Megan Hart - Switch

why I didn't want to be with him anymore. He wouldn't

believe me when I said it was someone new."

"You didn't. Oh, Mom." I shook my head. "How could

you do that to him?"

She yanked her hand from mine with an unexpected

strength. "Don't you judge me, Miss Smarty. You're not

exactly the best judge of how to make a relationship work,

are you?"

My jaw dropped, but I closed it with a click. "What's that

got to do with anything? Leo loves you. You love him."

got to do with anything? Leo loves you. You love him."

She shrugged. "I wasn't going to wait and see if he stil

loved me when I was sick and losing my hair. When I was

—" She snapped her mouth closed into a tight, fierce line,

her lips sewn shut against whatever it was she refused to

say.

"But you could've told me." I sat back in the chair, a

milion miles between us. "Unless you think I would've

stopped loving you, too."

A single tear spiled out of each of her eyes and slid in twin

silver tracks over her cheeks. "I didn't want you to worry,

baby, that's al. This was something I thought I could

manage on my own."

Her eyelids fluttered closed again. "Paige, I'm tired now.

Let me sleep."

I wasn't close to being finished, but even I couldn't push

her right now. I stood and patted the bedcovers. "I'm

going to see if I can talk to a doctor or something. I'l

come back tomorrow, okay?"

Her words stopped me in the doorway, a chil skittering

Her words stopped me in the doorway, a chil skittering

along my spine.

"Take care of him."

I shuddered at the vision of eyeless children with torn and

bloody fingertips. I turned, but of course it was only my

mom in her bed, her eyes closed but her mouth moving.

"If anything happens to me, Paige, you need to take care

of Arty. Promise me."

"I promise." It was the only answer to give, realy, whether I thought I could honor it or not.

She smiled. Then I heard a familiar soft snoring and knew

she'd falen asleep. I left and went back to the nurses'

station, where a woman in a starched uniform told me

she'd page Dr. Frank and he'd meet me in the lounge when

he was available. I folowed her directions down the hal

and around the corner to find the lounge decorated in early

American Depression, worn couches in shades of beige

and brown, and abstract art in the same colors on wals in

the same tones. I felt like I'd walked into a giant box of

chocolates, which might have been the look the designer

had been going for. We were in Hershey, after al.

I perched on the edge of the couch but jumped again at

once when the doctor entered the room. Dr. Frank turned

out to be tal, with a head of wild, dark hair and a strong

grip. "Paige DeMarco?"

I nodded and he smiled as he let go of my hand. "Your

mom's going to be fine. Her blood pressure's stabilized

and we managed to stop the hemorrhaging. It was touch-

and-go there for a while, though, I won't kid you. And

she'l have to stay in the hospital a bit longer."

I'd thought I was okay until the floor jumped up to try to

smack me in the face, and Dr. Frank's big hands eased me

onto a couch, where he put a hand on the back of my

neck and pushed my head between my knees with the

practice of a man used to dealing with fainters.

"Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth," he said.

I tried, but my hands were shaking and each breath I took

whistled through my nostrils in a way I found utterly

distracting. It worked, though, because in a minute or so I

no longer felt a red haze threatening to cover me. I looked

up.

up.

"Sorry."

He shook his head. "It happens. Your mom realy is going

to be fine."

"She didn't even tel me she was coming in," I told him. "I had no idea. I'm just a little…can you tel me what's going

to happen now? With her treatment, I mean."

So he sat beside me and laid out the plan of treatment for

my mom, how long it would probably take and what she'd

have to do, and what I could do to help her. Her reasons

for choosing a reconstruction right away instead of waiting

for chemo treatment, the way I'd thought it was always

done. He explained everything to me, more about breast

cancer than I'd ever wanted to know, and I stil didn't quite

understand it al. It was worse than I'd been expecting,

only because up until a few hours ago I hadn't known

anything was wrong with her. My shock must have shown

on my face, because he patted my shoulder.

"There's nothing you can do for her right now. Why don't

you go on home and get some sleep." He paused. "Do you

have anyone who can come get you? You don't look like

have anyone who can come get you? You don't look like

you should be driving."

I nodded without realy thinking about who I'd cal, already

puling out my phone, and he patted my shoulder again. He

left without saying much more, but what was there to say?

My mom had breast cancer, she'd almost died, she'd

probably be fine, but she was stil going to need treatment.

It was a lot to absorb, and I was glad he hadn't stuck

around to baby me through it.

I flipped open my phone and pushed the Contacts button

to bring up my list of names and numbers. I didn't want to

cal my dad, I hadn't quite made up enough with Kira, and

Leo was with Arty. If I went home to Lebanon, I'd need a

ride in the morning to get my car. If I got a ride home, I

could take the bus to work and pick up my car later. I saw

two names in a row, one after the other. Two names, but

only one choice.

He came right away. I wasn't even ashamed that I hadn't

even doubted he would. It was simply something I knew I

could ask, and he would give.

The lobby doors parted and he walked through. The air

disappeared around me. I opened my mouth to speak, to

disappeared around me. I opened my mouth to speak, to

breathe, and could do neither.

I loved him.

I hadn't known it, or wouldn't admit it, but now I couldn't

do anything but feel it. Love was like a punch in the gut,

but I didn't double over. The world tipped up again, the

floor a rocking, roling platform that had decided to throw

me off it. I didn't fal because he was there to catch me.

The smel of him blocked out the scents of bad coffee and

exhaustion and bad news. I breathed, and he filed me.

It was Austin.

Chapter 34

Of course, like an idiot, I didn't tel him I loved him. I let him drive me home and I took him upstairs, where he

hesitated in the doorway until I puled him close and shut

the door behind us. When my mouth found his, he sighed

and his arms went around me as tight as I liked it.

We'd never been shy about fucking on the floor, a table,

the couch. Against a wal. But this time I took his hand and

led him to my bedroom, where I pushed him gently until he

lay on the bed and I crawled up over him to kiss his mouth

and face. Straddling him, I rocked against his denim-

covered crotch until his cock sweled inside his jeans, and

then I slid my body down until I could kiss him there.

My lips left a wet mark, and through the thick material I

could feel his hardness. I pushed my hands under his ass to

lift him closer to my mouth as I rubbed my face on his

thigh. I unbuckled his belt and puled down the jeans and

his boxers. I took him in my mouth, and he made a sound

like coming home.