Chapter Eight
When Airin woke up, she was plunged into every nightmare she’d had since she was nine years old.
Hospital bed. Hospital smell. Hospital sights and sounds and sensations.
She jerked upright as panic clawed at her chest.
“No, no, no, no, no—”
“Airin.”
A hand on her wrist, squeezing. She turned her head and saw—
Hunter.
It took her only a moment to remember who he was. But that still didn’t explain where she was or why they were here.
“Is it . . . is it my heart?” she asked, almost too terrified to finish the question.
“No, angel. Do you remember the accident?”
Accident? Had there been an accident?
She shook her head. “We were at the beach,” she said slowly. Images of kissing him flooded through her mind, and she felt her face heating. “Is that what happened to my heart? Was it too much?”
He squeezed her hand again. “Your heart’s fine. It’s your rib cage we’re worried about. We were driving to Kailua and we crashed, and you broke a couple of ribs and collapsed part of your lung. Do you remember the doctor telling you any of this? Dr. Jackson? She talked to you when you first woke up.”
She shook her head again. “I want to get out of here.”
“Not an option,” Hunter said. “They’re going to keep you a few days for observation.”
Panic rose. “They can’t make me stay.”
His eyes narrowed as he looked at her. “Airin—”
She licked her lips, which felt dry. “My ribs don’t hurt. If I broke them, why don’t they hurt?”
“They gave you pain medication.”
“Through my IV?”
“Yeah.”
There was an IV in her left arm and a chest tube between two of her ribs on her right side. Down below, hidden by the blanket, there was a catheter. The rawness in her throat meant that she’d had a breathing tube in there at some point, though that at least had been removed.
She remembered the technique her favorite nurse had taught her once, for whenever she felt overwhelmed by hospital-induced panic. She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth, slowly and evenly, and after a few moments she could speak calmly again.
“I don’t remember a car accident. The last thing I remember is being on the beach with you and . . .” A sudden flush swept over her, and she worried her quickening pulse would set off the heart monitor.
In through the nose, out through the mouth.
“I remember that, too,” Hunter said.
She cleared her throat. “How long ago was that? I mean, how long have I been in the—” She didn’t want to say hospital. “In here?”
“The beach was last night. It’s ten in the morning now.”
Ten in the morning.
There was something about that. Something important . . . something . . .
Realization flooded through her.
“Oh God,” she said, staring at Hunter.
His jaw was shadowed with stubble, and he looked like he hadn’t slept. He leaned in closer, his face concerned.
“What’s wrong?”
“You. You’re supposed to be in the biosphere. Oh God, Hunter. Are they waiting for you?”
He reached out and brushed the backs of his knuckles over her cheek. “Don’t worry about that, angel. It’s not an issue.”
“Not an issue? Damn it, answer me! Are they waiting for you? Do you have time to get there?”
He took her hand again. “Airin—”
She sat up straighter. “You tell me right now, Hunter. And you tell me the truth.”
He sighed. “All right. If you calm down, I’ll tell you.”
In through the nose, out through the mouth.
“I’m calm.”
He studied her for a moment before speaking.
“No, they’re not waiting for me. But it’s fine. My backup is going in. A really good guy named Liam Jones. You’d like him.”
She leaned back against the pillows and closed her eyes. Tears pricked behind her lids, and as hard as she fought to hold them back, they leaked slowly down her cheeks.
Hunter had missed his window because of her. He’d missed out on the biosphere.
If there was one kind of person she understood, it was a person with a mission. Hunter had wanted to go into space all his life. The biosphere project was a crucial step on that journey.
She’d wrecked his career. And even if he thought otherwise right now, eventually he’d see what she’d done to him.
And he’d hate her for it.
“Airin. Don’t think about it, okay? This is not your problem. What I need you to do now is tell me your last name and how to reach your family. You lost your purse somewhere, angel. Nobody knows who you are or who your emergency contact is.”
Her eyes flew open. “My family,” she said.
“That’s right. We have to let them know what happened to you.”
“Oh God.”
Her family. Her mother. What time was it? Ten in the morning. Was there a chance in the world they hadn’t noticed she was gone yet? She was usually a very early riser. But maybe Thomas and the others would think she was sleeping in today. They wouldn’t go into her room, would they?
Of course they would. Who was she kidding? If they were worried about her, they would absolutely go into her room. They wouldn’t even have to ask the hotel for help, since they could get in through the connecting door to her mother’s suite.
Unless, please God, they weren’t worried. Her mother was on the Big Island, after all, and they all had plenty of other work to do. Maybe they’d give it a while longer before going in to check on her and sounding the alarm.
But even if she’d gotten lucky so far, noon would be the outside limit of her window of privacy. She had to get back to her hotel room now, and she had to do it without anyone seeing her.
“Hunter. Can you do me a favor?”
He leaned forward, and something in his eyes made her stomach do an odd little flip.
“You’re lying in this bed because of me. Hell yes, I’ll do you a favor. Anything. Name it.”
“I need you to get me out of here. I mean, they can’t keep me here against my will, can they? Then I need your help to get back to my hotel. Only . . . no one can see me. You’ll have to sneak me in somehow. I know the layout pretty well, but I’ve only ever snuck back at night, and—”
“Airin.”
Hunter’s quiet voice stopped her. After a moment he spoke again, his voice gentle.
“Is there someone you’re afraid of? Someone in your family?”
She started to laugh, and it turned into a cough. Hunter handed her a cup of water, and she took a swallow.
“Yes, there’s someone I’m afraid of. But not for the reasons you’re thinking.”
She put the cup down on the table beside her. Then she started to run a hand through her hair, stopping when she encountered the bandage on her temple. She explored its dimensions, noting without emotion that they’d shaved off a small portion of her hair—no more than an inch or two.
“In case you’re wondering, you’re still gorgeous as hell.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about right now, but thanks.”
She turned to look at him again, noting the shadows under his eyes. He’d endured a sleepless night and missed out on the biosphere mission because of her. If nothing else, she owed him the truth.
“There’s something I have to tell you.”
“You can tell me anything, Airin. I mean it.”
“It’s about my family. Well . . . my mother. She’s the only family I have. She’s not—that is—I . . .”
There was a commotion out in the hall. Voices yelling, growing closer. One voice in particular, a deep and scathing contralto.
Oh God.
The door was flung open with sudden violence, and Dira Delaney stood on the threshold. She was flanked by three of her staff and a gaggle of hospital people.
At the sight of her daughter, Dira held up a hand imperiously. Airin wasn’t surprised when everyone who’d been yammering at her fell silent.
Her mother had that effect on people.
“Airin. There you are.”
Her voice sounded almost matter-of-fact, but Airin knew better. Beneath Dira’s tightly controlled exterior was a tangle of panic and fury.
She took three steps into the room, turned her eyes on Hunter for a moment, and looked back at Airin.
“Congratulations on not being dead yet.” She took another step. “Now tell me what the hell is going on.”