Page 66 of Until August

I waved away her apology. My gaze dipped to the IV in her arm. “I’m just glad I was there.” I’d been there only because I was headed to the parking lot to speak to Nicola. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have witnessed the accident. “I could have killed that asshole.”

“Pretty sure you scared the shit out of him. He was dangling like one of those cartoon characters,” she said with a laugh. “I’m glad you didn’t punch him. It wouldn’t have been a fair fight.”

True. The kid was thin and scrawny, and the top of his head barely reached my chin. “I had to restrain myself. I wanted to beat the shit out of him.” I flexed my hands. “He deserved that and more. The little punk.”

She laughed again, amused by my words. “You used to be a little punk too.”

I scoffed. “I was never a skater boy.” There was only one chair in the room, and it held her clothes and her bag. So I leaned against the wall, folded my arms over my chest, and crossed my ankles.

“You were too busy playing it cool on your motorcycle,” she teased.

“I wasn’t playing, babe. I was cool as shit.”

She laughed, and then her humor faded as my words sank in. I’d called her babe. A slip of the tongue. I cleared my throat and steered the conversation to safer territory. “What did the doctor say?”

“He’s just waiting for the bloodwork, and if everything is fine, he’ll release me.”

My brow furrowed. “Why did they have to run blood work? Is something wrong with the baby? Did the fall—”

“No. It’s fine. Just routine.”

“Are you sure?” I scanned the bruises on her arm from falling after that asshole cut right in front of her.

“I’m sure. Stop panicking,” she said softly.

I pushed my hand through my hair and let out a breath. The baby wasn’t even mine, but pregnancy complications were one of my worst fears for obvious reasons. And even though Sasha and I were no longer together, I couldn’t just stop caring. Love didn’t work that way. You couldn’t turn it on and off whenever it was convenient.

When I’d been with Sasha, I was all in, just like everything I’d ever done.

There were no half-measures in my life. You were either fully invested or you weren’t.

I wasn’tin lovewith her anymore, but like I’d told Nicola, a part of me would always care about Sasha. And when I saw that kid cut in front of her and she got thrown from her bike, I damn near had a heart attack.

“Where’s Travis? He should be here,” I said gruffly.

“He flew to Australia last night. Otherwise, he would be.”

“Have you told him what happened?”

“Not yet.” She smoothed her hand over the sheet covering her legs. “I don’t want him worrying about me.”

“Why the fuck not? It’s his kid. You’re his wife.”

She sighed. “I know that. I’ll call him when they release me to let him know everything is fine.”

It was none of my business, I reminded myself. But I couldn’t help asking, “Did you used to do this with me?”

“Do what?”

“Keep important things from me?”

She speared me with a look. “That’s rich coming from you.”

I gritted my teeth. “I’m talking about when you were pregnant with Sage.”

“No. You came to all my appointments and hovered around me like a mother hen. You knew more about my pregnancy than I did.”

I rolled out my shoulders. “I was worried.”