Binding Agreement- Book 1 of the Tipton Dynasty

We're In Too Deep

"Hello Ms. Bush, I'm Dr. Prentice. It's nice to meet you." The man was around Damon's age. He had brown hair and brown eyes. He came into the room with almost the same confidence Damon always had.

"Thank you for coming and doing this Colton." Damon spoke.

"Not a problem." Dr. Prentice half smiled. "Do either of you have any questions for me?" He asked.

"How long will this take?" I responded.

"It depends on how bad it is. I can't really give you a definite answer. But standard surgery on the pancreas is no less than three hours." He explained.

I looked over at my mom. Either she was going to make it through this and have a chance to live the rest of her life or she wouldn't come out of it. "Are you ready?" I asked her, holding on to her hand tightly.

"About as ready as I can be." Her tired voice answered.

I fought off a few tears that tried to develop. "I love you Mama."

"I love you too Kaybug." She gave me the best smile she could. Then she shifted her gaze to Damon. "If I don't make it out, please take care of her."

"Of course." Damon nodded.

"If you don't I'll haunt your ass." Her tone was stern, but only for a moment before she chuckled a little bit.

"Everything has been prepped in the OR. We're ready Ms. Bush." Dr. Prentice spoke.

My mother nodded. "Let's do this."

They had taken her back for the surgery, leaving just Damon and I in the room. My anxiety and nerves were through the roof. She had to make it through surgery, she just had to. I have done so much to make sure she got the care she needed, if she died then it was all just to get a few more months with her. I felt greedy though, I don't want just a few months I want years.

"It's okay. I'm sure she'll be alright." Damon tried to reassure.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" I asked.

He chuckled. "I worked overtime the past few days to clear time for today and yesterday. Also any business I had today my subordinates can handle. You know, perk of being the boss and all right."

"Thank you." I responded.

"Not a problem Love. Let's go to the cafeteria and get something to eat." He suggested.

"I'm not hungry. I need to be here if anything happens." I had no intentions of moving from the chair I was in.

"You haven't eaten yet, you need to. If something happens they will tell you. Now either you're going to stand up and come with me or I will carry your pretty little ass down there." He threatened.

"You can force me down there but you can't make me eat." I responded to the threat.

"That may be true, but I can surely try. I will order everything off the menu and put a bite into your mouth every time you try to talk. Or if you yawn." Here he goes with another threat.

"I'm not a child." I glared at him.

He grabbed my hand. "Then come eat while we wait."
He wasn't going to let up with me going down there with him. "Fine." I stood up and followed Damon down to the cafeteria.

He ended up getting two orders of chicken strips and fries, which seemed like the best option on the menu. We sat down at a table and he put one of the plates in front of me. ""Eat." His tone was stern.

The more I looked at the plate I realized I was actually hungry. Reluctantly, I started eating on the fries. "Happy?" I asked.

"Yes. Good girl." He praised me. He took a bite of one of the pieces of chicken. He chewed for a moment and swallowed it. "I forgot how great hospital food was. Five star quality here." His tone was sarcastic.

I let a small chuckle escape my lips. "I mean, good thing they're not here to be a restaurant. They're here to take care of people if you didn't know." I teased Damon.

There was a small smile on his lips. "Smart ass."

I stuck my tongue out at him in response.

He rolled his eyes, "Real mature Love."

"Thanks, I try." I responded in a sarcastic tone of my own.

"It's nice to see you being yourself a little bit." He looked me up and down as he spoke.

"Why are you being so helpful?" I asked.

"Because you're my fiancé." He answered.

"Yeah, but only for show. Same as when I end up being your wife because apparently this agreement continues." I responded, lowering my voice.

"I told you before, it's gone past the agreement. We're into deep now." He looked down at the plate of food.

"Okay, elaborate for me then please. If it's past an agreement then what is this?" I asked. I knew I liked him, but I wanted the words to confirm he was feeling the same way.

"I-I don't know." He wouldn't look at me. I don't know why but he was guarding himself. He looked up at the clock, "We should get finished and go back to the room. Okay?"

I let out a sigh. "Okay."

For whatever reason he wasn't going to tell me how he felt. We've been in this 'agreement' for a month now. There had to be something there, but he wasn't going to open up. Not yet anyway. I was going to have to deal with this later though, I had more important things I needed to focus on today.

We finished eating and headed back up to the room to wait for the doctor. Damon wrapped his arm around me, pulling me closer. I leaned my head onto his shoulder. I had been up all night watching my mother and talking with her. I didn't want to miss a moment of what could be my last with her.

Before I knew it I had drifted off to sleep in Damon's embrace. I don't know how long I had been out before the doctor had come back in. For him to come in it had to have been a few hours. Before I had fallen asleep it had been afternoon, now the son was starting to set.

"Well, did she make it?" I asked.