Cake by Nicole Reed Page A

within him burns me to my core, so I close my eyes. This can’t be happening.
     
    “I’m sorry to interrupt, but we need to check his vital signs and give him his medicine,” the nurse says from the doorway.
     
    Jerking away from his touch, my eyes open to his, watching the flame stoke higher.
     
    He answers the nurse, never turning away from me, “Get out.” He commands attention even with a whisper.
     
    “Sorry, while you are in the hospital, you are on a schedule for mandatory patient check-ins. It should only take a few minutes.”
     
    Her words wake me from my stupor, and finally, my senses return. I look from her to him and only speak, when I see the familiar look on Dray’s face when he’s about to ream someone a new one. “No, that is fine. Maybe you can explain what I need to do to nurse him back once he goes home?” I don’t look at Dray when I ask her the question, but I can feel his eyes on me.
     
    “You’ll just need to check on him every couple of hours and make sure he gets plenty of rest,” she smiles and answers while dispensing medication into his I.V. and checking his blood-pressure. Finishing, she turns toward Dray and says before she exits, “You’ll get so much more rest when you get home, Mr. Savage.”
     
    Deciding that it is time for my exit, I walk to the end of his bed, picking up my purse, before turning to look back at him.
     
    “What did you mean by that, Kylie?”
     
    “You said you wouldn’t let anyone take care of you. Well, I’m not giving you a choice. I’ll be here to take you home, and I’ll stay for two weeks to make sure you make a full recovery. We’ve stayed at the lake house with Trent together and didn’t kill each other, so I’m sure we can get through this.”
     
    “So you have talked with Trent?” His voice is still quiet from the pain, but his tone is harsh. “Is that it then? He asked you to come and take care of me?”
     
    Not that I have never lied in my lifetime, but generally, I’m not someone who tells the untruth. I value honesty in all of its forms and seek that trait in others, but looking at Dray’s face, every sense I possess screams at me to not tell him about Trent. Something tells me that it’s not what he wants to hear, and something scares me that it’s not all true anymore for me.
     
    “Yes, he called me worried and wanted to know what I knew about your condition,” I answer watching his face fall, “but I’m here because I am scared about what happened to you. Seeing you like this kills me inside.” My words echo through the room.
     
    A small smile begins at the corners of his mouth.
     
    “I mean if anyone is going to get to kill you off, it’s going to be me.” I add, winking, needing to add some levity to the situation.
     
    Puckering his lips up, he nods gently, “Okay, I guess I can let you nurse me back to health.”
     
    Knowing that this is my time to escape, I nod and turn to walk out of the room.
     
    “Kylie?”
     
    Turning my head, I answer, “Yeah?”
     
    “Thanks. I... Thank you,” he says from his bed. A pain shoots through my heart as he looks like a lost little boy lying there.
     
    “I’ll be back in the morning.”
     
    Nodding, he never takes his eyes off me as I turn to leave. Walking down the hospital corridors, I can’t think about what is happening. I just have to get through the next couple of weeks without losing my sanity or worse, something I never thought was in danger when it came to Dray. My heart.

Dray didn’t leave the hospital until two days later due to severe headaches. I spent the entire time getting everything in line with my business and dodging the media wanting to confirm mine and Dray’s non-existent relationship. Decadent Darling did more business in those few days than the past month. Leo believes everyone was trying to catch any tidbit of gossip they could find.
     
    An hour before I’m to meet him at the hospital, I receive a text message that his