Page 113 of Lightning Angel
And she did. “Second day?”
“Hush, we’re in the hospital!”
“Whoput me in the hospital?”
“Tristan, of course.” Daphne countered, as if it wasn’t obvious. “He was frantic. You won’t wake up. He teleported you straight here so his dad could check on you, and then he called Cass. We have all been frightened to death; you’ve been in a coma for two days. Worse, I thought you might have brain damage from that bump on your head. You can’t imagine my relief when you said my name. Oh, Alexa, don’t you ever put me through that again!”
Daphne pulled her into a fierce hug.
Alexa sat frozen. What, justwhat?
“Why aren’t you hugging me back? Don’t you realize the pain you put me through the past two days?” Daphne pulled back to look at her with a pout that soon melted into concern as she saw her taken aback expression. “Oh, stupid me. Again. How are you feeling? That should’ve been the first thing I asked.”
“Where are Tristan and Cassie?” Alexa asked instead, her eyes darting to the open doorway of the room.
“Cassie went downstairs to grab us coffee—rather, Ipushedher to go get it by herself. She hasn’t left the room since she practically moved in here when you got admitted. I’ve never seen her so scared; she thought she was losing you.” Daphne’s eyes turned glassy.
Alexa knew that scare very well, and to realize that she had put her sister through another round of it, it shattered her heart. She stared at the doorway longingly, anticipating her sister to walk in.
“And Tristan?” she asked without looking at Daphne.
“Uh,” Daphne hesitated, and Alexa glanced at her with raised eyebrows. “He’s staying away.”
It took her a little time to process the words. “What?” No. That wasn’t Tristan. Tristan never stayed away from her. Hecouldn’t. Unless…
“Cassie asked him to.”
“No.” She shook her head, refusing to believe it. “He won’t—she won’t.”
“He agreed with her, Lex, not even to visit youunseeingly. He thinks it’s for the best.”
The words tore through her soul. “No!” Alexa tossed the blanket spread aside, but before she could even moveto climb down the bed, a thunder clapped in the skies. Her heart shattered. “No!”
“Lexi, you can’t get out of bed!” Daphne grabbed her arms.
“No! No! No!” Alexa cried, struggling against Daphne’s hold, her tearful eyes fixed on the glass window overlooking the gray skies. “He is in pain! He needs me! I have to go!”
“Wait! Careful, you’ll hurt yourself! You have a needle stuck in your hand!”
Alexa paused and slowly glanced at the needle on the back of her left hand. But the tremor of it was only the size of a mustard seed compared to her horror of what Tristan was going through right now.
“Get it off me! I have to go!”
“Lexi, please—”
“Alexa?” A third voice joined.
Alexa’s eyes snapped to the doorway and saw Cassie frozen with two to-go coffees in her hands. She ran over to her, placed the coffees on the table, and pulled Alexa into a bone-crushing hug. “Oh, baby!” Cassie sobbed into her shoulder in relief. “You’re alright!”
“Cassie,Tristan!” Alexa cried into her sister’s shoulder, her mind too full of him to think of anything else, not even her sobbing sister’s relief or the brief anger she felt toward her a moment ago for asking him to stay away. “I have to go, he needs me, please!”
Cassie hugged her tight and stayed silent, stroking her hair in comfort. But Alexa was in no sense ready to welcome it. Tristan was in pain, he was suffering. There was no comfort in the world that she could accept until she heard his voice or got a glimpse of him.
She cried helplessly into her sister’s shoulders, realizing her attempts at leaving the hospital were futile. She cried and cried, even as Dr. Knight came in to check on her and assured her Tristan would be alright.
Of courseshe knew he would be alright. But she just wanted to be with him when he went through it. Was that too much to ask?
“It’s better if Tristan stays away, Alexa,” Albert said with sad eyes and a solemn smile after he ran her through a few checkups. “He thinks it’s best for the both of you.”