Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
I grinned slightly. “You want me to have the ice?”
He opened his hand, and I stared at it, confused. “You want to…hold the ice yourself?”
With a barely there nod, he waited for me to put it into his hand. “Let me get you a bigger piece,” I said as I reached for more ice. Once I put the cube into his fingers, he lifted it and traced the ice over my lips.
I shivered, and instinctively reached for his wrist. “Not me, Maverick. You need the ice.”
“I want to…I want to put the ice…everywhere…on you.”
Nothing he said made any sense.
“Okay, well…for now, let me have it, and let’s see if we can get you to at least suck on some.”
Maverick closed his eyes and opened his mouth. I slipped the ice cube in and watched him carefully to make sure he didn’t swallow it.
He sucked on it for a bit, then chewed. “More?” he asked.
“Yes. Of course, here’s some more.”
I wasn’t sure how long I sat there and fed him ice cubes, but I grew more worried as time passed. Maverick didn’t look good at all.
“Dad, where are you?” I mumbled.
When Maverick let out a weak groan, grimacing as if in pain, I reached for his hand and kissed the back of it. “Please, Maverick. Please hold on. He’ll be here any second.”
Chapter Four
MAVERICK
I opened my eyes to the sun shining into the sliding-glass doors. I must have forgotten to close the curtains. It was bright as hell, so I slammed my eyes shut again and tried to shake off the fog I seemed to be in.
With a deep breath, I rolled over and slowly started to sit up. When the room spun, I stopped and lay back down—but not before I caught sight of Lily sleeping in the chair in the corner. Her head rested on her fist, and a book was sprawled open on her lap, which was covered up with a blanket from my hall closet.
Frowning, I looked around the room.
What in the hell is going on?
On the side table sat two cups. One was glass, so I could see it contained water. The other was a Yeti tumbler, so I had no idea what was in there. Tylenol, as well as Motrin, sat beside them, along with…
“Theraflu?” I whispered, my voice barely coming out.
I attempted to sit up again, pushing past the feeling of nausea, but failed.
Movement at the door to my bedroom caused me to look over and see Timberlynn standing there, a smile on her face. She put a finger to her mouth and motioned for me to be quiet as she pointed at Lily.
As she made her way over to me, she picked something up off the side table. She sat on the bed and whispered, “She finally fell asleep about an hour ago. I don’t have the heart to move her, but she’s going to have one hell of a stiff neck.”
“Why are you both here?” I asked.
Timberlynn opened her mouth, mimicking for me to do the same. I looked down and saw she held a thermometer in her hand. I did as she requested, and after she gently put the thermometer in my mouth, she said, “You don’t remember anything?”
Frowning, I slowly shook my head. When the thermometer beeped, Timberlynn quickly checked to make sure her daughter was still asleep. Seeing that she was, she turned back to me and set the thermometer on the table again.
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
I thought for a moment. Damn, my head pounded. “Taking Stella home. I came back here to change for a date, but I started to feel pretty bad. It felt like it hit me out of the blue. I thought maybe I’d eaten something bad, but my stomach didn’t hurt. I remember lying down for a few minutes on the bed…” Bits and pieces of last thing that I remember came back to me. “I called Brandee at some point to cancel the date, and I do remember talking to Clay…maybe mentioning I wasn’t going to be able to make it in.”
Timberlynn nodded. “Clay told Lily, and she came over to check on you. That’s when she found you with a high temperature and called Tanner. He came over and got you into a lukewarm bath, with the help of Joshua and Nathan. When your temperature wouldn’t come down, we finally called Dr. Waters. He helped us lower your temperature, told us to keep you hydrated, and agreed with Lily that you should sip on some bone broth. As much as we could get you to take in.”
I snarled my lip. “Bone broth?”
She chuckled lightly. “Lily insisted.”
“The horses—” I started, attempting once more to sit up.
Timberlynn placed a hand on my shoulder and gave me a slight push, easily keeping me down. “Are fine, Maverick. Nathan isn’t in school at the moment, so he’s been a huge help. His best friend Johnnie is also helping with the horses, and so is Josh.”