Flawed Pretense

Chapter 25

“So, Doc, can I leave now?” Ian asked hopefully.

The doctor shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mr. Ashford. I need to keep you for a few more days until you can go home, so I can watch you and make sure everything’s running fine.”

“But obviously I’m fine now. I’ll be careful not to do anything dangerous,” He tried to persuade.

Dr. Henif chuckled lowly. “Yes, you are on the road to recovery, but we can never be too careful. I’ll only keep you another five days, then you can go home.”

I squeezed Ian’s hand in amusement as he grumbled in dissatisfaction. It’d only been an hour since Ian’s been awake, and he couldn’t wait to leave the hospital—not that I could blame him. Of course he didn’t like the whole “waiting five days” thing, truthfully I didn’t either. Garrett, Kate, Jared, and Chris went down to the cafeteria for food, while I stayed back with Ian and his parents.

“Ian, it’s not the end of the world,” I laughed as I pushed a piece of hair out of his eye. He should really get a haircut soon, it was starting to get a bit long.

“I know,” He mumbled. “I just want to go on our date to make this up to you.”

My expression softened. “What do you mean? You have nothing to make up to me,” I informed him gently.

“It’s just—our first date didn’t end well, and I want to fix that. I really like you, Princess, and I want to do this right.”

“I really like you, too, Ian,” I said with a smile. More like love, my brain added. “But you don’t need to worry about that, just being with you is enough.”

Ian’s expression was so affectionate as he looked at me in amazement. “God, how did I get so lucky?” He asked, leaning in to kiss me gently with his hand resting on my cheek.

“Oh, George, look how cute our son is with his beautiful girlfriend!” Kathryn exclaimed in excitement while clutching the front of her husband’s shirt. I immediately pulled back from Ian as his features took on an irritated look. My face flushed in embarrassment at the realization his parents were still here. I really had to stop forgetting that.

“Oh, don’t mind us, carry on, carry on!” Kathryn said as she dragged George—who instructed me to call him that instead of Mr. Ashford—out the door, claiming they were going to go to the cafeteria.

Ian rolled his eyes at the sauntering couple as I tried calming my cheeks down. “They really love you, you know,” I suddenly voiced, startling the both of us. I knew his parents were a touchy subject, and immediately started beating myself up about mentioning anything.

He seemed to realize this and rubbed my hand soothingly. “It’s okay. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t talk to me about things,” Ian replied with a tilt of his lips. “As for my parents, I know. I know they love me a lot, it’s just difficult sometimes when they push me harder in school when I already got an appreciative grade or something like that. They really are great parents other than that, and I’m sorry for letting you think I hated them or something, I get stressed sometimes because of them is all.”

I nodded my head, happy he answered truthfully. Snuggling up to Ian’s side, I heard him suck in a sharp breath, and I shot up in panic, hoping I didn’t somehow hurt him. “What’s wrong?” I asked quickly, my eyes scanning over his body.

Ian shook his head. “You didn’t do anything. These bruises are just really annoying, and my broken wrist isn’t much help either,” He said lightly, but judging from his expression I knew I must have accidently nudged him and caused him pain. I immediately started to slide off the bed, not wanting to hurt him any more than I already have, but Ian’s free arm darted out and caught my own.