Chapter 1
Lucy
Joe!” I shout from Sam’s dressing room, praying that he isn’t far.
“Lucy? What’s the matter?” Joe asks, rushing into the room, but before I can answer, he sees me on the floor with Sam and runs over to us. “Sam,” he calls, patting Sam’s cheek, but he doesn’t respond.
“What’s going on?” Miles asks from the doorway.
“We need a doctor!” I say to him, keeping my eyes on Sam.
Seconds later, I hear Miles yelling down the hall outside the room.
“What’s wrong with him?” I ask Joe, feeling the edges of panic seep across my skin.
“I don’t know,” he says calmly, but I can hear the underlying panic in his voice too. “Maybe a concussion. He took a lot of hits from Ackerman tonight.”
“Okay, everybody, back up,” the doctor says, following Miles into the room.
The doctor kneels down beside us, but I can’t move.
“Come on, Lucy, let him work,” Joe says, pulling me back by my elbow, but I stay on the floor and watch the doctor inspect Sam’s eyes and ears, feeling each one of my heartbeats thump inside my tight chest as he examines Sam.
“Lucy,” Miles says, but I ignore him.
“Lucy.”
I look up and see Sebastian leaning over me. He reaches for my hand and I let him pull me up into a hug.
“He’s going to be okay. Just let the doctor work on him.”
“What if he’s not, Bas? What if…” I bury my face and cry quietly inside his arms.
“Shhh…”
“I just got him back, Bas.”
“I know.”
“Sam, can you hear me?” the doctor asks him, and I quickly kneel down beside Sam again.
Sam opens and closes his eyes a few times, and I feel my breath catch. Finally, he nods and rasps, “Yeah.” He tries to sit up, but the doctor holds his shoulders down.
“Don’t move, Sam, we need to get you onto a stretcher.”
I hold my hand to my mouth and try to push down the fear that’s gripping me.
“Lucy,” Sam mumbles, and I reach for his hand.
“I’m right here,” I say, hovering over his battered face.
“Don’t leave,” he says quietly.
I shake my head softly and blink back tears. “I’m not going to leave you.” I give Sebastian a knowing look and he gives me a subtle nod. We’re going to be in Quebec longer than we planned. I look at Sam and say again, “I’m not going anywhere.”
* * *
“How you feeling, champ?” Miles asks from across Sam’s hospital room.
“Fine. Just ready to get hell out of this place.”
“Sam, you need to rest,” I urge, squeezing his hand. “You have a serious concussion and two broken ribs.”
“She’s right,” his doctor says, entering the room.
Joe follows him in, and Sebastian lingers by the door.
“You need to rest, Sam,” the doctor says to him. “You have a grade three concussion. Your brain needs time to heal. And so do your ribs.”
“What’s he need to do, doc?” Joe asks.
“Take a break. Rest. That’s the only way to get better.”
Joe nods firmly. “You got it.”
“How long does he need?” Miles asks.
“At least three weeks.”
“Three weeks?” Sam chides. “In this place?”
“No.” The doctor smiles. “But somewhere you can relax and lie low for a while. Somewhere that doesn’t have a gym.”
“So, nothing then?” Miles says. “No conditioning? No running?”
“Well, maybe a slow jog in about a week, but other than that, no. No conditioning. Definitely no boxing.”
Miles smirks at Sam. “Tristan’s sure gonna have his work cut out for him when you get better.”
“Tristan has enough on his plate right now,” Joe says. “He could use the break too.”
“Where is Tristan?” I ask, wondering why he didn’t come to Quebec.
“He’s back home in Atlanta,” Sam answers. “He had to have the battery replaced in his pacemaker.”
“Oh.” I try to hide the alarm in my voice. He had heart surgery when we were kids, but I assumed he was better now. “Is he okay?”
“It’s a minor procedure,” Joe says casually, but I see the worry in his eyes.
Sam squeezes my hand and assures me, “He’s okay.”
“So the question is, where are you going on vacation?” Miles asks, lightening the conversation.
“Vacation?” Sam looks at him and laughs softly. “I just want to go home.”
“Sam, there’s literally a gym inside your apartment,” Joe says. “No way you’ll stay out of it for three weeks.” He crosses his arms and shrugs. “I think a vacation might be good for you.”
“It’s not be a bad idea,” the doctor says. “As long as it’s somewhere you can relax.”
“I’ve got the perfect place,” Miles says, scrolling on his phone.
Sam looks up at him. “Yeah, where?”
Miles turns the screen around and shows him a picturesque scene with blue water and palm trees. “Exuma.”
“What’s Exuma?” I ask curiously.
Miles looks at me with wide eyes. “What’s Exuma? Only home to some of the bluest water in the entire world, white sand beaches, and sunshine,” he says exuberantly.
“It’s in the Bahamas,” Sam says to me.
“Oh.” I frown softly at the thought of him being gone for three weeks.
Sam looks at me with smiling eyes and dimples that he can’t hide. “What do you say? Want to disappear with me for a while?”
“What?” I laugh and shake my head. “Sam, I can’t go on vacation with you. Not right now anyway. And especially not to the Bahamas. There’d be people everywhere.” I think we’ve caused enough media frenzy for the time being.
“Not on a private island,” Miles says, dropping his phone into his pocket.
“Private island?” The foreign thought clouds my head.
Sam smiles and pulls me down onto the bed next to him. “You’re telling me you wouldn’t want to spend three weeks on a tropical island…alone?”
I smile over the inviting thought. “Of course I would. But I can’t.” I shrug and say quietly to him, “I have to go home. I have to get the rest of my things from Drew’s house. And I still have figure out what’s going to happen with my studio.”
“No you don’t,” Sebastian chimes in, inching his way into the room. “I can handle it for you while you’re gone.”
“See, that’s why you have Sebastian,” Sam says, rubbing his thumb over the back of my hand. “He can handle it for you.”
“I don’t have any clothes. And neither do you. We’d have to go home anyway.”
“I can help with that too,” Sebastian offers, giving me an enthusiastic grin.
“Go,” Joe encourages, giving me an approving smile. “It’d be good for both of you.”