Angie awoke with a start at the sound of banging on her door. She looked around with bleary eyes and realized she was actually in her own room. Tom must've brought her back after she'd fallen asleep. After they'd had their fill of kissing, she'd fallen asleep cuddled next to him. It had been the most amazing thing she'd ever experienced. Nothing could trump the feeling of being loved, cherished, of being safe. This was something she could see herself doing forever.
"Angie?" Tom asked, banging some more. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure," she answered in a croaking voice.
She pulled herself up against the headboard. Her knee still stung, but the general soreness of her body was gone. She could probably walk on her own. She prodded her ribs as Tom barged in. They still hurt, but the pain was manageable.
"Angie!"
She focused on him, on the ecstatic look on his face, on his sparkling eyes. "What happened?"
"Geaneyi called. Billy is up!"
Happiness exploded in Angie's chest; she whooped and jumped off the bed. Her knee almost gave out, but she switched her weight to her other leg and stayed vertical. She limped to her rucksack and pulled out a new t-shirt.
"Need help?" Tom asked, his voice hesitant all of a sudden.
"To what? Get undressed?" She looked over her shoulder and was pleased to see that he wasn't blushing, but smirking. "Get out of my room, boy. I'll be right out and we can go see Billy."
He grinned, but stepped out. Angie changed her clothes and made her way out to the hall. Tom picked her up the moment she locked the door and sprinted with her down the stairs. She tightened her arms around his neck. He'd never carried her so much before and it was a little startling that he could do it with such ease.
At least when they reached the hospital, he let her walk on her own. She followed him to the elevator and then to Billy's room. They found him sitting on the corner of his bed, his legs dangling over the edge, swinging them back and forth.
"Billy!" Angie squealed and rushed to hug him.
"Angie! Tom!" he yelled back, proving beyond any doubt that he at least wasn't amnesic. "I'm so happy to see you here. And actually awake in some cases."
Tom smiled and hugged Billy, too. "Hey, at least you remember who you are."
Billy frowned and looked from one to the other. "What do you mean?"
"Tom's amnesic," Angie explained. The word still sent an unpleasant weight in her stomach, but it was made better by them actually being together again.
"He is? But you guys walked in holding hands." Billy shook his head. "What did I sleep through?"
"Me being amnesic apparently only messed with my head. Heart's still in the right place," Tom answered with a grin. "And you slept through the best part, as usual."
"How would you even know what usual is," Billy fired back. "And I don't care if it's insensitive. I'm making amnesia jokes. Your life is such a damn soap opera."
Both Tom and Angie laughed, though the affirmation hit a little close to home for her. Sometimes she did feel like she was living a soap opera in which the plot required a million problems thrown at her. Just to keep her on her toes, make it interesting.
For the following hours, they filled Billy in on everything that happened and started the paperwork for his discharge. It was lucky that he could actually walk, even if clumsily. And his optimism was contagious. Angie found herself laughing at his jokes, even if worry gnawed at her. Billy did know Sam's number by heart, but Sam hadn't answered. An automatic message had played, one she associated with the SIM card missing.
YOU ARE READING
Lost Stars (The Jewel Project #3)
Adventure"You youngsters are stupidly adorable with your stubborn obsession with love. Love doesn't lift you. It destroys you." For Sam Grant, his family has become his sanctuary and the team that joins him on death defying adventures. But after everythi...
