To Come Together

Chapter 13

Layla's POV

Over the next few days, my cough worsens. I keep a tissue in my pocket so that no one sees the blood. I know that I should go get checked out, but I don't want to explain the bruises. Also, with the wedding so close, I don't want to be a burden to everybody. They all have enough on their plates.

I head downstairs for breakfast, trying not to think about how close this wedding is. It's in two days. It was supposed to be today, but their waiting for Nick's older sister, Mackenzie to arrive. I had no idea that they had a sister until Nick told me a few days ago. We've been hanging out a lot. I haven't had a chance to talk to Ashley, but Nick told me that she's not ready anyway. It's crazy how quiet it is here compared to a meal with Nick's family. Instead of the pack living in one house like Nick, only Henry and my mom live here. The rest live in their own houses in town.

My chest rattles as I cough and sit down at the table. Usually, the food would look good to me, but I know that I won't be able to get much down and what I do, I'll just throw up.

"Are you feeling okay?"my mom asks me. "That cough sounds really bad." I nod, my throat too sore for me to talk. My mom brings me a plate full of food and I pick at it.

"How you lovely ladies doing this morning?"Henry asks, coming into the kitchen and kissing my mom on the forehead.

"Great,"I say, my voice raspy from coughing so much. Henry's eyebrows furrow.

"You feeling okay?" I nod, but I can tell that he doesn't believe me. He gets some food and sits down, along with my mom. They watch me as I move my food around my plate, not taking a bite.

My mom gets up and puts a hand to my forehead.

"You're burning up, honey. You should go lay down. Henry, I think we should postpone the wedding until after her cough is gone. It sounds so dreadful."

"No,"I say a little too loudly, startling Henry and my mom. "I'm fine. I'll just go get checked out by the pack doctor."

"Okay, let's go,"Henry says, grabbing his coat. Oh, he's coming with. I follow him to the small building a couple of yards away from the house. We walk into the clinic and wait in a small white room that has a few posters warning you about doing drugs and smoking. Henry leaves me and goes to sit in the waiting room so that it's not too awkward. I'm busy having a coughing fit when the doctor walks in.

"You must be Layla. I'm Dr. Lingley but you can call me Ryan. So, I'm guessing you're here because of that cough." I nod and he continues. "I'm going to inspect your throat, but I think that you just have the regular cold."

He snaps some gloves on and inspects my throat while I study him. He has black hair that's starting to grey and kind eyes. He's a bit on the chubbier side, but it suits him. He studies my throat for a few minutes before taking his gloves off and throwing them away.

"Just what I suspected,"Ryan says in his booming voice. "Just your everyday cold. Some people get a worse cough than others. You're free to go."

"Thank you,"I say then bolt out of the room and practically dragging Henry out of the clinic. "I hate doctors. I didn't even need to go. It's just a cold."

"Sorry,"Henry apologizes. "You had to go otherwise your mom would never stop worrying. Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Well, the other day when you first came here, you freaked out when I tried to touch you. Why?"

"I don't really want to talk about it." He nods like he understands.

"Okay. One more. Why did you contact Rose and why not sooner?" I stop him and think about how to answer it.

"I had no idea who she was before.." I stop myself before telling him about hacking into Nick's dad's computer.