His cousin Declan is coming back out to New Jersey for another fight in a couple weeks. Talon asked if I wanted to go with him. I already knew of the fight from Declan and had told him I wouldn’t be attending any fights until necessary. So I told Talon that I really liked Declan and had no desire to see him bleed or draw blood from his opponent. Instead, I offer to stay at his place and get some appetizers and drinks prepared for all of them to enjoy after the fight. He seemed disappointed but also probably relieved at the idea of me agreeing to make plans for weeks into the future.
I definitely need to keep reminding myself to take it slow with him. It is so easy to just fall into a comfortable relationship. I keep forgetting we still aren’t an actual couple and I have no plans to make that commitment anytime soon. But aside from not having sex, where do you draw the line? Is it based on the amount of time you spend together? Is it just the matter of not having the title compared to having it? I have no idea. I guess we will just play this one by ear.
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
TALON
Getting Bailey back (or I guess just getting her period since I never really had her) has been incredible. The girl is so easy to fall for, I just can’t get enough. I promised her we will take things slow which means no sex and not spending every waking minute together. Two things I want desperately.
Over the last couple of months we have set up a decent routine. I say decent because it’s not the routine I would choose. My choosing would have involved her moving in and lots and lots of mind blowing sex. That’s not happening though. In my efforts to make my girl happy and comfortable, we see each other a couple times a week and on the weekends. I can pick her up for lunch but she doesn’t take me to any of her client functions. She goes to mine though. Every single one of them.
She’s Declan’s publicist now so she did as she said she would and stayed to prepare my place for all the company while we were at the fight. Dec tried to tell her she should be there seeing as how this is the career she is contracted to, but she refused. She said she couldn’t stand there and watch him being hurt. She promised she would be at his first official UFC fight though.
Everything she does has me falling harder for her. She flew out to her family’s place for her sister’s birthday and I didn’t hear too much from her during that trip. It made me kind of crazy. And this is part of the
everything she does has me falling harder for her
. I should have been angry or upset that she didn’t want me there. I should have been pissed when she wouldn’t answer my calls during the day and only called early in the morning and late at night. But I wasn’t. It made me miss her badly. When she arrived back in New York, she acted as though she missed me as much as I missed her so I didn’t press the issue.
Bailey was raised to be tough. I think that’s what attracts me the most to her. I have never been short on beautiful women but to me Bailey is in a league all her own. The women I have dated expect things from me, even if they are established mature women. I have never opted to have a relationship because I always felt drained after dating them for a short period of time. However, with Bay, I'm always left wanting to give her more. She was dealt a crappy hand with her last relationship but never did she come across as a ‘damsel in distress’. She asked for a place to stay for a few days, she cried to me a few times and just like that she had me. Hook, line, and sinker.
So I will do as she asks. I will play by her rules… for a little longer.
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
BAILEY
It’s Thursday night and I haven’t seen Talon since Sunday. I took tomorrow off so I can have a three day weekend with him. I have probably taken the whole “let’s go slow” thing a little too far for a man in his early thirties but he’s been patient with me and I appreciate that. I'm going to have to get over my fear of him breaking my heart and commit to him like he’s wanting.
My phone rings at midnight, my heart stops and I fear something terrible has happened to someone. I don’t know what or to who but I know it can’t be good. Ever since we got the phone call in the middle of the night from the Sherriff saying my mom had been in an accident, I sort of freak out if the phone rings at an odd hour. Midnight is an odd hour for my phone to ring. I pick up my glowing and ringing phone to see that it’s my sister.
“Shy? What’s wrong?”
“Bay, it’s dad,” Shy whispers in a raw and raspy voice. I don’t wait for any information; I am on my feet and headed towards my closet to get dressed.
“What? What happened to him? Is he ok?” I hear her take a deep breath and I realize that her voice was shaking when she was talking. So I pause, just stand there in my closet hanging onto my island of cabinets to hold me up. This is bad.
“Bailey, he’s on his way to the hospital. The EMTs are pretty sure he’s had a heart attack.” This puts me on my knees on the floor.
“Oh my god. Were you there? Did the kids see? Where’s Daniel? Are you headed to the hospital?”
“Yes, I was with him, the kids were not there, they’re home with Daniel. I’m following behind the ambulance now.”
“Oh Shy, I’m so sorry you’re by yourself. I’m getting dressed and I’ll head over to the airport right now, I’ll fly standby if I need to.”
“Ok, please be careful. I’ll call you as soon as I find anything out. I love you Bay, keep your phone on and let me know as soon as you get a flight out.”
“I will. I love you too.” I let myself fall apart for just a minute before I pull on my pink
Juicy
tracksuit. I yank on my tennis shoes and just start grabbing clothes and shoes and throwing them in a bag. I don’t know how long I’ll have to be there but I am not messing with checking bags, I’ll get my two carry-ons and fit what I can.
****
Luck, faith, destiny, a miracle or blessing, whatever you want to call it, is on my side this freezing cold night. There is a flight about to board, with one seat available. It is first-class and costs me an arm and a leg but it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that it takes me less than seven hours to get to my father’s side.
When I get to the hospital, they inform me that he has in fact had a heart attack and he is in surgery. They need to do a quadruple bypass and will be grafting some veins from throughout his body. He has already been in surgery for three hours.
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
BAILEY
I haven’t slept in days. I get a few minutes in between the nurses coming in to check his vitals, but nothing more than that. I’ve been staying at the hospital so my sister can keep up with her family. She comes to the hospital for a few hours in the evening so I can shower and change. I called Drea when I got here to fill her in but other than that I’ve kept my phone off. I don’t want to think of anyone or anything other than taking care of my dad. He is all that matters to me right now. Well, him and Cheyenne. I have so much guilt for being so far away that I can’t even allow myself to want Talon there by my side. I don’t deserve to have my comfort and happiness with me while dad lies in a hospital bed. The thing that kills me is that I know he is what I need and that he would be here in a heartbeat if I ask. But I don’t.
I can’t bring myself to talk to Cheyenne about my drama during this time that is so difficult on the both of us. She is still under the impression that I am with Hollister and hasn’t even asked about him, so it is easy not to tell her.
This morning Cheyenne and I are both at my dad’s to take care of some business on the farm. There is a lot to do and even though he has men working for him, we had no idea if anything has been done since he got sick. I was just finishing my cup of coffee and heading out to the barn to jump on my horse when there is a knock at the door.
“Baby Bay!! Can you grab the door, please? I’m on hold in the office.”
“Yeah, I got it!” I reach for the knob expecting someone from the farm to be on the other side. But when I open the door my brain stops working. I can’t process what my eyes are trying very hard to focus on.
“Talon?” I whisper his name. Partly because I am in such shock that he is here and partly because I am afraid I’m imagining him standing there in all his beautiful glory.
“Hi Bailey. I’m glad you’re here, I wasn’t sure if you would be or not given the time of day.” I have no idea what that means but he looks nervous.
“What? What are you doing here?” At my question he looks down and rubs his head.
“Um… I… I just…” I cut him off realizing that I am being terribly rude.
“Oh my gosh, Talon, please come in. I’m so sorry, you caught me by surprise and I, I don’t know. Please come in.” I open the door wider and gesture for him to come in. He does exactly that. He stops just inside the foyer. He puts both his hands in the pockets of his khakis and watches me as I close the door and walk a little closer to him. If I am being honest, I want to throw myself in his arms and let him hold me and make all the stress and hurt and pain go away. I missed him so much, and now he is here. He is here and I know this is exactly how I want it to be.
“I’m sorry to drop in unannounced, but I had to make sure you were ok.”
I don’t know why I find this funny but him taking a five hour flight to check on me makes a small laugh pop out of my mouth.
“You couldn’t have called? You had to fly across the country?”
“Your phone has been shut off for days Bailey, and it was driving me crazy not knowing if you were alright.” His voice takes on a hardened tone.
“Oh right. How did you know where to find me?” I am the world’s worst girlfriend.
“I called Drea finally. She told me about your dad; I’m sorry love. I got the earliest flight out as soon as she gave me your dad’s address.” I can’t respond right away because his actions just completely take my breath away. “Is that ok? Do you want me to leave?” I can’t even believe my ears. He found out about my dad and jumped on a plane without even knowing whether or not I would want him here. That fact has me in tears. I haven’t cried since my sister told me about dad. And now I can’t stop. I cover my face and stand there and sob. Within seconds Talon has me pressed against his chest in a tight embrace.
“Shhh, Bay it’s ok. Everything’s going to be ok love.” He kisses the top of my head. I cry harder for another minute before pulling away so I can look up at him through teary eyes.
“I can’t believe you’re here. I… I can’t believe you… you flew all the way across the country to be here for me.” Talon lifts his hands to cup my face and wipe my tears with his thumbs.
“Of course Bailey, I will do anything for you. Always. You must know that by now. You mean so much to me and I hate to see you hurting.” He melts my heart, so I allow myself to sink into his chest again, longing for his muscled arms to tighten around me once more. I feel so safe in his arms, I never want to leave.
“Bailey that was the hospital, we need…” Cheyenne’s voice trails off as she walks into the foyer and finds me in Talon’s arms. “Oh! Hello,” she says to Talon, looking very confused. Talon lets go of me with only one arm so he can reach out to shake Shy’s hand. “Hi, I’m Talon.” My face is still buried in his chest but I really want to see her reaction when she finds out who is hugging me and who I am allowing to hear and see me cry this way. This is just not something I do as far as she is aware. The reaction she gives is better than I expected, even though I am too upset to enjoy it fully. Cheyenne’s eyes go as wide and round as they can go and her jaw slightly drops so her mouth forms a little O.
She gets it together and then gives a little knowing nod. “Talon,” she sighs with a small smile. “Well, I’ll just give you two a minute, but that was the hospital Bailey and we do need to get down there.” Then she walks out of the room.
“I’m sorry. I should have found some way to get ahold of you instead of just showing up. I didn’t mean to intrude on your family.” He’s talking real quietly and into my hair, but he’s definitely not letting go.
“No, Talon. I am beyond happy that you did this for me. It means so much more than you know. I have been so scared and sad and alone. I have my sister but she has her family and… and she’s not you.” I know I don’t have the right to say that last part since I up and left without a word to him, but I can’t help myself. I can’t deny that I not only wanted him but I needed him too.
He rubs my back and then pulls me back some. “Come on I’ll drive you to the hospital.”
“Okay,” I sigh. “Let me just go grab Cheyenne and we’ll meet you outside.” He leans in and kisses my lips softly before walking outside. I go down the hall to find Shy in Dad’s office.
“Hey, Talon offered to drive us to the hospital. What did they call for? Did something change?” I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me when she told me we needed to get down there that something could be wrong. Perhaps that had everything to do with the fact that I was in Talon’s arms… safe.
“The low grade fever he’s had has spiked and the doctor is coming in soon so the nurse thought we would want to be there to see what he had to say.” She finishes organizing the desk before raising her gaze to me and I know she’ll start in on the fact that ‘the Talon’ is in our family home. She raises an eyebrow before stating, “You didn’t tell me you invited him Bay. When did that happen?”
“That actually didn’t happen. I’ve had my phone shut off since I landed and he couldn’t get ahold of me. When he started to get worried he called Drea and she told him about dad.”
“So he just hopped on a plane?” She lets her right hand fly out to the side of her body. I can’t really tell by her words or her expression how she is reacting to his being here.
“Uh yeah, kinda. He said he was worried and needed to make sure I was handling everything okay.”
“Wow. That’s pretty amazing. I mean, where’s your actual boyfriend right now?” Her raised eyebrows have now flattened out with an extremely bored expression.
“It is amazing.
He
is amazing and I’m not with Hollister anymore, but I can’t handle any ‘I told you sos’ right now, seriously Cheyenne.”
“How have you not mentioned this Bailey Jean?” There is the gleeful expression I have been trying to avoid the last couple of months. I turn my gaze away from her, not wanting to hear what I know she has to say. “Ok, not today, but soon. Promise?” I promise although I am not looking forward to it. “Daniel is waiting for the sitter to get to the house and he’ll be meeting us at the hospital.”
“Perfect.”
We go out to find Talon standing there by the front passenger door holding it open for me. He has rented some sort of sedan, I can’t tell what it is exactly but it’s nice. He offers us both a kind smile when we approach him. “You girls ready?”
Gah, he is so sweet and sexy.
“
All ready,” I reply and can’t resist sliding my hand across the small of his back and around his hip as I slide past him. Cheyenne is already in and witnesses my affection towards him. I can’t help it; I am so grateful and thankful for his thoughtfulness. Cheyenne stifles a cough/giggle and blocks her smile with her I-need-to-cover-my-mouth-while-coughing hand. I just choose to ignore her. Talon makes his way around to the driver’s side. He gets in, starts the car, then slightly tips his head sideways and gives me a wink.
Oh hello butterflies, my dear old friends, you have been missed!
****
“Hi there girls, Daniel.” The nurse nods with a kind smile to each of us before reaching over to shake Talon’s hand and introduce herself. “Hello, I’m Linda, I’m taking care of Mr. Hayes today. Are you family?”
“No ma’am. I’m Talon.” He continues to shake her hand. “I’m a friend of Bailey’s.”
“Nice to meet you Talon. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to stay outside of the room for a bit, I need to discuss a few things that I can only go over with family.” Linda is amazing and I know she doesn’t like to have to ask him to leave.
“Linda, he can stay, I’d like for him to be with me right now, if it’s all the same to you.” I really don’t like the way she says she needs to discuss a few things. That is not normal and it has my anxiety at an all new level, so I grab Talon’s hand and lace my fingers with his.
“Sure Bailey, that’s up to you and your sister.” Cheyenne smiles and nods. She has taken her spot next to her husband. He has been so amazing throughout this whole ordeal. I randomly felt pangs of jealousy or longing to have what my sister and Daniel have. I am so relieved to have Talon’s hand right now as I brace myself to hear what is coming.
“Ok,” Linda says as she opens my dad’s chart. “So, we all know he started a fever early yesterday afternoon?” All of us but Talon nod our heads. Shy and I chew on the inside of our bottom lips, a habit we both picked up as kids. “Well, that fever spiked dangerously high last night which in turn caused a few other stats to go a bit off kilter. We have concluded through some tests that he has a pretty bad infection going on.” I’m trying to process all of this new information and determine what it means. Cheyenne has given up on trying to swipe the tears away and she is just silently weeping at this point. Linda takes in our reactions before she continues on but this time she is pretty much speaking directly to me. “He started having some pretty vivid hallucinations due to the fever being so high for such a long period of time. He also kept vomiting which needed to be stopped. Dr. G has sedated him so we can give the antibiotics a chance to kick in and rid him of that infection. This will also allow him to get the uninterrupted sleep he desperately needs.”
“He’s in a coma?” Cheyenne asks in disbelief. That is all she got out of that. She falls completely into Daniel’s arms and is now wailing out loud. Daniel stands up with her and starts walking towards the door. He stops briefly to whisper that he is going to take her to get some air and ask if I will be ok. I nod, trying to figure all of it out. This just can’t be happening. Talon pulls me in closely and I try to steady my breathing. I still can’t decide how I am feeling about the information she’s just handed us, but that’s normal for me. I’m a processor. I always have been; I need all the facts. I have to figure out each possible result and then allow it to sink in properly before I can give a proper reaction. So I square my shoulders, lift my chin and clear out the thickness in my throat before returning to business. “Linda, what exactly does this mean? How long do you expect for him to be in this sedated state? How long does it take to recover from such a bad infection?”
“Unfortunately, we can’t really say Bailey. Every patient is so different when it comes to these kinds of things, it can really go anywhere from twenty-four hours to a couple of weeks. We just don’t know at this point.”
“Ok, so then what do we do? Just sit here and wait?” I ask in disbelief because I need to do something. Anything.
“I’m afraid that is your only option, yes.” She gives me a minute to accept her answer. “But Bailey, there’s something else I need to talk to you girls about. It’s the main reason I was hoping to get you in here before the doctor left.”
“What? What is it?” Well that just increased the anxiety that has been my constant companion lately.
“We should probably wait for Cheyenne and Daniel to come back in.”
“No.” My head starts to shake with force. “No, if it’s more bad news I would rather tell her myself, she doesn’t handle these things well, as you can see.” Talon leans in and kisses the side of my head, just in front my ear. Letting his lips linger for a minute, he has me beginning to relax again. “You are amazing,” he whispers for only me to hear. My eyes flutter closed at his words for a brief second before Linda brings me back into the present.
“Ok then. Your Dad went to visit Dr. G about six months ago due to some discomfort in his chest. During his visit, he asked to sign an advanced directive.” I know what this means. He has talked about it several times since my mom’s death. Without my brain telling my body to, I fold over at the waist, placing both hands on my knees. I try to catch the breath that has escaped me momentarily. Talon is half holding me up and half massaging my neck and shoulders. He’s whispering to me but my vision is darkening and I’m too busy fighting it to be able to focus on his words.