“Hunter, you’re awake!” My mother rushed to my side, pausing for a second as she looked up at Georgia with alarm.
Georgia pulled her hand from mine and stepped back, giving my mom space to overwhelm me. I could see the horror in her face, and I knew what she was thinking—she was old enough to be my mom.
But that didn’t matter to me, and I certainly didn’t see her like I did my mom. I would show her exactly how I saw her as soon as I got the all-clear from my doctor.
“Georgia, what are you doing here?”
My eyes jumped to my father, who was standing surprised in the threshold of my hospital room.
“Have you come to support my son and me? It’s not necessary. It’s been a long battle with Hunter up until now.”
My gaze returned to Georgia, who was opening and closing her mouth like she was trying to figure out where to start. My mother was oblivious as hell about whatever was going on as she fussed over my surgical site, checking everything over. She paused long enough to glance at my father and scowl at him. To be honest, I was amazed they were even in the same room together. I guess my impromptu surgery was enough for them to put aside their differences.
“How are you feeling?” my mother asked, but my eyes were still on Georgia, whose face resembled a tomato, and her eyes had not left my father once.
What the hell is going on?
“Do you two know each other?”
georgia
This was absolutelymy worst nightmare come to life. I’d just admitted I loved Hunter and wanted to be with him only to watch as his father walked into the room—who was none other than the man I found myself in a limo with yesterday evening.
Oh, my God. I had dated a son and a father in less than twenty-four hours.I wanted the floor to open and swallow me whole as embarrassment rushed through me, making my skin crawl.
“Georgia, do you two know each other?” Dean walked around Hunter’s bed and paused to stand next to me. My eyes never left him as he moved toward me, and when he finally stopped, wrapping his arm around my waist, I flinched.
“Yes.” I managed to breathe, forcing my eyes to Hunter as I pleaded with him not to say anything. Not yet, not right now. “I’ve been his nurse almost every time he ends up in this ward, and we’ve become friends. So, the other nurses called me to let me know when he went into surgery.”
I searched Hunter’s face, trying to gauge his reaction to my lie. But whatever he was thinking, his features were stoic. After all the hurdles I’d jumped over to get to this point, this one was tripping me up, and I was falling flat on my face. There would be no getting up after this. How could there be?
“Well,” Dean laughed, squeezing my waist. “This is why I donate so much to the hospital. We appreciate the good service.”
He leaned in and kissed me suddenly, making me repel away from him quickly. A look of confusion crossed Dean’s face for half a second before his eyes jumped to his ex-wife. He decided my unease came from her, not from the fact that I’d been making out with his son seconds before his arrival.
“Yeah, Georgia’s the best,” Hunter said tightly, making me look at him helplessly.
“I’m going to go now,” I said, prying myself out of Dean’s arms. As Dean began to protest, I continued quickly, “My cousin was the donor, so I’m going to go check on him. Small world, isn’t it? Hunter is best friends with Austin. Who would have thought?”
My legs were leaden as I dragged myself to the door. Honestly, I didn’t want to see Austin right now, I wanted to process what had just happened, but my conscience told me that checking on him before bailing to hide in my house for the rest of my life was the least I could do.
“You rest up, and we’ll talk soon,” I said, although I wasn’t sure to whom I was speaking, so I let my eyes linger on both Stanton men before rushing from the room. Why hadn’t I put two and two together? Stanton couldn’t be that common in our small city. Gosh, I was a moron.
The comfort I usually found in the hallways of my work home now felt suffocating. Were the walls moving in on me? I stumbled to the nurse’s station, gripping the counter as I bowed my head and buried my face in the crook of my arm. All my life, I’d played it safe. I took a safe job. I dated safe men. And the first time I stepped out of line, I found myself in a clusterfuck of chaos.
Thankfully, I hadn’t slept with either of them. This meant I could end everything immediately and move on, continue to play it safe, and learn the valuable lesson here.Don’t put your heart on the line.
But then a pang of guilt went through me at the idea of, once more, leading Hunter on. I’d told him I loved him, only for me to walk it back the moment his father was gone and tell him—yet again—that this wasn’t going to work. If he didn’t already think I was crazy, this would be the cherry on top.
“Can I help you with—Oh, Georgia!” I looked up at my sister, whose eyes crinkled with sympathy. “He’s fine, Gia. Dr. Cantrell said he’s healing nicely. He should be good to go home in a couple days.”
I shook my head and grabbed her arm, tugging her down the hallway. The closest safe room was Austin’s, so we popped inside, and I shut the door behind me.
“Georgia, Dakota, I thought you were never going to come and visit.” Austin flashed us a grin, and I shook my head again.
“Not right now.” I held up a hand to silence him before turning to Dakota again. “You know the hot donor that’s always asking me out?”
“Yeah?” Dakota’s eyes jumped to Austin and then back to me.