“Huh?”
“Don’t you remember?” She bit her lip. “I should get the doctor.”
“What? The doctor?” Then I realized I was hooked up to a machine and peering around, my glance told me I was in the hospital.
Ugh. Just where I wanted to be when Lauren was in the room.
“Why do I keep doing what?” I asked her, stalling her in her tracks when she climbed off the bed with the intention of doing as she’d said—leaving the room and finding a doctor.
“You keep saying my name.”
I did? I could feel my cheeks burn with embarrassment.
“It’s a habit,” I told her gruffly, and saw her cheeks burn too.
I only knew of the habit because two exes had thrown it at me in fights.
They hadn’t been the first to ask me why I murmured the name, ‘Lauren’ in my sleep.
Yeah, that had been a joy to explain.
“You say my name in your sleep as a habit?” she repeated dumbly, scowling wildly at me
as she did so.
“I’d nod, but that would hurt too much. What the hell happened?”
She gnawed at her lip again, momentarily diverted. Thank Christ.
“Jane hit you with a bat. She thought you were attacking me.”
“Oh shit, I remember. We were at your mother’s goddaughter’s place, right?”
She nodded. “Jane has schizophrenia. That’s why she was confused.” Lauren lifted a hand and rubbed her brow. “I’ve made that situation a thousand times worse.”
I could hear the tears in her throat and held out my hand, willing her to return to my side, needing to comfort her.
“Explain,” I asked softly, watching as she took a hesitant step toward me and not wanting to say too much to turn her from me.
“I just wanted to help, wanted to give Karen some time to work… Instead, Jane’s being sectioned.” She rubbed a hand over her face and tightened the other on my fingers. “Karen’s staying with my parents until something gets figured out.”
“She should be able to stay out of the foster care system. She’s seventeen, right?”
Lauren nodded. “Yeah. Mom has no problem with her staying with them all the time, they just have to get the legalities sorted out.” She blew out a breath. “And after she attacked you without provocation, there’s no way Jane won’t be held for a while.”
“We were kissing, weren’t we?” I asked carefully, watching her cheeks pinken in response—there was a hell of a lot of blushing going down, but that didn’t surprise me. Not really. We were cautious around one another, and only God knew how long that would be for.
I just hoped it wasn’t forever.
“Yeah.”
“I wasn’t… I wasn’t hurting you, was I?”
She shook her head with a swiftness that relieved me. “Of course you weren’t,” she defended instantly. “Hell, Cooper, why would you even ask that?”
“The woman hit me with a bat because she thought you needed protection from me!” I retorted hoarsely. “Why else would she if I wasn’t…”
“As if you would anyway!” she scoffed. “Jane mistook the moans I was making, that’s all.” She pulled a face. “Do I sound like I’m in pain or something?” She ducked her head. “Well, this is embarrassing.”