Hadley
My head rolled to the side, and I glared at the vacuum that was mocking me.
I needed to clean, but I was downright exhausted, and adulting was not something I wanted to do. Hell, getting out of bed today was a chore. I had barely gotten Ryker out the door before I had collapsed on the couch.
It was finally Friday, but that just meant I still had two nights of work before I finally got a day off. Between working all the hours I could and Tate finding new ways each night to cement himself more into my life, I was ready for a stiff drink and a thirteen-hour nap.
My phone buzzed next to me, and I saw it was the school calling. “Shit scones.” Since my car had broken down, I hadn’t been to school with Ryker and thankfully had been able to dodge Principal Pye. “Hello?”
“Miss James?”
I cringed recognizing Mr. Pye’s voice and laid my head back on the couch.
“Speaking.” I may not be the best adult, but I could fake it.
“There’s been an incident at school. You need to come pick up your nephew immediately.”
I shot up from the couch and clutched the phone to my ear. “What do you mean incident?” I frantically scanned my living room looking for a pair of shoes.
“There is a possibility he broke his arm in gym class, but he is refusing to call you. I made the decision that you need to know.” Mr. Pye sounded bored, like he was inconvenienced to call me.
“I’ll be right there.” I hung the phone up not waiting for his reply. I pulled my sleep shirt over my head, tossed it on the floor, and sprinted to my room. I grabbed the first clothes my hands touched and tugged them on.
I ran out of the house and came to a dead stop when I realized I didn’t have a way to get Ryker to the hospital. My dead car mocked me in the driveway, and I racked my brain trying to figure out how I was going to get to Ryker.
“Another bang-up job at being responsible,” I muttered. I pulled out my phone and called Vanessa. She and Rick lived on the other side of town, but hopefully, they were awake and able to help me.
The phone rang and rang, then it finally went to her voicemail. “Shit.”
I paced back and forth. I didn’t have any friends who would drop everything to help me. Hell, I didn’t have any friends at all.
“Tate.” Shit, I didn’t want to have to call him. If I showed up at school with Tate trailing behind me, Ryker would know something was going on.
I tried Vanessa one last time, hoping she would answer, but she didn’t.
I gnawed on my bottom lip trying to figure out what to do. I glanced at the time on my phone and saw it was almost eleven. “Fuck it.” Getting to Ryker was more important than worrying about him finding out about Tate and me.
My finger hovered over his number, and I gently pressed it, but it went directly to voicemail. “Son of a bitch!” I ran my fingers through my hair.
Maybe he was at Powerhouse. Hell, maybe one of the guys would be there and able to help.
I did something I hadn’t done in years. I ran the whole three blocks to Powerhouse, my breathing heavy and my legs shaking by the time I reached the door.
My hands were cupped around my eyes, and I peered into the empty studio.
“Can I help you?”
I spun around and saw one of the girls who had been with Tate the first night I met him. “Hi,” I gasped. Holy hell was I out of shape.
“Were you looking for Kellan or one of the guys?”
I patted my chest, trying to calm my beating heart. “I’m Ryker’s aunt.”
A light dawned in her eyes, and a smile spread across her lips. She had been looking at me like I was crazy, but thankfully, that changed when I mentioned Ryker. “Oh. He’s such a sweetheart.”
I nodded and held up a finger. I needed to catch my breath. Note to self, Hadley, get your ass off the couch more. “I need to get to school, but I don’t have a car. I don’t have any friends.” Jesus, did I sound pathetic.
“I can take you.”
“But you don’t know me.”
She waved her hand at me and pointed over her shoulder. “I’m parked on the other side of the building, come on.” She disappeared around the building, and I had no choice but to follow her. “My name is Molly, by the way. I’m dating Kellan.”
I skipped to catch up to her and fell into step beside her. “Um, I’m Hadley.”
She looked over at me and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you. Can I ask why you need to get to school?”
“I got a call from the principal that Ryker might have a broken arm.”
“Oh no! You’ll need a ride to the ER, too. Just let me tell Sage that I’ll be gone for a bit.” She ducked into the coffee shop, and I realized she worked there. Son of a bitch. I was making her miss work to help me out.
I stood outside the cafe, pacing back and forth. “You don’t need to do this,” I blurted out when Molly walked out.
She laughed and headed to the corner of the parking lot. “Nonsense, it’s not a problem. Sage can handle things on her own, and if it gets busy, Bess can help.” She slid behind the wheel of an older Corolla and motioned for me to get in.
Gah, and this was the number one reason why I needed to get my damn car fixed. I had to rely on others for shit that I should be able to do on my own. “Thank you so much for doing this,” I mumbled as I buckled up.
“It’s really not a problem.” She backed out of the parking lot, and I told her where to go.
“I’ll just grab him quick, and then you can just drop us off at the ER.”
Molly nodded, and I jumped out of the car before she even stopped.
Ryker was sitting in the front office when I jogged in. His arm was held against his chest, and his face was pale. “Oh, my God,” I gasped. “Honey, are you okay?” I kneeled in front of him and gently touched his arm.
He winced and shook his head. “I think I might have broken it. I’m sorry.”
I sat back on my heels and looked up at him. “Why the hell are you sorry? Did you try to break it?”
He shook his head. ‘No, it’s just that I know money is short, and this isn’t going to help.”
I stood up and helped him stand. “You don’t need to worry about money, Ryker. That’s my job. Let’s get you to the hospital.”
We slowly walked past the front desk, and I nodded to the secretary. “We’re headed to the hospital,” I told her. She nodded and gave me a sad smile.
Yeah, she had heard what Ryker had said. Now she knew how much I sucked at this adulting thing.
“Whose car is that?” Ryker asked.
I pushed open the door and helped him over to the car. “Molly is taking us to the hospital. I ran to Powerhouse hoping one of the guys would be there to help. They weren’t, but Molly was.”
I opened the back door, and Ryker ducked in. I heard Molly on the phone, and I wondered who she was talking. I hoped she hadn’t called Tate. Right now, if she just dropped us off at the ER, I wouldn’t have to worry about Tate coming.
“You okay?” I asked Ryker before I shut the door.
He looked up at me and smiled. “I’m fine, Haddie.”
I sighed and slammed the door. If he was fine, he wouldn’t look like he was about to pass out.
“Okay, we’re on the way right now,” Molly mumbled into her phone as I got in the front. “Kellan is going to meet us there.”
“Oh man,” Ryker moaned. “Now he’s going to see how much of a dumbass I am.”
Molly laughed. “I’m sure he has quite a few of his own stories that will attest to his dumbassness.”
I turned in my seat to look at Ryker. “Well, why don’t you tell me how you earned your first dumbass story.”
He sighed and leaned his head against the headrest. “It was all Mr. Konk’s fault.”
“Who is that?” I asked.
“My gym teacher.”
“What, did he push you down a flight of stairs or something?” I asked. That was the only way I could see this being his teacher’s fault.
“No,” he scoffed. “He didn’t believe that I could do a cheat three sixty.”
I hung my head. “Jesus, Ryker. So you thought you needed to show him you could.”
He shrugged and winced from the pain. “I can normally land it all day long, except I’ve never done it in shoes before. My toe got hooked on the floor, and I only managed to flip around once before I landed on my arm.”
I turned back around in my seat and looked out the windshield. “Yup, that is definitely your first dumbass story. Trying to show off and broke your arm.” Now that I knew Ryker wasn’t dying, my mind focused on the huge hospital bill this was going to be. Neither Ryker nor I had insurance. Fuck.
“I assume you want me to go to Falls City General, right?” Molly asked, glancing over at me.
“Yeah, that should be fine.” It wasn’t the biggest hospital, but they should be able to help Ryker there. Rockton had a bigger hospital, but it was forty-five minutes away. “Thank you again for doing us,” I mumbled.
“It’s really not a problem. I’ve met Ryker at the studio before, and I’m glad to help.” Molly was beyond nice, and I could see why she had snagged one of the guys from Powerhouse.
“How pissed off do you think Kellan is going to be?” Ryker asked Molly.
She laughed, the sound like tiny tinkling bells. “I’m sure he’s more concerned that you’re going to be okay.”
Ryker scoffed. “I’m sure, although I know he’s going to be mad at me for showing off, and then getting hurt while showing off.”
“Don’t beat yourself up too much,” Molly said. “At least you were doing something cool when you did it. I broke my arm when I was twenty-two. I was mopping the floor and managed to fall flat on my ass, but not before busting my arm on the counter trying to break my fall.”
Ryker chuckled. “Yeah, that would be a sucky way to break your arm.”
Molly snickered and pulled into the hospital parking lot. “It was just another day in the life of Molly Rey.”
I opened my door and hopped out. “Thanks for the ride.” Later, I was going to have to figure out how the hell we were going to get home, but I had other shit to worry about right now.
She shifted into park and got out of the car. “You’re welcome, although you’re not going to get rid of me that easily. Kellan is on the way here, and I can keep you company while Ryker is in x-rays.”
I helped Ryker out of the car and turned to Molly. “I feel bad enough with you going out of your way driving us here. At least let me give you gas money or something.”
She shook her head and hooked her arm through Ryker’s good one. “Nonsense. I really don’t mind helping, and besides, you’re one of us.”
Ryker and her traipsed towards the entrance, and I stood there. “One of us?” I whispered.
Molly looked over her shoulder and smiled. “You coming?”
I was confused as hell by what she meant that I was one of them, but it was another thing I would have to figure out later. I scurried to catch up to them, and we ambled into the ER waiting room.
Molly and Ryker sat down in two of the chairs, and I approached the front desk.
“Hi,” I croaked.
The nurse looked up from her paperwork and smiled. “Hi. What can I help you with?”
I hitched my thumb over my shoulder towards Ryker. “I’m pretty sure my nephew broke his arm.”
“All right.” She grabbed a clipboard off the desk and shoved some papers on it. “I’ll just need you to tell me his name, your insurance card, and also fill out these forms for me.”
I grabbed the clipboard from her. “It’s Ryker Miller. And, um, we don’t have insurance.”
The nurse smiled again and nodded toward the waiting. “Okay. Just fill out the forms, and we’ll call his name when we’re ready for him. It shouldn’t be long.”
I numbly nodded and sat down next to Ryker. I filled out the papers as best as I could, asking Ryker the questions I didn’t know the answers to, and again felt like a failure by not knowing what he was allergic to or if he had ever had surgery before.
“This blows. I’m not going to be able to do karate for weeks,” he mumbled. He slouched down in his chair and cradled his arm to his chest.
Molly patted him on the shoulder. “I’m sure Kellan can find something for you to do around the studio. Maybe you could teach the senior class with Bess and all of her friends in it.”
That was the second time I had heard Molly mention Bess. “Is Bess your grandmother?” I asked.
Molly shook her head and pulled out her phone. “No, although she acts like it. She’s one of my regular customers at the cafe. She’s been coming since I opened five years ago.”
“You forgot to mention that she’s crazy,” Ryker mumbled.
Molly laughed and quickly typed on her phone. “I think crazy is a good word for Bess, although it’s a good kind of crazy.”
“Ryker Miller,” a nurse called.
I helped Ryker up and moved to the swinging doors the nurse was standing by.
“I’ll wait here for Kellan. Just let me know if you need anything,” Molly called.
We followed the nurse to one of the examining rooms, and she took the clipboard from me. "So, you’re Ryker’s mom?” she asked as she looked over the papers.
“Um, well…” I stammered.
Ryker sighed and shook his head. “She’s my aunt, but she’s my mom.”
“Oh, um, well. Does that mean you’re his guardian?” she asked, looking back and forth between the two of us.
“Yes,” I replied.
After we had that awkward moment out of the way, she repeated all of the questions I had answered on the sheet and Ryker answered them. Why the hell did they have me fill the sheet out if she was just going to ask them again?
“All right.” She typed on her keyboard, her head down. “We’re going to take Ryker for a few x-rays to see if we can figure out if it’s broken or not.” She logged out of the computer and pushed the keyboard under the desk. “Did you want your mo—I mean did you want your aunt to come with?”
“Um, I think I can manage on my own if that’s all right?” he asked, looking at me.
“It’s whatever you want, Ry.” Did I want to go with him? Yes. Was I going to force him to come? No. He was sixteen after all, and he was going to be gone ten minutes. “I’ll go check on Molly while you’re gone.”
The nurse brought in a wheelchair and rolled Ryker out of the room and down the hallway.
I managed to find my way back to the waiting room without getting lost and saw Molly and Kellan waiting. “Hey,” I mumbled.
Kellan stood up and strode over to me. “How’s he doing?”
I wiped my hands on my pants and shrugged. “They just took him back for x-rays. The doctor won’t see him until after. He seems to be doing okay, though.”
“Hey.” I spun around and saw Tate walk into the waiting room. Holy shit. What was he doing here? He looked good, like he always did, and his eyes scanned me from head to toe. “Everything okay?”
“Uh, um, well,” I sputtered. “X-rays. Fine.” Jesus Christ. I was the fucking Rain Man.
Tate smirked, and all I wanted to do was kiss that cocky look right off of his face.
“He hasn’t seen the doctor yet. They just took him back for x-rays,” Molly fully explained.
Tate nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets. “He really break it trying to do a cheat three sixty?”
Kellan laughed and put his arm around Molly’s shoulders. “Yeah. He’s gonna catch hell for years for this.”
“Damn kid could do those in his sleep,” Tate said, shaking his head.
“He, uh, said his shoe got stuck,” I put in. I felt I needed to defend Ryker as much as I could. Was he an idiot for what happened? Yes. But I was the only one who could say that.
Tate smirked. “Been there.”
“Mol and I are going to go check out the cafeteria. You wanna come with?” Kellan asked Tate.
“Nah, I’ll stay here and wait to hear about Ry.”
Kellan and Molly headed towards swinging doors which lead to the cafeteria and left me alone with Tate.
“I’m sorry I didn’t answer this morning. I was in the shower.”
I nodded and looked at the floor. “It’s okay. I figured it out.”
He stepped towards me, and I held up my hand. “Not here,” I whispered.
“Hadley, no one is here.”
I looked around and saw the nurse wasn’t even behind the front desk. “I can’t risk it, Tate. Ryker is hurt, and I have no idea what I’m going to do.”
“You’re doing exactly what you should be doing, sweetheart. You’re doing just fine.”
I ran my fingers through my hair and paced back and forth. “Ryker having a broken arm and you showing up in the waiting room is not fine.”
“Hadley, if you want me to leave, I will. I came because I thought I could help, not to upset you even more.”
My shoulders sagged, and I stared down at the floor. “No, I don’t want you to leave. I called you because I needed your help, but now that you’re here, I’m just worried about Ryker seeing us together.”
“I’m not going to have sex with you in front of him, Hadley. I’m not sure what you’re afraid of. As far as he’ll know, Molly called Kellan, and I tagged along to make sure he was okay.”
I shook my head and laughed. “Are you sure you can control yourself?”
“It’s been touch and go since I got here, but I think I can keep a handle on it as long as you let me kiss you.”
My head popped up, and my jaw dropped. “Tate,” I hissed. “You’re incorrigible.”
He moved towards me, and I froze. I didn’t want him to kiss me, but I wasn’t going to do anything to stop him.
His fingers threaded through my hair, he tilted my head back, and his lips were on mine. It was a deep, rough, and wet kiss. It had only been hours since I had last felt his kiss, but it felt like days. Whenever he touched me, my body sang, and everything floated away. “Tate,” I gasped against his mouth.
“It’s okay,” he whispered. He leaned his forehead against mine and closed his eyes. “I’m really sorry I didn’t answer the phone. I would have been there for you.”
“I know.” And I did know. I knew he would have dropped whatever he had been doing to help me if I had asked. “Thank you for coming.”
“Holy fuck.”
Tate and I jumped, and I stumbled, falling into a chair. “Jesus Christ, Roman. You think you could not sneak up on people like that?” Tate ran his fingers through his hair, messing it up even more than from my fingers running through it.
Roman looked around. “Last I checked, this was a public waiting room in the fucking ER. I didn’t know I needed to announce myself.”
Tate moved in front of me, blocking me from Roman. “Molly and Kellan are at the cafeteria. Why don’t you go find them?”
He sidestepped Tate and looked down at me. “Because I wanna hear the story of how you managed to find your waitress here.”
He had no idea I was Ryker’s aunt. Shit. This was not how I wanted people to find out about Tate and me. Hell, I wanted no one to know about Tate and me.
“Her name is Hadley,” Tate bit off.
Roman’s eyes shot to Tate. “You mean like Aunt Haddie?”
I gulped and closed my eyes. Roman wasn’t as stupid as he looked.
“How the hell did you put those two together so quickly? Kellan, Dante, and I were shocked as hell.”
Roman shrugged. “You had to think his aunt couldn’t be that old. He mentioned his mom was in her thirties when she passed away, and that his aunt was younger.”
Tate looked over his shoulder at me. “I really need to start listening better.”
I smothered a laugh. “Obviously.”
“You didn’t, by chance, bring your friend with you, did you?” Roman asked me.
“Vanessa?”
“Yeah, is she hiding somewhere?” Roman looked around again, anxiously looking for Vanessa.
“And we’re back to dumbass Roman,” Tate mumbled.
A nurse peeked her head out from behind the swinging door. “He’s back in his room if you want to come back in.”
“I, um…”
Tate turned around. “Go see to Ryker, sweetheart.”
“But what about?” I motioned to Roman who was checking out the nurse.
Tate shook his head and sighed. “I’ll let him know he needs to keep his mouth shut about you and me. Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay,” I murmured. I followed the nurse to Ryker’s room leaving Tate to deal with Roman.
“Hey, bud,” I beamed walking into Ryker’s room. His face was even paler than before, and a fine sheen of sweat covered his forehead. “Are you okay?”
The nurse sat down in the chair in front of the computer. “X-rays are always a little tough. The way he broke it, we had to bend his arm to get a good picture of it.”
“What? You had to hurt him?” I demanded.
“Haddie, I’m fine.”
“Ryker,” I chided. “You look like you are about to pass out, and you sure didn’t look that way when I left.”
Ryker laid down on the exam table and closed his eyes. “Haddie, take a pill,” he groaned.
I brushed his hair back from his face and pressed a hand to his forehead. “What’s wrong with him?” I asked frantically.
“On a scale from one to ten, what is your pain level?” the nurse asked.
“Nine,” Ryker croaked.
“I’ll get some pain meds on board, and that should help bring down the pain. The doctor should be in here soon once the x-rays are ready.” She slid the keyboard under the desk and stood up. “Hang tight, and I’ll get some meds.” She walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.
“Haddie, would you stop staring at me?” Ryker had his eyes closed, and a small smile played on his lips.
“Your eyes are shut.”
“I can still feel you being all overprotective over me. Mom used to do the same thing.”
I sighed and sat down on the chair next to the bed. “It’s what I should be doing, Ry. Someone needs to worry about you.”
“I’m going to be fine.”
“I should be the one telling you that, not the other way around.” Ryker groaned, and I shot up from my chair. “What’s wrong, are you okay?”
Ryker cracked open and eye and looked up at me. “Yeah, I just tried to move my arm. I forgot I broke it.” A smirk spread across his lips, and he chuckled. “Funny how that works.”
“Well, stop moving, please,” I ordered. I collapsed back in the chair and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was only half past twelve, but it felt like midnight.
I was going to have to call Rick and tell him I wasn’t going to be able to work tonight. He was going to throw a shit fit, but I couldn’t leave Ryker alone with a freshly broken arm.
A knock sounded on the door, and then a tall, well-built man in a white coat strode into the room. “Hi, I’m Dr. Scott. I hear someone might have broken their arm?” He looked from Ryker to me and smiled. “I’m going to go with the one laying on the bed being Ryker. Am I right?”
Not only was he good looking, but he also had a bit of a sense of humor. I stood up and held out my hand to him. “Yes, that’s right. I’m Hadley, his aunt.” He gently shook it, and turned to the small sink.
“Oh, is his mother at work?” he asked as he washed his hands.
“She’d dead,” Ryker croaked.
I gasped and covered my mouth. Jesus Christ. “Ryker,” I hissed.
He turned his head to look at me and opened one eye. “What? She is.”
“I’m really sorry,” I apologized to the doctor. “His mother passed away a bit ago, and we’re still adjusting.”
“Not me,” Ryker drawled. “I’m adjusted to the fact that Hadley is my guardian, and I’m happy. Also, she doesn’t beat me, and I don’t feel threatened. The nurse went over all of that. Now, can you give me some pills and look to see if my arm is broken instead of discussing my life?”
The doctor cleared his throat and picked up the file he had set down. “Well, let’s have a look at the x-rays, and then the nurse should be in with something to help with the pain.” He clipped three x-rays to a light box and turned it on. “If you look right here, you can see the break.” He pointed with the end of a pencil and traced a jagged line by Ryker’s elbow.
“So he broke his elbow?” I asked.
“Yes, and no. It’s not technically his elbow, but it’s damn close.” He flipped off the light and sat on the stool. “It should take about six weeks to heal, but you’re going to need to see an ortho to get the casting done. I would recommend waiting a day or two to let the swelling go down some.” He scooted to the edge of the table where Ryker was lying and felt his arm.
He prodded around, pushing and pulling, the whole time Ryker grunting and groaning. “So what do we do until we see the ortho doctor?” I asked.
The doctor spun on the stool and pulled the tray out with the keyboard on it. “We’ll put him in a temporary cast right now, which should hold him over until he gets the full cast on. Tonight and tomorrow, just keep it elevated, and don’t do anything strenuous. Make an appointment for Monday out front with Dr. Kenko over in Rockton. We don’t have an ortho in Falls City, unfortunately.”
Of course, they didn’t. Now I also had to worry about figuring out how the hell I was going to get to Rockton which was forty-five minutes away.
The nurse lightly knocked on the door, entered, and handed Ryker some pills that he downed in a matter of seconds.
“Did you have any questions for me?” Dr. Scott asked.
“Um, do you know how long he’ll have to have the cast on?” I asked.
“More than likely six to eight weeks. Once you see the ortho, you’ll know more.” Dr. Scott stood, shook my hand, and then disappeared out of the room.
“I’ll grab everything I need for the temporary cast, and then we’ll get you all wrapped up.” The nurse said as she patted Ryker’s leg and followed the doctor out.
I plopped back down in the chair and sighed. This was going to be the longest six to eight weeks of my life.
**********