Southern Comfort - Natasha Madison Page 0,14

fear that was etched on it. I try to block out how when she fell, my heart literally stopped beating. She moans, then her eyes flutter open, and she looks at me. “You okay?” I ask, leaning in.

“Yeah,” she whispers and then looks away from me. “You don’t have to stay here, Casey.”

I try not to let her words cut me. Maybe she doesn’t want me here. “I am not here because I have to be here.” I lean in, putting my elbows on my knees. “I’m here because I want to be here.”

I’m expecting her to fight me on this, but she doesn’t. Instead, she just closes her eyes again. “I just want to go home.” She takes a deep breath. “Just want it over with.”

“As soon as the doctor gives you the okay, we’ll get you home,” I say. Reaching out, I take her hand in mine, and I don’t care. The need to feel her heat run through me is something bigger than I can say or admit. “You know Mom is going to be cooking until the sun comes up.”

She doesn’t pull her hand away from me. “I’m sorry, Casey,” she says again.

“Sorry for what, darlin’?” I ask. Leaning over the bed, I wipe away the tear rolling down the side of her face with my thumb. Her beautiful face, her blue beautiful eyes dark with worry and fear, instead of light with happiness.

“I’m sorry that I brought all this to your farm,” she says. “I’m sorry that all of this is happening. I shouldn’t have come here.”

“None of this is your fault,” I tell her, hoping she hears me. “Not one thing that happened today is your fault.”

She shakes her head. “What if your mom was over?” she says with a sob. “What if your father got hurt instead of me?” She shakes her head. “What if he shot you?”

Her words echo in my head. “Were you the one holding the gun?” She looks at me. “Were you the one who broke into my house? No,” I tell her, hoping she understands me. “None of this is your fault, so get that thought out of your head.” I’m about to lean in to kiss her just to taste her and feel that she’s okay, but the door opens and Kallie walks in.

“Guess what I found?” she says, smiling. “Tea.”

Olivia moves her hand out of mine and turns to sit up. All I can do is sit here hoping that I’m still standing at the end of this.

Chapter Seven

Olivia

I want nothing more in the whole world than for this mess to go away so I can just be a normal fucking person. Just for once, I want to be the normal person who works, meets a man, and then falls in love. I want the white picket fence, and maybe, one day I’ll get to be a mom.

I mean, it’s not like I had any good role models growing up. My mother was … well, she’s a bitch. She lived through me my whole life. Almost like I was a show monkey that she would parade beside. I shake my head when the tears pinch my nose. The door opens, and the nurse comes in. “Well, don’t you look better.”

“I feel okay,” I tell her. I hear Casey exhale a huge breath beside me, but I don’t look at him. I can’t look at him. I’m afraid the minute I look at him, I’m going to sob like a baby and ask him to hold me. Since I’ve been here, he has given me more hugs than I can count. I feel safe in his arms and know that no matter what happens, I will be okay. He doesn’t give those fake side hugs like everyone else I know. Nope, not with Casey. I’ve been on the runway more times than I care to admit with models who have chiseled faces and perfect bodies, yet this man with a little stubble on his face, his piercing blue eyes, and dirty blond hair … he’s what perfect is.

“Well, it looks like you can go home,” she says. I almost clap my hands, but I’m afraid my head would throb. “How is the head?”

“I have a headache.” I’m honest with her. “At least … it feels like a headache.”

“That’s normal,” she says, and I smile at her. “If it gets worse, or you have trouble keeping your eyes open, you need to come back. Now I need to