Always There

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Nine

Songs for this chapter:
• Only Want You - Rita Ora

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Nine:

Bryce's POV

I sit with Blossom for hours.

We remain on the hospital room floor, directly next to Jonathon's bed, and Blossom cries until she has no tears left.

I try to leave her momentarily to find her a bottle of water, but she latches on to one of my legs and refuses to let go. When I ask her to release me and promise that I'll be back soon, her fingers dig deeper into my calves and she shakes her head against me.

I look to Charlie for help, and he sighs before standing from his seat and exiting the room.

It isn't until he returns with a bottle of water in his hand that Blossom lets me go. She takes the bottle from her brother and struggles with getting the cap off until I reach down to help her, and then I watch as she drinks half the bottle in one gulp.

"You should get her to try and sit on one of the chairs. She shouldn't sit on the floor for this long," Charlie says as he claims his seat beside Jasmine in the far corner of the room again.

I glance at the empty chair behind Blossom and I. Kathleen is seated just next to us, and Michael is perched on one of the arms of her chair. Kathleen's eyes are red-rimmed and her cheeks are stained with tears, and though Michael is doing a better job at containing his emotions, his hand is shaking while it rubs circles against Kathleen's back.

"Is it okay if I lift you up?" I whisper to Blossom.

She takes another gulp of water from her bottle before nodding up at me.

I push to my feet and then bend down to lift Blossom into my arms. She clings to me firmly, and when I lean down to place her in the empty chair, she refuses to let go.

"You are being unnecessarily stubborn today," I mumble, sitting down in the chair myself. Blossom still has her legs hooked around my waist, and so she settles into my lap with a content sigh.

I turn to look at Kathleen and Michael. "I'm really fucking worried about her. She's out of touch with reality. I've never seen her like this before."

Kathleen looks down at her feet. "I've seen her like this once before. After the kidnapping. She was completely unresponsive to everyone. At least this time she has you. God, she's so much happier when she has you, and I wish you two could just get back together. Why would you leave her, Bryce? She loves you more than anything."

I look down at Blossom. Her face is tucked into the crook of my neck, and I hold her closer to me when I answer Kathleen.

"I never would have left her. She was the one who left me. Now, I guess we're just waiting for the right time," I whisper.

Kathleen lets out an abrupt laugh. "How do you know when it'll be the right time?" She glances towards her husband, still lying in his hospital bed. "Our time can suddenly be cut short at any given moment. Don't waste the time you know you have before it's all gone."

A beat passes.

And then Blossom begins to cry.

I sigh. "She's clearly in no condition to have a conversation about her relationship with me, Kathleen."

Charlie clears his throat. I turn to face him despite how hard it is to not glare at Kathleen right now.

"I don't think Lexi should be here. She needs to relax. She spent the past few days in a hospital room for Bryce and now she's here for Dad," Charlie says. He then turns to look directly at me. "I think you should take her away from here. Take her to your dad's house and watch a movie. Take her out on a date. Just please, make her smile. We already might lose Dad. We can't lose Lexi too."