LHM

"Hey."

"Edward." It came out sounding like a sob. It probably was, considering the tears in my eyes and the way my throat was clamped down tightly around my heart. I was supposed to be angry but that dam broke, and there was only gut-aching relief in its place. I took his hand and tried to hold back the urge to scream at him for being so stupid.

"You're really pretty." His eyes were glazed, and he had a big goofy grin on his face. I threw my sweatshirt on the end of the bed and slumped back down into the chair beside him. My heart had been clamped down for so long, brain running haywire, muscles clenched with fury and fear— I felt like I had run a marathon.

"That was the stupidest thing I've ever seen you do," I muttered into my palm, rubbing the ache in my jaw. I should really ease up on my teeth when I slept.

"What did I do? I hope it was cool."

"Some dumb trick. I can't believe you. You never told me your leg still hurt—maybe you shouldn't be skating at all."

"What's your name?" He was blinking dreamily at me. I shook my head at him.

"You know my name."

"You're really fucking pretty." He licked his lips, chapped and sticky. "Did the doctor send you here?"

I lifted the ugly plastic drinking cup toward him, jabbing him in the cheek with the straw. He took a long pull of water, sighing as he finished, glazed eyes roving the room. I hated those stitches fucking up his face, and the wires sprouting from the neck of his hospital gown, the beeping and the fluorescent lights. Everything was spinning just a bit.

I took a drink of the water for good measure.

"My face hurts."

"I bet." I leaned up to press the call button above his head. It had been a couple of hours since I'd seen a nurse, and he was probably ready for another fix of pain meds. He openly gaped at my tits, gazing at me with heavy eyes and that sloppy grin as I sat back down.

"Where's your name tag?"

"At home. I don't work here. We're still in Reno."

"You're the prettiest nurse I've ever seen. Don't tell my old lady—she'd be so mad at me. She hates when I call her that, but she's sexy as shit when she's mad at me." He smacked his lips and laughed. "She's always kind of mad at me."

So high. He was so high.

"No, she's not."

"She's really pretty too. She's prettier than you. She's got the most perfect tits. I just want to motorboat the fuck out of her perfect, perfect tits."

"Edward," I growled, blushing up the neck and trying not to smile.

"Sorry." He grinned, not sorry all. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. That was vulgar, but oh, my god, it's true. They're just so sexy, and they fit right in my-" He held up a palm and squinted at his fingers. "What happened to my hand?"

"You broke a finger."

"Damn. At least it doesn't hurt as bad as my face."

"Everything is going to hurt for a long time, you fucking idiot." I exploded, so pent-up it came out of every seam. "I can't believe you! That was the scariest thing I've ever seen you do, and and if you ever try it again, I will chop you up into tiny pieces and scatter you in the ocean." I heaved a deep breath. "No one will ever find you."

His eyes went wide. "You're scary."

"I'm kidding," I sighed. I was too tired to chop him up, much less haul his ass anywhere on my own.

"My girl likes that shit too. There's always dead bodies on her tv, and she made me listen to this podcast once that she claimed was funny, but it fucked me up for a long time. Girl is morbid as fuck; she definitely knows how to murder me."

"Probably."

"She's wanted to kill me a few times. Her eyes go kind of crazy. I usually deserve it. I'm surprised I'm still alive. "

"You almost died because you smashed face-first into a ramp," I grumbled.

"I was thinking about her. I got distracted." He smiled sleepily, eyes dropping. "She does this thing to my—"

"Ok, stop right there." I pressed a finger to his lips. "Don't even think about finishing that sentence."

He mumbled something intelligible behind my finger.

"She loves you, even when she wants to kill you," I told him as I sat back again.

"She's definitely gonna kick me to the curb. I'm just some dumb kid."

"You're not dumb."

He giggled. Straight up giggled. "I'm fucking stupid. You said so yourself."

I snorted, shaking my head. "No, I said that trick was stupid."

"I am stupid. I fell for this girl, and she took so much fucking work to win over. She hated me for so long. She just didn't get it because she doesn't even know how fucking wonderful she is. I basically had to spell it out for her with my dick—"

"Hey!" I yelled over him.

"Shit." He groaned, shaking his head. "Don't fucking listen to me. I'm high as fuck, and everything is in slow motion, so I need you to go find Bella. She's here somewhere; I know it. Go look in the cafeteria. She's the— "

"Pretty one with the perfect tits?"

"Exactly." He flopped back down flat on the mattress, groaning. "I need to see her. Will you go find her for me? Bring her here." He glanced down at himself then, the wires and the patches and the bruises. "She's gonna be so mad at me."

"Yes. Yes, she is."

AN:

Them drugs, though...

HH is flying to me today - my favorite Christmas present.

Thank you for reading!

xo

HBM