My Soul To Keep (Soul Series Book 1) (34 page)

“Can we see him?”

“Not yet.” Dr. Anderson peels his green cap off, bunching it into his fist. “He had quite a few blockages and severe damage to his heart muscle during the heart attack. He’s in ICU recovering.”

“Is he awake?” Rhyson speaks for the first time, gripping my fingers almost painfully.

Dr. Anderson narrows his eyes on Rhyson before they widen with recognition.

“Mr. Gray, I didn’t know the patient was your father.” He offers a small self-deprecating smile. “Not that it makes a difference. I promise not to ask for your autograph. I just hope you haven’t been disturbed while waiting. We could have made arrangements for you to wait somewhere more private, had we realized.”

“It’s been fine.” Rhyson glances only briefly at Bristol, who spent an hour arranging for security and checking on media presence.

“To answer your question, no. He’s not awake,” Dr. Anderson continues. “Probably won’t be for the next few hours. And even then, he will be pretty groggy and unable to talk much. There will be lots of tubes, so prepare yourselves.”

“But he’s going to be okay now, right?” Fear and uncertainty mark Bristol’s face and voice for the first time. I’ve never seen her anything other than certain.

“He has a long road ahead of him. Maybe another week in the hospital and then as many as six of supervised recovery at home or in a facility. ” Dr. Anderson glances at his watch. “If you live nearby, I’d recommend you getting some sleep, change clothes, regroup, and then be here when he’s awake and ready to see you.”

“I’m fine.” Angela settles on a waiting room couch to prove that she has no intention of leaving. “I slept and ate on the plane. I want to be here if he wakes any earlier than you think.”

“He really shouldn’t, Mrs. Gray.” Dr. Anderson must see the stubborn tilt of Angela’s chin because he dips his head as a concession. “Very well, but if any of you need to freshen up, this would be the time.”

“Rhyson, you look dead on your feet.” Angela turns to assess her son. “You came straight from Chicago, right?”

“Yeah, and he was already exhausted.” Bristol pulls out her phone. “The security detail is downstairs. They’ve arranged a safe exit for you.”

“I am pretty fried.” Rhyson squeezes the bridge of his nose, briefly covering the dark shadows under his eyes. “Maybe I’ll zip home for a quick shower.”

“And a cat nap.” Angela frowns, reaching up to grab Rhyson’s hand. I’m close enough to sense how Rhyson stiffens, to see how his lips tighten at his mother’s touch.

“Okay.” He takes a step back, and Angela’s hand falls away empty.

She glances down at her hand, biting her bottom lip before pulling her mouth into the firm line I’ve gotten used to seeing even in the five minutes I’ve known her. She turns that blast of icy grey on me.

“And where are you staying, Kai?”

“With me.” Rhyson grabs my hand. “Wherever I’m staying.”

Angela pauses, glancing at Bristol before looking back to her son.

“Well, of course you’ll stay at the house, Rhys.”

“Then so will Kai.”

“I don’t want to be an imposition,” I protest. I didn’t think things completely through before I hopped on that plane with Grady. I just knew I needed to get to Rhyson.

“You won’t be,” Rhyson says. “There’s plenty of room, right, Mother?”

“Of course.” She pulls her phone from the black Celine bag at her feet. “I’ll just call Bertie and ask her to prepare one of the guest rooms.”

Angela raises her brows, like she’s waiting for Rhyson to challenge the suggestion of the guest room. She’s still trying to figure out what Rhyson and I are to each other.

Me too, Mrs. Gray. Me freaking too.

“That sounds fine.” He turns to me, resting his palm at the base of my neck under the heavy fall of my hair. “You look beat too. Did you bring a change of clothes or anything?”

“No.” I look at Grady, who wears the same chagrined look I probably do. “Grady came to the restaurant to get me and we left straight from there. I can’t believe I brought nothing. I just wanted to get here.”

Rhyson’s eyes stay on my face until I grow warm under his consideration.

“You dropped everything for me, huh?” For the first time, he feels like the Rhyson who teases me by text and tortures me with his encyclopedic cinematic knowledge.

“Believe me, leaving The Note was no great sacrifice.” I return his smile, but am deeply conscious of his family watching us.

“We’ll figure out something for you to wear. Let’s go.” He looks to Bristol. “What’s the plan, Bris?”

“Gep is on his way.” She looks to the hall, a small smile surfacing. “Here he is. Gep, you have the route set?”

“Yeah, we’ll take the service elevator down.” Gep is a massive man wearing a long-sleeved, black T-shirt, black jeans, and boots. “Sorry about your dad, Rhys.”

“Thanks, man.” Rhyson presses his hand to the small of my back. “We’ve got an extra passenger. Kai, this is John Gephardt. Gep, my friend, Kai. She’s going with us.”

Surprise flits across the security guard’s face before he pulls the professional mask in place. Rhyson really must be telling the truth when he says he never brings girls around. Everyone responds like I’m from Mars or something.

“Go, dude.” Bristol steps forward and hugs Rhyson around the neck. He wraps his arms around her back and kisses her temple.

“Grady, you coming?” Rhyson asks, turning to his uncle.

“I’m gonna stay for a little bit.” Grady’s smile carries more than its share of sadness. “I grew up here. I think I can find my way to the house on my own, and no reporters will bother me.”

Rhyson looks like he’s not sure he should leave. Grady crosses the small space separating them and hooks an elbow around his neck. He bends to whisper something in Rhyson’s ear. Rhyson stiffens briefly, but then nods, pounding Grady’s back a few times before stepping back. He finally turns back to me.

“You ready?”

Every time he asks me if I’m ready, I think I am. Somehow I know for sure that when we leave this hospital, when we walk out those doors, when we go to his home, when we are alone, I won’t be ready for Rhyson. So I don’t say that I am. I just let him lead the way.

ANXIETY ABOUT MY FATHER SQUEEZES AROUND
my chest like a belt pulled to the last notch. We’ve gone twelve years without any real relationship, but the possibility of losing him for good has leveled me. This scare bulldozed my emotions, overturning my perspective completely. If he had died with our last words, angry and bitter, hanging between us . . . but it didn’t happen that way. I hold on to that reassuring thought, even though I know he’s not out of the woods yet.

Just getting out of that hospital helped. Those sterile walls and the antiseptic smell were driving me crazy. And my mother. She kept . . . touching me. Like we have a relationship. Like she’s ever been an actual parent. It was freaking me the hell out. And I hated the way she looked at Kai, like she was a bug in her salad.

I finally have just a few minutes alone with Kai. Well, minus Gep, of course, who’s driving us to my parents’ house. But no one will be there except us. I need to take advantage of what little time we have, since apparently, she has to leave tonight.

I consider her in the backseat beside me. The dark hair spills around her shoulders, and if she had makeup on at any point, it’s long gone. She’s been wearing the same jeans and T-shirt for more than twenty-four hours. She dropped everything to be here for me, but I know she has commitments back in Los Angeles I’m so selfish because despite everything she has already done, I want more. I want her to stay.

“So when does your flight leave?”

“Oh, uh, Grady said he’d talk with Bristol about getting me back tonight.” Kai looks at me, eyes cautious. “I have that music video tomorrow and need to get back.”

“Dub’s video?”

“Well, the one he booked me for. It’s actually that guy Luke Foster who won
Total Package
last season.”

“Oh, yeah. He’s a friend of mine.”

I hate that show and advised Luke against going on. Guess that shows how much I know. But the producers involved are all douches, and I wouldn’t let them within spitting range of my career.

“He actually invited me on set. I think this is the video for his first single since he won, right?” I keep my voice neutral. “How long is the shoot?”

“It’s three days. My part tomorrow is pretty small. I’m mostly on day three.”

“So . . . Dub.” Our eyes catch and hold, and she knows what I’m about to ask before it leaves my mouth. “He asked you out yet?”

The fact that she doesn’t answer right away is an answer in itself. The one I don’t want to hear. She flips her phone over in her lap a few times before looking back to me.

“Yeah. A couple times.”

“And?”

“And I told him no.”

Relief pushes a breath past my lips. At least one thing is going right, though the fact that he’s asking her at all kindles my temper.

“Why’d you tell him no?”

I’m pushing it, but I need something from her. Something that says she knows she’s mine. That what we shared on that pool table wasn’t a quick fuck we’ll always ignore and pretend never happened. I didn’t want our first time to be in my rec room on a pool table, but it still meant something to me. It meant . . . everything to me, and the possibility that it didn’t turn her inside out is killing me.

“Rhyson, let’s just focus on your dad for now and deal with all our stuff later.”

I nod, though I hate that. I know that motherfucker Dub has ulterior motives, but if I press the issue, Kai will get defensive or push me away. I can’t afford that.

The SUV comes to a halt in the circular driveway of the house that never felt like home. I get out and hold the door, helping her down. I don’t move back when she steps out. Her petite frame presses into me, the brief contact giving me a whiff of that cinnamon pear soap her mother made. Before I know it, my palm is at the back of her neck, and I’m dipping my head to lay a kiss on her lips. She tips up on her toes, opening her mouth under mine. God, I need to taste her. Her tongue meets me halfway, and her hand presses into my side, drawing me closer. We can talk later, but we have this right now. Our bodies have missed each other. The communion of this kiss loosens everything wound tight inside of me. This kiss is fresh air in a tight, padded cell.

The sound of Gep stepping out of the SUV disrupts the quiet, and Kai pulls back, glancing in his direction self-consciously. She steps away and starts toward the house.

“Sorry,” Gep whispers, shrugging.

I roll my eyes at him and follow Kai, pulling ahead to ring the doorbell. I don’t even have a key to this house anymore. How could this ever be home?

Bertie opens the door, concern and curiosity wrestling on her face. She eyes Kai for a second before turning her attention back to me.

“Rhys, you’re home.”

Bertie reaches up and hugs me. She’s always been really good at pretending we’re a normal family.

“I heard your father is out of surgery.”

“Yeah.” I nod and step back. “He won’t be awake for a while so they sent me home to sleep for a little bit. Bert, this is my friend, Kai.”

“Hello,” Kai says with a tentative smile.

“So pretty. Nice to meet you.” Bertie’s eyes drift between Kai and me. “You hungry?”

“Starved, but sleepier than anything else.”

“I swept out the tree house for you.” Bertie covers her mouth and glances at Gep and Kai, like she’s made a faux pas. In a way, I guess she has since she’s the only one who ever knew what that tree house meant to me.

“It’s fine, Bert.” I lean down to kiss her cheek and realize I’ve actually missed at least one person from this house. “I’ll take a look.”

“I’m gonna check the perimeter. Hit me up if you need me.” Gep leaves the way we just came.

“I’ll go get lunch started.” Bertie gestures up the steps. “I’m sure you remember the way, Rhys, and the guest room is ready if you want to lie down, Kai.”

She bustles off toward the kitchen, leaving Kai and me standing in the foyer and looking at each other carefully, like if we do or say the wrong thing, the fragile peace between us will shatter.

“Tree house?” Kai offers a small smile. “Somehow I didn’t envision the young Beethoven climbing trees.”