Nathan
“Would you get off your phone?”
I looked up from my screen and laughed as Chase tried to do yet another handstand in the sand. We’d been out here for half the day, and he was hell-bent on landing the trick. If we’d still been teenagers, it might not have been an issue, but our bodies just didn’t move or hold ourselves up the same way anymore.
“I haven’t been on it that much. Aiden’s been sending me messages. You know how I worry about him.”
Before I knew it, Chase landed in the sand next to me. He leaned his head on my shoulder and grabbed the phone from my hand. “So what does baby bro have to say?”
I sighed. “Not a lot. Just that he wants to talk to me about something when I get back.”
Chase’s head bounced off my shoulder, and a hurt expression crossed his features. I hadn't decided to return to Seattle yet. It wasn’t like I had a job I was going home to. Whether I stayed here or went back, made very little difference.
“When you...”
“Chase...”
We both cut each other off as he stood back up and headed to the water’s edge. I couldn’t leave it like that anymore. Even if he hadn’t been ready to hear it, Chase needed to know how I felt.
My arms wrapped around his waist and I breathed him in. The smell of sea spray and sunshine overwhelmed me as Chase’s hat fell off, but neither of us made a move to retrieve it. It had been worn and tattered with some faded beer logo on it, so maybe it wouldn’t be missed if it was dragged out to sea.
“Chase, I never want to leave you like that again.”
He tensed in my embrace, but didn’t pull away. He said nothing as I kept talking. “You wanted this to be a summer hookup, to go back to what you seem to think we once were, but we were always so much more. I can’t separate my feelings like that. At least not with you. You mean too much to me.”
There was no fighting Chase when he turned in my arms, his hands framing my face as his lips crashed to mine. When he pulled away, his gray eyes sparkled with tears that threatened to fall. “I’m so freaking scared that you’ll hurt me all over again.”
My heart ached at his admission, but I couldn’t fault him. I’d fucked up the best thing that had ever happened to me. “I can’t promise that I won’t do something stupid along the way, but I love you, and I want to try.”
A sob broke free from his throat as we kissed again, his arms winding around my neck. We kissed for a few moments before thespell was broken by my phone ringing in my pocket. I ignored it, wanting to go back to Chase when it started ringing again. I still hadn’t answered it, but when it rang a third time, I knew something was wrong. No one called that many times unless something had happened.
“Shit. I’m so sorry. I need to answer that.”
Chase didn’t look judgmental when I pulled the phone from my pocket. I didn’t recognize the number on the display, but it was the same number that had called the last few times. Something gross and slimy unfurled in my gut as I answered and pressed the phone to my ear. “This is Nathan Grant.”
“Hi, Mr. Grant. We have a Mr. Drew Morris with us. He’s in transport to Providence Medical Center in Olympia.”
My heart stopped. “What do you mean, he’s in transport?”
“Sir, it appears he had a cardiac emergency and we’re taking him there for further testing. We won’t know conclusively until he arrives.”
I pinched my eyes closed. If it weren’t for Chase, I would have dropped into the sand. My knees felt so damn weak. At least I wasn’t stuck in the middle of college classes this time.
“You couldn’t take him to the hospital in Aberdeen?”
“No. They aren’t equipped to handle an emergency of this magnitude. We want to ensure he receives the best care possible.”
I nodded, which was stupid because whoever the hell I was talking to couldn’t see it. “Thank you. We’ll start heading that way.”
When the call ended, my lungs seized. I couldn’t catch my breath and everything around me spun. Chase’s arms tightened around me as I tried to sink to the ground.
“What happened?”
“We need to get to the hospital in Olympia.”
Chase didn’t even question it. He reached into my pocket, grabbed my keys, led me to my car, and helped me into the passenger seat. It felt so weird not driving my own vehicle, but driving after getting that type of news would have been a mistake. Was Uncle Drew okay? Was he awake and alert or barely hanging on? I probably should have asked those questions, but the person on the phone was only obligated to tell me the bare minimum.
That was the other thing I hated. Olympia was almost an hour and a half away. The whole reason my family hated that Uncle Drew stayed out here by himself after that stroke was because there was nothing close by. Aberdeen was larger and had a hospital, but the lady was right. They weren’t equipped for large emergencies.
