He sat up and rubbed his eyes. “He okay?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Okay. That’s awesome. I’m glad he’s okay. Let me just…” His gaze landed on me and he inhaled audibly.
I let my eyes dart to the side, away from his intense scrutiny. “Um, thanks for last night.” That sounded like I meant the orgasm, which I was grateful for, but not the focal point of the moment, so I clarified. “For staying with me at the hospital, and um, letting me crash here.” I was a babbling idiot, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances.
He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “No problem. I was glad to do it.”
I pulled on my jean shorts that were folded in a chair beside the bed. He’d washed my clothes.
“Would it be okay if I hung onto this?” I motioned to the jersey. It was silly, but I wanted something tangible I could keep to remind me of our time together before I likely never saw him again. I doubted he’d want to hang out much once he found out how old I was and that I wasn’t technically a college student.
“Yeah, of course. You can have it.”
After we both brushed our teeth, we made our way to his Jeep. He insisted on buying me a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit from a drive through on the way. I ate about half of it, which was all I could manage with my stomach in knots.
I just wanted to get to Drew.
“So…last night was…eventful,” I began after I’d eaten all I could.
Aiden glanced over at me. “You could definitely say that.”
I gestured to the jersey in my lap. “You saw me crying. And naked. Naked and crying.”
“I also saw you trying to help carry a man twice your body weight. Most people I know couldn’t have held it together as well as you did.”
“Doesn’t feel like it.” I put the half of my biscuit I couldn’t finish back in the bag. “Feels like lost my mind a little.”
Frowning, his eyebrows dipped then raised. “Under the circumstances, I think that’s understandable. In all of my twenty-four years, I’ve never known anyone to be a victim of a violent crime.”
Somewhere my brain registered that he was older than I’d thought, calculating the six or seven years between us. Not that twenty-four was old. I was almost eighteen. But I would’ve guessed twenty-one or twenty-two at most.
There was a lot we didn’t know about each other. And we were out of time to do anything about it.
Aiden pulled into the front parking lot at the hospital and moved to shut off the engine. I placed my hand on his.
“You don’t have to go in today. You’d probably just be stuck sitting alone in the waiting room forever.” And Drew’s mom or sister was likely to ask which high school he went to or how we knew each other, both of which would reveal more than I wanted to.
He frowned but left the Jeep running. “I’d like to at least make sure you get inside safely. What about a ride home?”
“I’m sure people have heard what happened by now. My mom knew already, and she hardly leaves the house. Camille’s dad is the local sheriff. He was there last night. She’ll probably be here, and she can take me home.”
The lines deepened in his forehead. “Camille as in the friend who ditched you and failed to bring you home last night?”
“Yes, but—”
“Go inside. Check on your friend. When you’re ready, call or text me and I’ll pick you up and drive you home.”
He’d already done so much. I bit the inside of my cheek. “I don’t have your number.”
He reached for my phone, probably to put his number in my contact list, but I hesitated.
“It’s just a phone number,” he said quietly, visibly wounded by my behavior.
“Okay.” I opened the screen to the add contact page and handed it over. “I’ll text you later and let you know I’m home safe. That work?”
Without removing it from the headrest, he rolled his head to the side and locked his gaze on mine as he took my phone. “It’s not my first choice. Honestly.”