Page 33 of The Way Home

“So, now we just wait?” Benji asked from behind Caleb. He hadn’t moved from where he was on the far wall, eyes locked on his brother. His green eyes—a shade darker than Jamie’s—were wide and unblinking. He looked like he’d seen a ghost.

“Yes. Now we just wait,” the doctor answered. Caleb couldn’t think of a worse form of torture than sitting here, waiting,prayingthat he’d wake up.

Jamie.HisJamie. The love of his life. The man that he was going to marry.

“Here, sweetheart,” Caleb said, turning and brushing the curls from Jamie’s forehead. He hated it when his hair got in his face. Just last week, Caleb had convinced him not to cut it. It was too gorgeous, long like this.

“I’m right here, okay? I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here.”

Caleb sat down in the chair beside the bed and settled in for the longest forty-eight hours of his life.

Ellie is goingto be so angry.

Jamie was late getting home, and he hadn’t texted her when he’d gotten in. The womanhatedwhen he didn’t text her—she always worried like a mother hen—and he was such a prick for forgetting.

Again.

“Jamie? Can you hear me?”

What was Benji doing in his flat? That was odd. They weren’t home in Buck, sharing a room, right? It wasn’t the Christmas holiday.

“Benji?”

“Oh my God, he’s awake. Jamie, can you hear me?” The sound of a chair scraping the floor. “Caleb! Someone get Caleb.”

Blinking his eyes open, Jamie winced at the harsh, fluorescent lights, buzzing machines, and the commotion of people yelling that he was awake.

A stern-looking doctor came into his line of vision. She placed a cold hand on his shoulder. “James, I need you to stay calm, okay?”

“Oh myGod, he’s awake.” He could hear a variety of voices in the room—the one sobbing was definitely Ellie—but his neck wouldn’t move enough to look.

“What… what happened?” he asked, realizing that his throat was dry as paper. Panic crawled up his chest and into his throat.

The doctor turned to the crowd in the room and said, “I need everyone to give us some air, okay? His mum and fiancé can stay. Everyone else,out.”

Jamie blinked groggily. Fiancé? He didn’t have a partner. Unless Ellie lied to get medical information on his behalf by saying she was his fiancée. That would be typical and actually pretty smart.

He could hear his mum praying in the corner, or doing whatever it was she did when she was nervous. She was probably lighting incense orwhatever—

“James, I’m Doctor Wilson. You were brought to the trauma clinic two days ago with a head injury. Can you understand me?”

“Uh, yes. I can understand you. How did I get a head injury?” All he remembered was going to a pub and then going home to a very hot guy’s flat. His cheeks got hot. The doctor didn’t need to know those details. Neither did his mother, for goodness’ sake, because she didn’t even know that he was…

“Jamie, holy fuck.Jamie.”

A deep voice filtered into the room, followed by frantic footsteps. The voice was American and familiar. He was fairly certain he had heard it in his sleep.

Hands cupped his cheeks, then his shoulders, and suddenly he was being kissed all over.

“Oh my God. You’re awake, thank fuck, oh my God.”

The smell of something warm and masculine filled his senses as this person kissed his cheeks and then his neck. “Sweetheart, I’m right here. I’m so glad you’re okay.” The person leaned away enough for Jamie to register large brown eyes and a cut jaw.

“Caleb?”

What was the guy from the pub doing here? Oh, shit. Had he gotten into an accident on the way home from Caleb’s flat?

Caleb’s eyes were red, like he’d been crying, and his tight curls stuck out in all directions. They looked longer than he remembered.