What The Heart Needs - The Heart #3 (Complete)

Chapter 9 - Part 2

I breathed in deeply and exhaled. This time when I closed my eyes I finally fell asleep.

*********

I woke up to the smell of coffee. The room was bright and I squinted as I opened my eyes. Beside me on the table was a steaming up of coffee. The bed beside me was empty. Where was Aiden?

I felt achy and still tired. I sat up and reached for the coffee. Aiden had made me coffee. That familiar tugging in my chest made me smile. I remembered how I took it. The cup was still warm. It had been so thoughtful.

Why couldn't he be an asshole I didn't want to be around?

I sipped the coffee and cradled it in my hands. It was a nice change from the horrible coffee at the hospital.

The door opened and Aiden entered the room. He was dressed in different clothes. How long had he been awake?

"You're awake."

I nodded. "Thank you for the coffee."

"You're welcome." He walked over to the bed and sat down. "How are you feeling?"

I gave a one armed shrug. "Half human."

"Nothing like a couple hours sleep and a good cup of coffee to make things right in the world." He smiled.

There was no disputing the way I looked at him now. He wasn't a friend, or just a boy. He was a guy who made me feel things I know I shouldn't.

"Max called." And that statement brought me back to reality with a hard thump.

Max.

"He has already called a couple of times on your phone. It's probably going to be a good idea to give him a call back."

"He doens't know I'm here?" I asked, suddenly regretting sleeping over.

He shook his head. "I wouldn't do that to you."

I reached for my phone and saw I had three missed calls from Max.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," Aiden said, giving me the privacy to call Max back.

It rang a couple of times before Max answered.

"Hey," he greeted. He sounded relieved.

"Hi," I replied, trying to calm my heart.

"I've been trying to call but you haven't been answering. I was hoping you were okay."

"I'm sorry. It's been hectic and I just woke up."

There was silence.

"You never let me know how the surgery went."

I had done a lot more than that. I was going to come clean but I couldn't do it over the phone. It was something I would have to do face to face. It was the right way to approach it even if it was the last thing I wanted to do right now.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. It was pretty late and I was so tired."

I looked around Aiden's room. If Max knew where I was he wouldn't be happy.

"It's fine. How did the surgery go?" he asked.

"It was successful. Now we have to wait for her to wake up."

The last image I had of Lacey stayed in my mind. It was the one of her looking so fragile with the machines around her.

"That's great new."

"It is."

There was more silence.

"It's just I get the feeling there is something else going on."

I nearly choked. "What do you mean?"

He couldn't know, could he? Had Aiden said something? No, he wouldn't, would he?

"I know you've got a lot going on and I don't want to make a big thing about it but I just can't help feeling like we're drifting apart."

I hadn't been the only noticing the decline of our relationship.

"I'm sorry. It's me. I've had a lot going on with Lacey and it's not fair that it's impacted on our relationship."

What else could I say? I couldn't exactly blurt out that I had cheated on him with his close friend. What type of person did that?

I would have to tell him the truth but not right now. I couldn't deal with this now on top of everything else.

"I get it. I'm sorry. I should be more supportive."

"I'm hoping once Lacey wakes up we can spend more time together." And I would have to tell him the truth. I felt awful.

"So what are you up to today?" I asked, trying to make conversation. I wanted to mask over my awkwardness.

"I'm just popping in to see Aiden," he murmured absent mindedly.

Aiden.

"Yeah."

Had I said it out loud?

"In fact I'm outside his front door right now."

It wasn't possible.

"Really." I slid out of the bed and shoved everything of mine into the duffel bag.

The doorbell went.

"I got to go." Had he heard the doorbell over the phone? "Chat later."

I disconnected the call. What was I going to do now? He couldn't find me here.