Chapter 30

Chapter 30

After being home for a few days, I heard from Eliza that Nikolas was still in the hospital. I was concerned that, since he had been in the hospital for so long, he was worse off than he was letting us know, so I decided to visit him and see how he was doing for myself. I went on the weekend so that it wouldn’t interfere with work, and Noah volunteered to drive me.

I didn’t really need anyone to drive me. Still, I felt as though I owed him for blowing off our date, and it was nice to have some company. Noah was funny, in a kind of goofy way, when you could get him out of his shell.

Before I knew it, we were at the hospital.

“Do you want to come up with me?” asked as I unbuckled my seatbelt.

Noah adamantly shook his head.

“No, thank you. I hate hospitals.”

He laughed nervously, and I couldn’t help but laugh with him.

“Besides, I don’t want to get in the way of your time with your friend,” he continued.

“You wouldn’t be in the way.”

He shook his head again.

“I’ll be fine out here. I might just listen to an audiobook or something.”

“If you’re sure…”

“Go, have fun.” He cringed. “As much fun as you can have in a hospital, that is.”

I smiled and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

“Thanks. I promise I won’t take too long.”

I didn’t think he was listening anymore. He was too busy blushing and holding his hand to where I had k*ssed him. I suppressed a chuckle and left the car without another word.

When I went into the hospital, the receptionist immediately recognized me and directed me to Nikolas’s room. I was relieved that there wasn’t any ruckus to be heard as I walked down the hall leading to it. That meant that neither Pete nor his brother was there.

As I walked up to the room, however, another voice caused me to freeze in my steps. Deep and commanding. it curled my very toes and moistened my undergarments.

Andrew.

I longed to see him again, yet I knew that I couldn’t. The oath Lisa had coerced out of me rang through my head, and the thought of ruining Ever After Weddings‘ reputation dangled over me like the Sword of Damocles. I also turned back.

I

Then I thought about Noah and Lily. If I left so early, Noah would know that I didn’t visit Nikolas first, and he would think that something was wrong. If I didn’t come up with a good enough excuse, he would talk to Lily about it, and she would confront me about it–and I would have to tell her the truth.

No, I could not let Lily know what happened with Lisa. She didn’t need that kind of stress, not at this time in her life. Besides, it was my problem, not hers.

I only had one choice: press forward and hope that Lisa did not learn about this.

I walked into Nikolas’s room to find Nikolas surrounded by Eliza and Andrew. Eliza was the first one to see

“Crystal, darling, what happened to your face?” she asked, concerned,

Andrew turned in his seat to face me, and his eyes widened,

I cringed. I hadn’t been able to completely cover the bruise from Lisa’s slap with makeup, and my hair must have moved out of the way to expose that side of my face. I hadn’t thought about what I would say If Nikolas

or Eliza noticed the bruise, and I hadn’t counted on Andrew being there at all.

“It’s nothing.” I said.

“Nothing? It’s huge!” Eliza replied.

Nikolas appeared uncomfortable.

“If Crystal says that it’s nothing. I’m sure that it’s nothing,” he mumbled.

I knew I should have been grateful for Nikolas interfering on my half, but I knew that he was only saying it as the victim of an abusive son. He must have been in this kind of situation, having to explain a bruise that he didn’t want to explain, so many times before. It was heartbreaking to even think about.

“Let me get you a cold compress,” Andrew said, snapping me from my thoughts.

He walked around me to a nearby nurse, and she quickly brought him a cold compress. He came back into the room and tried to put the compress on my face. I ducked away from his hand..

“Crystal, you’re going to need to hold still,” he said as he tried to hold the compress to my face again.

“No!” I took the compress from him. “I can hold it myself.”

I put the compress to the bruise, shuddering as the coldness settled in. I avoided looking at Andrew as he

stared at me.

“Crystal, what’s wrong?” he asked. “Did something happen?”

“No, nothing happened.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Can you please just go?”

I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. Even though he tried to hide it, I could sée a hurt look on Andrew’s face. Then his expression changed, as though he were concentrating on something. Suddenly, understanding crossed his face.

“I am so sorry-“Andrew paused, as though thinking through what he said next carefully- “for whatever happened to you.”

I gaped at him. Did he know what happened with Lisa? Did Bob or Lisa tell him?

No, there was no way that they would have told him what had happened. Still, there was something about the

way

he said what he said that made me feel as though he knew more than he was letting on. The way he leaned into me, stopping just inches from my face, stole my breath and reason–and perhaps made me see more into his words than what was really there.

I shuddered when he touched the uninjured side of my face, and it had nothing to do with the cold compress. His touch alone sent me images of that day in the cabin, of what almost happened, and sparked within me the desire to finish what we started. Then I remembered Lisa’s threat.

Reluctantly, I moved away from Andrew.

“No, Andrew. We can’t do this.”

I turned to Nikolas and Eliza.

“I’m sorry. I’ll come back and see you tomorrow, I promise.”

I walked briskly toward the hospital parking lot, trying to not draw any attention to myself. Fortunately, I spotted Noah’s car right away and got in.

“Where’s the fire?” Noah joked.

“No fire.”

Wanting to get my mind off of Andrew, I redirected my attention to Noah. Available, moderately attractive, not Lisa’s father, Noah.

“Tjust wanted to get back to you.”

Running my hand through his hand, I leaned forward and k*ssed Noah gently on the l*ps. He hesitated, but he

soon returned my k*ss..

I felt bad for using Noah to get Andrew off of my mind, but it was the only way I could think of settling the fire. that Andrew had sparked within me.

After a couple minutes of k*ssing, I slowly pulled away. I glanced over my shoulder to see Andrew glaring at us from the door to the hospital, his shoulders pulled firmly back and his head held high. The fearsomeness in his stance reminded me of why he was Alpha King.

I bit my bottom l*p and turned away from the sight.

“Wow,” Noah said, grinning like a fool and completely oblivious to the threat just beyond his car door, “That sure was something.”

“Yeah,” I said, staring at my lap, “it sure was something.”