Page 60 of Falling for the Orc All-Star

“He’ll go either way. I’ll get him. Are you going to wait, or do you need to head back?”

“I’ll walk over with him. Marina’s good people, and Kevin is her only family in town.”

I nod, legs feeling numb as I walk to the back.

Marina isn’t a human. Can they even help her? Will people discover her secret? What if someone finds out what she is, and they lock her up in a lab and experiment on her?

What if something is really wrong? What kind of little accident? Why lightheaded?

Kevin looks up when I enter the big therapy room. King isn’t in it. “Hey, Ingrid. We’ll be done in about thirty minutes. Trying some aquatherapy today to prevent those muscles from getting too tight. If you want to see your boyfriend, he’s in the private therapy pool.”

“Great.” I nod, and the words wash over me. I’ll be able to focus on them later. Right now, I realize that I have to give Kev bad news. This is another reason I left nursing. Too much bad news, too many heartbroken faces, too many grieving, sobbing people. I put on a calm voice and smile, and toy with the idea of just telling him Eddieis in the waiting room and wants to see him. Let Eddie be the messenger.

But I take a deep breath and seize Kevin’s hand, watching the light instantly go out of his eyes and his smile vanish. “What? Oh, God. Ingrid, are you going to break up with him? King is totally in love with you, girl, and I think if you just give him some time—”

“I’m not breaking up with him. He’s great. Kevin, Marina had a little accident at work, and she’s next door. At the hospital. She wants you to come sit with her.”

“Marina? Hospital?” Kevin says only two words, and then he’s a blur. I can barely see him as he grabs his satchel and tears back out of the room.

I follow him, trying to keep up. “King—”

“You’re a nurse, he’ll be fine. Get him out in thirty minutes. Eddie!”

Eddie catches the human torpedo that is a frantic Kevin Bailey. “Hey, man. You’re okay. She’s okay. She’s going to be just fine,” The barrel-chested EMT soothes, hands on Kevin’s shoulders.

Kevin lets out a shaking breath. “What happened? Was it in the pool? Oh, God, did she hit her head?”

“I don’t know. Someone found her in the changing room, passed out, but she’s awake now, and she wants you. You gotta keep it together, okay, stud?” Eddie says firmly. “You’re all Marina has, so you go hold her hand and be the rock.”

“I’m the rock,” Kevin repeats.

“Damn right you are.” Eddie shuffles him out, waving over his shoulder at me.

I stare after them. Eddie was great at handling our freaked-out friend. I’m not okay, though. I’m shaky.

And I want King.

The realization hits my heart like a fist.

For years, I’ve handled things alone. Now, I just want to go sit by him. Be near him. Soak in my worries with him. As I walk slowly back to the therapy pool, I wonder how he’ll handle it. Tell me not to worry? Dismissive waves? Freaking out worse?

This is a test that no boyfriend has ever made it to, let alone through.

Kevin is Marina’s rock. I’m wondering if King will be mine, or if his self-centered ways will come back, or if his immaturity will leave me hanging.

Part of me hopes so, so I can end the rosy dream I keep having, the one where maybe I don’t just have what I need, I get what Iwant. King makes me think of all the dreams I let go, the dreams I traded away for my perfect little corner of peace and contentment.

A much larger part is praying that I’ve finally found the other half, that I can have peace, and contentment, and love, and passion, and joy, and...

All the things Kev and Marina seem to have.

I run in my non-slip sneakers, bursting in on King as he floats, a green starfish in a sea of gray-blue water in the small pool.

He sits up and looks at me with a huge grin—and then it fades and he swims to the edge, pulling himself up with his muscular arms in one or two strokes.

King is glistening and gorgeous, but what matters is that he knows. He instantly holds his arms out, and his voice is a low snarl that resonates from his chest and ripples across the water. “Ingrid? My Ingrid, what’s wrong?”

“Kevin had to leave.” I slide to my knees and against his chest, not caring if my scrubs soak through as he grabs me in a protective bear hug. He rocks me and makes me feel small and safe again, like I don’t have to carry the whole world alone—even if I’m capable. “Marina is in the emergency room. I don’t know what’s wrong, just that she—that they’re running tests. That could be nothing, or itcould be huge. What if they realize she isn’t human? Would they call the police? Or the FBI or something?” I babble, digging my hands into his wet skin.