What The Heart Craves (Complete)

Chapter 17 - Part 2

Lacey

It was just after lunch when the doorbell went. I'd eaten half a sandwich, but I didn't have the appetite to eat much.

I was sitting on the sofa watching mindless TV when my brother answered the door, and it surprised me when Aiden followed into the living room behind my brother.

"You better have a good excuse for ignoring my calls." He dropped into the seat beside me.

My brother left us alone to talk.

"I'm sorry." His presence made me straightened up, and I tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear.

He studied me for a moment. "No, not good enough. What happened?"

I dropped my eyes to avoid looking at him. He, like my family, would not take what I had to reveal well.

"Tell me," he said.

I raised my gaze to meet his anxious face. "I'm delaying the surgery."

He frowned. "What do you mean you're delaying the surgery?"

"I've delayed my surgery for a couple of weeks," I said.

"But doesn't the surgeon want to do it as quickly as possible?" He tried to piece things together.

I nodded.

"Then why are you delaying it?" he asked, confused.

"My chances for surviving are slim," I said. "So I want a little more time before I go through with it."

The play of his features I had seen before on the faces of Adonis and my family.

"What happens if you delay it?" He was still frowning.

"It might make the surgery more difficult."

And there it was. He stood up and paced up and down. When he stopped, he pinned me with a serious frown.

"Do it now," he said. I shook my head. "If you delay it, you're increasing the odds against you."

I let out an emotional sigh, not sure if I was up to another argument over my reluctance to

do the surgery straight away. "No, this might be all the time I have left and I'm not giving it up."

He sat back down beside me. "I want you to be okay." His eyes filled with sadness.

"I know," I said. "But I can't do it."

"How did your family take it?" He watched me closely.

"They weren't happy, but they eventually came around." I shrugged. There was no changing my decision.

"How did Gray take it?" Was his next question.

The soft ache in my chest returned, I pressed my hand to my chest to ease it.

"Not well. He hasn't spoken to me since the appointment."

When I had moments when I wanted to call him just to hear his voice, I had to remind myself why I needed to keep my distance.

"He cares you and he doesn't want to lose you. None of us do and I couldn't imagine how difficult this has to be for you or for him." His words tugged at my heart and I felt my throat thicken with emotion. I thought I was all out of tears, but my eyes blurred and a single tear slid down my cheek while Aiden watched.

"I didn't mean to make you cry," he said as he brushed the tear with his thumb.

The DNR form weighed heavily on my conscious. If this was how my family and friends were reacting to the delay in the surgery, I didn't want to know how they would handle finding out that I'd signed a form. I doubted any of them would understand why.

"Give him time to deal. He'll come around," he said, and I nodded even though I knew it didn't matter as I had to let him go.

"Come on, I think you need to get out a little." He stood up and pulled me to my feet.

"Where are we going?" I asked, following him out of the living room.

"Anywhere but here," he said before he opened the front door as my brother came out of the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Alex asked.

"I'm taking her out for a bit," he assured him. Alex seemed reluctant to let me go, but he gave a brief nod.

Once we were in the car, Aiden started it up.

"Where are we going?" I was glad to be out of the house for a bit. I loved my family, but they were all hovering around me, which made it harder to forget about my illness and the surgery.

"How about we go to the park?" he suggested. "It's been ages since I've been there."

"Okay," I said.

Five minutes later, Aiden parked the car, and we got out. It had been years since I'd been at the park. Looking at the swings, I remembered when I was younger yelling for Adonis to push me higher. A sad smile tugged at my lips.

He was so ingrained in my life and in most of my memories, there wasn't any place that didn't hold some sort of memory that included him.

"No no no," Aiden said, shaking his head. "We came here to relax and take your mind off things; whatever you're thinking is making you sad."

Pushing the memory of Adonis to the back of my mind, I forced a smile to appease Aiden.

"I'll race you to the swings," he said before he dashed off, I giggled and chased after him.

For the next hour I didn't think about the surgery, or the hard decisions I'd made. I spent those few precious moments laughing and doing childish things with Aiden. I was sitting on the grass laughing at Aiden's attempts to do a handstand. He kept losing his balance and falling over.

He'd just landed on his side and he was sitting up watching me with a stern look which made me laughed even harder. As he stood up, something behind me caught his attention. I stood up and dusted the grass from my jeans.

"See, I told you he'd come around," Aiden said, and I followed his gaze to see Adonis walking towards us.

There was a defeated slump to his shoulder as I watched him approach us.

Just the sight of him made my heart somersault. Suddenly I felt so nervous, I brushed a stray hair out of my face. He wore a pair of jeans with a hoodie that he kept over his head.

He strode to us purposefully.

"How on earth did he know where we were?" Aiden asked in a whisper.

"He has resources." I shrugged.

We had told no one where we were going, so the only way he would know I was here was if he had me followed. It was something I hadn't noticed, but maybe they probably good at going unnoticed.

Adonis stopped in front of me, gave Aiden a slight inclination of his head. The tight expression and thinned lips revealed his anger.

"I need to go," Aiden said to me, feeling the tension in the air.

"I'll make sure she gets home okay," Adonis assured him.

"Take care. I'll call you later," Aiden said to me as he gave me a brief hug before he walked away.

While Adonis studied me as I watched Aiden's retreating form to his car, I was not looking forward to the talk we were going to have.