Linda reached to pat my knee. “It’s best if you leave now, Cassy. Trust me.”
“Are there a lot of people outside?”
She nodded.
“What’s next?”
“I need to see what the doctors say before I can assess the damage.”
Damage. It was a word I’d come to hate lately. I breathed in hard and stretched my stiff neck.
“If someone sees you here looking like this, you’ll be all over the internet,” Linda urged.
“What, you don’t like my poncho?” I joked.
She gave me a small smile. “How about I call you if I hear something?”
“Thank you, but I’ll be careful.”
Truth was, I couldn’t leave the hospital without seeing Frank. I just wanted a glimpse.
Linda patted my arm, then rose to her feet and walked off. Reclining my head against the wall, I closed my eyes and waited.
It was nearly nine and I was chugging my third cup of coffee, trying to stay awake and alert, when Roman finally came to grab me.
My anxiety rushed back in as I stepped into the room. The lights were bright and sterile, and the monitors were obnoxiously loud. It made me wonder how someone could even sleep through this noise. Then I remembered Valium.
At first, I couldn’t tell if Frank was awake. His head, limp against the raised top of the bed, was turned away and his eyes weren’t in my line of view. The door behind me swung shut and I stood in my spot, hugging the blanket and staring at his sandy hair splayed across the pillow, until his cheek pulled and a hint of a smile stretched his lips. He turned his head slightly to see me better.
I held his gaze and tried not to look at the cast and the tubes prodding his veins.
“Why are you still here, doll?” Frank’s voice was soft around the edges from medications and anesthesia.
“I wanted to make sure you were okay.” I walked over and grabbed a chair.
He didn’t move, but his eyes ran over my body, curious. I heard the swallow followed by a loud, shallow attempt at taking a breath. “Love the new cape.” The corners of his lips curled up slightly.
Not sure who he was trying to fool, me or himself, I returned the smile. Mine was just as weak. “It’s been a little chilly here.” I settled in a chair and stared at his hand for a while, hesitant to touch him. Suspicion was driving me mad. The confrontation with Dante was like a fungus, growing bigger with every second. I’d never seen Frank do drugs, but the more I thought about it, the more his sudden boost of confidence before the show made sense, and the words danced on the tip of my tongue.
“Cassy,” Frank spoke. “You should go home.”
I felt the fear creeping through. It was everywhere. In the dullness of his gaze, in the tremor of his voice, in the shortness of his breath, in the dark shadows beneath his eyes. His cheeks were the color of diluted white paint. He looked…shattered.
Emotions consumed me. Biting back all my questions, I slipped my fingers between his and brushed our hands together. “I don’t want to go, Frank. I want to stay here. With you.”
“The next couple of days are going to be difficult with the press. Why don’t you and Ashton get out of town until all this blows over? Brooklyn will arrange your tickets.” His speech slurred. “Pick a place. How about Hawaii?”
“You want to send me away?”
“It’s safer.”
“Frank. I’m not a little girl who needs saving. Ashton is getting ready to retake his SATs. He has school. We can’t just leave. It doesn’t work like that.”
He got quiet.
“You’re going to need some help anyway.” I motioned at his arm. The knot in my stomach tightened. My brain was still processing the consequences of the accident. I didn't know any details yet, but I’d overheard Janet speaking to a doctor. There were multiple fractures in the clavicle area and the fragments of his broken plate in his shoulder. Frank was going to need another surgery, which meant there would be no shows. At least, not for a while.
Dozens of different machines squawking in unison surrounded the bed. The room reminded me of a scene from a futuristic science fiction movie.
“Brooklyn will get a nurse,” he said, his fingers moving against mine subtly and carefully.
“I don’t want some random woman to bathe you.”
He smiled again, but his face twisted and I realized he couldn’t laugh, because he was in pain.
“Remember what you said to me in Aspen, Frank?”
“A lot of dirty things, as you requested.”
“That too,” I agreed. “You said you’ve never been in a relationship with someone who wasn’t a high profile person.”
He nodded.
“This is what a relationship with a middle-class woman is like. She’s not going to hide out from the press while her man is going through shit.”
“Nicely put. Going through shit. And I like that. Well, not that going through shit part, but how vocal you are about your dibs on me.”
We stared at each other for a few seconds. “You need to let me be there for you, Frank,” I said, our fingers still entwined.
“And you need to let me protect you from the shit I’m in.”
“Are we talking compromise here?”
“Yes. It appears we are.” The corner of his mouth tugged, but his voice was barely there.
“How are we doing this then?”
“First of all, you need to go home and get some sleep. The hospital will be surrounded by reporters while I’m here. I don’t want you to come back. It’s too risky. Just lay low.”
My heart drummed in my chest as I held his hand and listened. He sounded like an undercover agent who was trying to get us out of a life and death situation.
“When will you be released?”
“A couple of days…hopefully.” His jaw slackened. He was slipping away.
“Okay, then I’ll see you at home?” It was half-statement, half-question.
“Yes, I’ll see you at home, doll.”
Exhausted, I slid into the back
