Chapter Eight

Lincoln

"Hello?"
“She's awake," I tell Raleigh as soon as she's done speaking, stepping out of the room and out into the hallway.
"Oh, thank Christ!" She exhales the words as if she can finally breathe.
Raleigh has been worried about Aspen ever since I told her what had happened at practice yesterday.
"Can I...Can I come up and see her?" Raleigh asks and I don't like the sudden jealousy that I feel at the fact that she's asking to see Aspen instead of me.
*I miss her.*
*Does she not miss me, too?*
I clear my throat, looking down the hallway, "I'm sure she would like that." I tell her instead of how I'm feeling.
We haven't seen one another since game night when she agreed to be my girlfriend. Yeah, we've texted and spoken on the phone, practically nightly, but it seems like there's this weird distance between us.
Maybe I've just gotten so used to seeing how close Bos and Aspen are, how much time they spend together, and expected the same, which is idiotic since Aspen *lives* with us.
"Lincoln?" Raleigh asks, pulling me from my thoughts.
"Yeah, babe?"
"Is everything okay?" she asks, the sound of her voice giving away her concern.
"Yeah," I sigh the word out while running my hand through my hair, "just tired. It's been a long twenty-four hours."
"Yeah," she murmurs, and then the line fills with silence.
"I miss you." She says after several long minutes and those three words cause all of the tension that had built over the past several days to dissolve from my body nearly instantly.
"I miss you, too. I can't wait to see you." I tell her, knowing that I sound like a pussy, but I really don't care.
"Me neither." She says, then I hear noise in the background that sounds like the shutting of a door. "I'll be there in about an hour."
"Be careful," I tell her before ending the call.
***************************************************
I know the second that she steps off of the elevator a few doors down because the air shifts around me and the smell of honeysuckle infiltrates my senses.
"Lincoln," my name falls from her lips, and it's the sweetest sound I've ever heard.
"Hey," I grin down at her, opening my arms for her to step into them, then wrap them around her waist, holding her to me.
"How is she?" She asks, leaning back so that I can see the concern filling her bright green orbs.
"She's okay. Said that she has a killer headache and she will have to stay overnight for observation and further testing. But, she should get to go home tomorrow as long as everything checks out."
Grasping ahold of her hand, I bring it up to my lips, placing a chaste kiss against her knuckles. "Come on," I tell her, "I'm sure she'd love to see a new face." She gives me a weird loose, her brows drawing in and her eyes narrowing, and I realize how what I just said sounds. "It's just been the four of us boys, our parents, and the hospital staff that she's seen all day. Seeing your face would, I'm sure, be very much welcomed."
"Gotcha," she nods her head up and down, chuckling slightly to herself. Before I open the door, she turns around and wraps her arms around my neck, bringing me down closer to her level. Then, she crushes her lips to mine. "I missed you," she says when she pulls away entirely too soon for my liking. But, we're currently standing in a hospital hallway-not exactly the ideal makeout location.
"I missed you, too." I tell her, running my hand down her arm until I'm playing with her fingers, "I'd like some alone time with you later if that's okay."
Biting the corner of her bottom lip, she looks up at me from beneath her lashes and says, "I'd like that, too."
I close the distance between us once more, taking her bottom lip between my teeth and nibbling on it before releasing it, "I thought I told you that is *my* bottom lip to bite," I whisper the words without pulling back. "Come on," I say, quickly reaching out and grasping the handle that leads to Aspens' room before I say *fuck it,* and drag her off somewhere so I can devour her mouth the way that I really want to.
"Guess who's here to see you?" I announce as soon as I poke my head through the door, looking around to find Ashlynn standing next to Aspen's bedside while Dad, Bos, Jax, and Dal are all on the other side of the room. Dad has taken over the chair that I had been sitting in before coming out here to wait for Raleigh. Jax, Dal, and Bos are over next to the window, huddled together, whispering something between the three of them.
Bos looks like shit and my heart truly goes out to him. The girl that I have no doubt that he loves is lying in a hospital bed and he can't even go to her to comfort both her and himself since our parents don't know about their relationship yet.
Personally, I think that they should just get it over with and put it all out there for our parents and everyone else to know. But then, I'm not in their shoes either.
"Hey," Raleigh says, awkwardly raising her hand and giving Aspen a little wave and a shy smile.
Everyone turns to look towards us at the sound of her voice, and I watch as her cheeks turn pink at the attention.
"I hope it's okay that I came to see you," Raleigh says, skirting around me and stepping up next to Aspen on the opposite side of her mother. "Ever since Lincoln told me what happened, I've been so worried about you."
Aspen smiles back at her and reaches out, grasping ahold of her hand, squeezing it slightly, "I really appreciate it. And I definitely have one wicked headache, but otherwise, I think I'm okay."
Giving the girls some time to bond, I walk over to my brothers, wondering what they're whispering about.
"Why don't we take this outside the door," I suggest when I step up next to them and I take in Bos's expression.
They all nod and follow me over to the door, "We're just going to be outside the door if you need us, or anything." I tell them and then open the door, stepping back for the other three to go through before I follow them out, shutting the door quietly behind me.
"How are you holding up?" I ask, turning my attention to Bos.
"I hate that I can't hold her or show her any sort of attention without risking setting off red flags for Ashlynn or Dad," he says, running his hands through his hand, and then he begins pacing back and forth a few steps in front of us, "This fucking sucks!"
"Wouldn't it just be easier to let it just come out?" Jax asks, making Bos stop dead in his tracks.
"Don't you think that I've thought about that? I want to, but she doesn't yet," he begins pacing again, shaking his head back and forth as if he's having an argument with himself, "I get it, why she doesn't want to say anything yet, I honestly do. But, fuck, she's not the one that has to watch the person that means so much to her lying in a hospital bed and not even able to hold them in her arms. I fucking do!" As he speaks, he gets louder and louder, his anger rising right along with his tone of voice.
"Calm down, Bos." I tell him, going over to him and placing my hand on his shoulder, "I know this can't be easy, but you're going to end up outing you two before she's ready if you don't calm down."
"Yeah, Bos." Dal says, coming up to stand next to us, "That door and these walls aren't *that* thick."
"I just want..." He trails off at the sound of the door opening. We all turn towards the sound and find Raleigh standing outside the door, giving us a sheepish look.
"Quiet down out here, or everyone is going to know what's going on with you two," she tells him with a raised eyebrow.
"How did you—"
With a roll of her eyes, she cuts him off, "Oh, come on. I may not have been around you guys very much, but I'm not stupid. It's obvious that your parents don't know about the two of you, and if you want to keep it that way, then you need to quiet down out here." As she speaks, she comes to stand next to me and places her hand on my chest. When she looks up at me there is a heat in her eyes that makes my dick twitch, "are you ready to get out of here for a little while?"
"Yeah, let me go tell my Dad and Ashlynn that I'm heading out and say bye to Aspen," I tell her, giving her a quick peck on the lips before stepping into Aspen's hospital room.
"Raleigh and I are gonna head out. I'll see you guys at home?" I ask, my words directed at Dad and Ashlynn.
"Yeah, just don't be out too late. It's a school night." Dad tells me. Ashlynn reaches out to give me a hug and then Dad follows.
I then walk over to the bed and give Aspen a grin when I find a knowing smile on her face as she looks over at the door and then back over to me, "you two have fun," she tells me as I wrap my arms around her, giving her a hug.
"We will. You take care and holler if you need anything." She gives me a nod of acknowledgment and then I make my way back out into the hallway to my girlfriend.
"Ready to go?" I ask, walking up behind her and bending over a bit so that I can wrap my arms around her waist and whisper against her ear, "I'm so ready to get you alone."
She releases a low, throaty moan and then turns around in my arms, looks me up and down, and with a sly grin and that same look of hunger in her eyes as before, she says, "I'm more than ready."