Page 63 of Protective Love

"I wasn't the only one," I retort.

"Touché," he says, chuckling.

"Well, I better go clean myself up," I mutter, reluctantly pulling away from him.

"Yeah, I think I'm expecting a visit soon as well."

My brows shoot up in surprise and my eyes dart over to his door.

"You allowed all of that to happen when you knew people would be coming to see you soon?"

He shrugs and tries to hide his smile while running his hands through his messy hair.

I straighten out my scrubs and pat down my own hair as I prepare to leave his room.

"You look fine," Jaylen says, standing from the bed and grabbing the jug that holds my flowers. "Don't forget these."

I take the flowers from him and lift onto my toes to kiss him one more time before turning to leave his room, desperately wanting to go and change my underwear so that I'm not uncomfortable for the rest of my shift.

Chapter Thirty-One

Rory

After cleaning myself up, changing my underwear, and brushing through my tangled hair, I sit on one of the benches in the staff room and call Chrissie, hoping that she's not busy because I'm desperate to talk to her about everything that's going on inside my head at the moment.

"Hey, girlie! To what do I owe the pleasure?" she says as soon as the call connects.

"I need to talk to you about so many things, Christine."

"Oh God. You used my full name. Okay, this is serious. Let me get comfy." I hear a load of movement on the other line, a rustling of a bag, and the opening of a can. "Okay, I'm ready. Hit me with it."

"Did you just open a drink and snacks?" I ask her.

"Yeah, obviously. Now come on, tell me everything."

I shake my head and sigh before spilling my guts. I tell her about my growing feeling for Jaylen, I mention the previous kiss we shared, and how he comforted me and calmed me down after I freaked out. I tell her about the flowers, and how I've told him the truth about who I am, and then I tell her about us grinding all over each other and getting ourselves off.

She gasps and then curses while I sit in the empty staff room, chewing on the inside of my cheek as I wait for her to say something.

When she stays silent, my stomach churns and my hands start to sweat.

"Chrissie, please say something."

A beat later, she starts cackling so loudly I have to pull my phone away from my ear.

"Why are you laughing?"

Asking her that was a mistake, because she begins to laugh even harder, practically screaming down the phone.

I roll my eyes as I wait for her to calm down, and after what feels like forever, she finally stops laughing and instead begins to sniffle.

"Are you crying now?" I ask, confused as to what is happening to my best friend.

"I'm sorry, it's my hormones, they're all over the place," she replies, sobbing through the phone. "I'm so happy for you. I know I don't sound it, but I really am, Aurora. I'm over the moon that you've found a connection with someone that seems worthy of you, and I'm just so glad that you're finally happy."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."