crying, yelling at my mother. I matter to him. I need to figure out what is going on, how I got here.
His eyes open and meet mine in shock. “Sam? You’re awake?” his voice is laced with exhaustion and relief at the same time. He jumps up, pressing one of the buttons next to me on the bed. “Are you okay? How do you feel? Do you need anything?” He is firing questions at me rapidly and I don’t have any time to respond to any of them before the nurse walks in.
She smiles at me before glaring at Hunter. “Good morning, Miss Baker. How are you feeling?”
“Sore and thirsty,” I rasp out.
“I’ll go get her water,” Hunter states, before running out of the room.
“That boy has been more of a handful than half of the patients here. He refused to leave this room for anything. Are you okay with him being here?” I smile and nod my head. “We tried to tell him that he couldn’t be in here but my God, he threw a bigger tantrum then any of my children ever had.” I laugh as I think of Hunter throwing a fit when they told him that he had to leave. Hunter comes back in with a cup and hands me the ice water. “Drink that slowly, the doctor will be in soon to talk to you.” She leaves and I look over at Hunter.
The silence between us in deafening. “What happened? Why am I here?”
His hands scrub over his face before he sits down in the chair next to my bed. “What do you remember?”
“I was getting ready for the show…” I try to think of what happened next and that’s when I remember it. What he said. It was like a knife to my heart, hearing him basically call me a slut. It had already been a really crappy day to say the least, and I get enough shit from my mom, that I really didn’t need it from him. I narrow my eyes at him.
His face drops. “Yeah, about that, I’m fucking sorry Sam. I never should have—“
“Miss Baker?” I look to the door and see a man who I assume is a doctor. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay.”
He looks over at Hunter. “I have to ask your permission to discuss your medical condition in front of your guest.”
Hunter looks over at me and right now, I just want him gone. He hurt me. On the other hand, he has been here with me. The nurse said he never left. He is so hot and cold that it’s confusing me and I have no idea where his head is. I want to tell him to leave. I want to have the doctor make him leave. But I don’t. Right now I need support, I need someone to be here for me. Even though he is an asshole to me fifty percent of the time, I feel like he is the only one I have in my corner. “He can stay.” Hunter’s body seems to relax a bit.
“Okay, Miss Baker. You need to start taking better care of yourself. This includes eating at least three solid meals, or six small ones. This may be an assumption, but judging from your chart, I think you may be suffering from an eating disorder. Your body is becoming malnourished and you need to understand the severity of these kinds of diseases. Not eating will cause organ failure, or a heart attack and can lead to death. It is no joke, and I know it may be hard given your profession, but you need to make sure that you are getting the things that you need.”
I look over at Hunter, wishing I had said he couldn’t be in here. An eating disorder? I mean, yeah, I don’t eat a lot. I don’t usually have much of an appetite and when I try to eat, my mother’s words usually echo in my ears. The realization about how unhealthy I have been living sets in. I can feel his eyes on me, watching me.
“I will be sending in a nutrition counselor to speak with you today.” The doctor continues to talk but I am so lost in my own head that I’m barely paying attention. I hear a door shut and I look up to see the doctor gone and Hunter’s gaze fixed on me. I have no idea what to say to him. I want to curse him out for