Page 33 of If I See You Again

Malcolm

I did my best to take slow breaths as I drove to work. Leaving David alone in my apartment shouldn’t be weird. This was something that normal couples did. God, that felt weird. I was actually part of a couple now.

My thoughts continued to swirl as I maneuvered through heavy and aggressive traffic.

Chicago drivers were horrible on the best of days, but I missed the person who thought they had enough time to take the corner, effectively cutting me off.

It was too late. My SUV suddenly slammed into their side, and my airbag deployed.

Pain exploded across my face as everything around me stopped.

Shit. This wasn’t how today was supposed to go.

“ S ir, you can’t just barge in here.”

The emergency room curtain ripped back to reveal David.

I’d never seen him so disheveled in public.

He was no longer the calm, cool, collected, and put-together man.

No. He wore a pair of gray sweats that looked like they were too tight.

Hell, even the T-shirt he’d thrown on suffered the same fate.

Maybe he’d grabbed some of my clothes in his haste.

“Sir?” The nurse tried again, pulling at his arm, but David wouldn’t budge. Those deep blue eyes were burning holes into my head as he kept watching me like he wouldn’t be happy until he knew I was okay.

“You heard?” I asked, waving off the nurse, who huffed in irritation.

“It was on the news. I came as soon as I figured out where they took you. Are you okay? Did they check everything?”

It was a little overwhelming how the man was suddenly at my side, grabbing my hand before checking over my body. My face was a little bruised. You hear all these stories about how hard those airbags hit, but you never quite believe it until it happens to you.

“The news?”

David didn’t answer, just pulled me forward, running his hands down my back, which was bare beneath the hospital gown.

He tapped on my lower back a few times, and I knew what he was doing.

My eyes welled up a little as it hit me.

He was making sure that I was really okay.

After a kidney donation, you had to protect the remaining organ.

“Would you relax? The doctors know I was a donor. They did a full panel, and I’ll have to stay overnight for observation just in case there’s damage that doesn’t present until later.”

David released me and I relaxed back onto the bed, but he didn’t calm down at all. His fingers threaded through his hair as he paced around the small room.

“How did this even happen?”

“It wasn’t my fault. Someone was impatient and went when they shouldn’t have. Both of our cars are totaled. Hers is worse than mine.” My rambling explanation wasn’t helping anything. The more I talked, the more stressed David looked.

“God, I—I can’t believe…” His eyes slammed closed as he processed what he was trying to say.

“Are you okay?”

“No. No, I’m not okay. Jesus, Malcolm. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this yet, but I don’t attach myself to anyone. Somehow, I’ve latched onto you. You tried and tried to push me away, and I wouldn’t let you. The second I recognized your car—”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you panic.

” As much as I wanted to climb out of bed and pull him into a hug, I couldn’t.

There were too many wires attached to me, not to mention the annoying-as-hell IV in my arm.

Everything made me itchy, like I wanted to pull it all off me and make a run for it.

It all served a purpose, but it didn’t make me feel any better.

I’d watched my brother in this position for far too long to be in it myself.

It was more than enough to have me on the verge of a panic attack.

That was when David’s eyes widened, like he realized what he’d been saying. “No, no. Gorgeous, never apologize for something like that. It was an accident, and not even one you caused. I’m more panicked that I had just been talking to…”

He trailed off again before he sat next to me on the bed.

When his large, warm hand wrapped around mine, my heart rate spiked.

“What is it, David?” The question felt a little stupid, if I was being honest. He had something profound he was trying to tell me, and I was interrupting the moment with inane conversation.

He shook his head. “I’d just been telling my sister about how different you were. How special. So yeah, this scared the shit out of me.”

Butterflies kicked up in my gut when I realized what he was saying.

I’d been shoving him away at every turn.

Now, more than ever, I was thankful that I’d finally given in and given him a chance.

He deserved all the nice things, especially with the way he was so worried about me.

I’d never had anyone worry about me like that.

Hell, I’d even called Angela to let Mr. Thomas know about the accident, my supposed best friend, and she hadn’t rushed down here to see me like the man who’d seen the report on the damn news.

Which was another thing. How had David found out through the news? Sure, we were only clients, but we were still technically working on the account. We hadn’t completely finished things yet. Had Angela not told Mr. Thomas?

A new sort of panic suddenly gripped me—my boss hadn’t received the message. I scrambled for my phone, which had taken a beating in the accident as well. The screen was pretty cracked, and that was why I’d only made the one call. I’d sliced my finger open just getting to Angela in my contact list.

Sure enough, I was displaying several missed calls. I cursed under my breath, squeezing my eyes closed as I tried to think of how to fix all of this. It wasn’t like my friend to let me down in such a way.

But then the curtain pulled back once more with another exasperated nurse in tow.

Angela stood there with the biggest bouquet I’d ever seen.

Her eyes were wide as they landed on me lying in the hospital bed.

She shoved past David, dropping the flowers on the little meal tray before dropping on top of me and giving me a giant hug.

“Jesus, Malcolm. You’re not allowed to scare me like that. You said accident. I didn’t think anything of it, and then they were showing the wreckage on the news…”

Good lord, I hadn’t thought it was all that bad, but maybe it was worse than I remembered. Or maybe the media was making it out to be more than it was. We had blocked off a good portion of Michigan Avenue.

I patted her back before looking up at David. An amused smile spread over his lips as he watched her. But I had things I needed to discuss with my friend.

“Angela?”

She sniffled, lifting her head. Her pretty hazel eyes were red rimmed, and she wiped snot from her nose. “Yeah?”

“Did you happen to tell Mr. Thomas about what was happening?”

Her eyes widened again.

“Fucking shit!” She bolted off me, reaching into her purse to pull out her phone.

Leave it to her to forget something so important.

Then again, she’d been my friend for so long, and she’d been with me through the worst of it, with Marcus as well.

It was still impressive that David had made it to the hospital before she had.

Angela spoke quietly, but quickly, her eyes darting around the small room before giving me a tight smile and a thumbs up. “Of course, Mr. Thomas. You want to talk to him?”

She held out the phone, and I took it from her. My hands shook a little because there was no telling how the man would handle the situation.

“Mr. Thomas?” I asked as soon as I pressed the device to my ear.

“Mr. Fisher, so you are still alive, after all?”

It was hard not to laugh at the response. “Uh, yes, sir. My car? Not so lucky.”

“And you didn’t think to call?”

I took a deep breath through my nose and let it out through my mouth. Most employers were understanding in emergencies, but after the last few weeks, I’d been walking on eggshells with my boss. It was foolish to think that his good mood from the day before had changed anything.

“My apologies, sir. Things have been a little hectic, and my phone is pretty damaged. I was able to get a hold of Angela, and I guess she forgot to pass on the message.”

At least my friend had the decency to look a little embarrassed about the whole thing. I couldn’t blame her. There was no telling how I would have reacted if she had called me. Trauma did the strangest things to people.

“I’m not sure that’s any better. You should have reached out to me directly and not tried to send a message through someone else.”

My throat constricted at the reprimand. This was bordering on abuse. I’d never had someone talk to me like that before. Mr. Thomas may have been the boss, and he wasn’t exactly wrong, but sometimes emergencies called for special circumstances.

“Again, I’m very sorry.” My eyes started to burn, and David moved closer, as if sensing my distress.

His hand landed on my shoulder as I kept talking to my boss.

“It was hard enough getting to her. In the future, I will take that into consideration and try harder to reach out to other people. Not that I foresee this happening again anytime soon.”

Mr. Thomas’s scoff did nothing to set me at ease as he disconnected the call. I handed the phone back to Angela, whose brow creased in concern. “Well?” she asked as she tucked the device back into her purse.

“He’s not happy. I don’t know what else to say. I guess if you die, you’re expected to call from beyond the grave to let him know you won’t be making it in.”

Everyone laughed because the statement was absurd. And then the reality of it all set in. Was my job safe after all of this?