was carrying a paper bag and two coffees, one of which was iced coffee, the exact shade of creaminess I liked it.

I pulled the sheet over my head and heard Killian chuckling. “I know you’re in there, Sunshine.”

Sunshine. Right now, I felt more like a storm cloud. What was going on here? Baby repeated in my head, along with a million other things I’d rather not remember, some of which I didn’t. My night still had gaps I couldn’t fill in.

“I’m so embarrassed. I can’t come out.”