Her hand shot out to grab his wrist. “No, you’re going climbing today. I’ll call Claire.”
“The hell you will.” He gently pulled her hand away and leaned down to kiss the side of her head. “I’ll be right back.”
“Noah...”
He ignored her and went to the guest room, taking barely two steps inside the room.
“Graham,” he barked.
Some sort of questionable sound came from his friend’s form sprawled across the bed.
“Mia’s sick and I’m taking her to the hospital. Stay here as long as you want.”
Graham’s head popped up. “Is she okay?”
“I think so. But she’s in pain and we need to go now.”
“Want me to come?”
“No. I’ll call you later.”
In seconds Noah was back in his room, slipping on jeans and a T-shirt. He grabbed one of his own T-shirts and brought it to where Mia still lay on the bed. She hadn’t moved at all, her eyes squeezed shut.
He brushed her thick, dark hair away from her face. “Let me help you put this on.”
He helped her sit up and slid the shirt over her tank top. The shorts she had on would work.
“Can you walk?”
She nodded, but a sound of pain slipped from her throat when she straightened.
A chunk of Noah’s heart chipped away, lodging in his throat. He scooped her in his arms, cradling her close to his chest. She immediately buried her face into his shirt, and he struggled to keep himself composed.
In minutes he’d settled her in the passenger seat, her legs tucked up and her head resting against the window. He drove her to Saint Luke’s, where she’d gone the few other times she’d required hospitalization.
It took them forty-five minutes to get her back to a room, and Mia’s body curved into his side was the only thing that kept him from causing a scene at the desk, demanding a doctor to come see her.
To help her, fix this, take her pain away.Now.
As it was, he brushed his hand up and down her arm, alternating between staring at her wearing his gray CU shirt and glaring at the man in scrubs who took their information, but who clearly had no sense of urgency when it came to people who needed medical attention.
Noah didn’t breathe again until she was in a bed, an IV in her arm, and watched the pain medication take effect. Her countenance relaxed, color returned to her cheeks, and her breathing evened out.
He pulled a chair next to the bed and sat as close as possible, her hand in his.
“You’re staring,” she whispered.
He wasn’t ready to speak just yet.
“I feel better,” she continued when he didn’t respond. “I promise.”
He nodded, knowing he looked like a complete asshole just watching her, unsmiling. But nothing about this was okay. His mind had gone to a dark place in the last hour, and he couldn’t seem to follow the sound of her voice back to the light. Memories of that night, when he, Nathan, and Graham were on the side of a mountain filled his mind, and the text message he’d gotten from Claire.
They were away for Nathan’s bachelor party. Instead of a night of drinking and strippers, Nathan had said all he wanted was to get out of town and climb some rocks with his groomsmen. They’d been shooting the shit around the campfire when the text came through.
Mia had a seizure and passed out. She’s in the ICU.
Service on the mountain had been complete shit when he tried to call, and he didn’t remember much after that.