Across the Music (Across the Ocean Book 2) (31 page)

For the most part, he's pretty quiet about his drinking. I would bet money that Sophie hasn't even realized or noticed just how much Loki drinks. He's a quiet type, but he does stupid shit that gets him into trouble when he is drunk, and while this is far from being the first time he's had an ordeal, it is by far the worst outcome from one.

Loki is black and blue in several locations; a swollen eyebrow, left jaw, and his hospital gown covers most of his injuries from my eyes. I walk towards him, overwhelmed by a mixture of anger, sympathy and sadness for my friend.

He coughs suddenly, and moves in his bed. Loki's eyes open slightly, moving around the room until the stop when they land on me. I walk forward to sit on the chair beside him, the soft beeping of the monitor to my right. He moves his head slightly to look at me without moving his neck too much.

"Sophie's fine, you know. No thanks to you. But I will say that you've helped push her away from you and right into my arms, where she should be. What the fuck were you thinking man?" I stop for a moment, breathing deeply to calm myself, glancing down at my hands for a distraction.

Loki doesn't say anything, or make any sounds even, so I look back up at him to continue. "I need to know some things. I need you to answer in any way you can, blink or something
já
? Once for yes, twice for no?" Loki blinks once.

"Do you know the guys you got into the fight with?" One blink. "Did the fight really have anything to do with Sophie?" Two blinks. "Okay, would those guys have bothered you if you were with another woman other than Sophie?" One blink. "Do you know that you could have caused some serious damage to Sophie with your stupidity?" One blink. My voice rises from a mellow soft tone to a higher and louder one with each question, and I have to stop for a moment to regain my composure again.

"I fucked his sister." A painful sounding hoarse reply comes from Loki. He shouldn't be talking, and it sounds like he's been swallowing glass. I glance up at him to see he's staring off towards the far end of the hospital room, unseeing, a pained expression on his face. "He was mad I fucked his sister. He said terrible things about Sophie being a whore, and I couldn't have that. I didn't want or mean for her to get hurt." He squeezes his eyes shut and winces, and I feel bad for him.

"But she did get hurt," I continue on, despite feeling bad for him, he needs to realize how reckless he was "and she thinks this entire thing is her fault. Do you even realize that what happened to you is very similar to what happened to her brother? She's been through enough, dammit." My anger is rising within me, and I struggle to keep it at bay.

"I'm sorry." His whisper sounds pitiful, but his apology sounds genuine.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. I'll bring Sophie by tomorrow, and you can apologize to her yourself. Get some rest. I have news for both of you that I'll tell you when we visit in the morning." I stand up, pat his hand soothingly and give him a weak smile. He nods the best he can at me with his neck brace and in the state he's in. I turn to leave, but stop at the door to his room, turning to him one last time before I go.

"Sophie is mine now. There's no more competition, do you understand? You forfeited any chance with her with the choices you've made." I open the door and leave without waiting for a response.

I wake up only to realize that I'm alone in my bed. I glance around the room and rub the sleep from my eyes as I sit up in bed. I'm surprised how refreshed and revived I feel after an apparent good night's sleep. My stomach gurgles loudly, demanding nourishment, and I wonder how long I've been asleep. The sun coming in from under the curtains tells me it's early in the morning.

Stretching my arms up and over my head, I yawn and look to the side table for my phone. Picking it up, I see there is an unopened text message from Hilary. The clock says that it's ten in the morning, I must have slept through the rest of yesterday and all of last night. I feel emotionally exhausted still, riddled with uncertainty and guilt, but it's mostly on the backburner compared to the contentment I have felt with Gunnar.

H - Why didn't you tell me what happened? I thought we were close enough to where you'd tell me you had been in the hospital. Is everything alright?

I feel bad that I have been slacking terribly in my friendship with Hilary since I've been so caught up in all of this commotion with Gunnar and Loki.

S - I'm sorry, you're right. Things have just been so crazy. Yes, I'm fine. How did you hear about it anyways?

I send the message and climb out of bed, wondering where Gunnar is. A few moments later, and my phone beeps with Hilary's reply.

H - Brooke told me, of course. No thanks to you. I'm glad it's not as bad as it sounded. How are things with Gunnar? Will I see you any time soon?

I smile as I type out my reply.

S - Things are wonderful with Gunnar. I think I might possibly be in a relationship or something now, and I'm sure we will see each other very soon.

Her response comes less than a minute later.

H - Can't wait to hear all the juicy details. Love you.

S - Love you too.

I slide on my pajama pants that are in a messy pile on the floor, and slip my phone into the back pocket before going to the bathroom to refresh myself. I take care of my business and brush my teeth, staring at my reflection in the mirror. Sure, I might be bruised a bit, but I actually look and feel much happier and relaxed in myself than I've seen in my own reflection in a long time.

I give myself a toothpaste-filled smile, and finish the task at hand before going into the kitchen to look for Gunnar. I find him sitting at the round table; reading the newspaper and eating toast with cheese. He looks up when I come into the room, and a bright smile changes his face into something that fills me with an overwhelming feeling that I can't explain.

It is something good, is this love? To see the person you care about so much, your heart picks up its pace and your breathing catches in your chest just from looking at them? To be near them and have all appear right in the world? I sure hope so. I'm fairly certain it is. I love Gunnar. He makes all the pain and fear fade back to nothing.

I walk the few steps to him, and he grabs my arm lightly, pulling me down so our lips can meet in a sweet kiss. I easily melt into it, my arms sliding around his neck as I sit myself onto his lap to thoroughly enjoy this man –
my
man. His arms wrap around my waist and hold me tightly to him as we enjoy a tamer kind of makeout session. We pull back after a moment, both smiling at each other.

"I love you. Thank you for everything you've done for me." I blurt out suddenly, surprising myself. His eyebrows shoot up in surprise, but easily turn to a warm, soft expression as he looks down at me. I cannot believe how easy it was to say those words, and how right they feel.

"I love you too, Sophie. We have each other now." Joy explodes within me like fireworks, tingles trickling down my body like the beautiful tiny sparks that float down in the aftermath. He kisses me softly once more, pulling me close for another tight hug. We stay that way for several long moments; breathing in the scent of each other, and absorbing each other's warmth before my stomach growls noisily and reminds me of just how famished I really am. I pull back and look down at my noisy stomach and we both laugh.

"I didn't want to wake you, you were so deeply asleep. I figured you needed it after everything, but it's no wonder you're starving." I stand up and move to the chair across from him, helping myself to one of the slices of toast with cheese from his plate and stuffing it into my face with large bites. He laughs at me but isn't bothered. Surely he's a keeper, if he doesn't mind that I stole his food.

"We are going to visit Loki again today. We need to have a chat with him, and I have some interesting news for the both of you." He takes a sip of his coffee and gives me a mischevious raise of his eyebrow over the rim of the cup.

"You're not going to tell me what it is?" I ask in mock indignation after I swallow a large bite and wipe crumbs from my mouth. He shakes his head and just grins at me.

"You'll have to wait until we get to the hospital, so I guess you better hurry up and get ready if you want to hear the news. But first, finish your toast at least, I know you have to be hungry. After the hospital, I'll take you out to a proper lunch." I nod in agreement, and take another bite of my toast, contemplating the future.

"What about the wedding; if Loki isn't recovered, I mean. What will we do?" I'd hate to not have him with us.

"We have some time yet to get him into physical therapy and work on all of this. We can only hope for the best."

We arrive at the hospital forty-five minutes later, and walk straight to Loki's room. Gunnar escorts me inside the room, but immediately leaves again to go grab coffee, leaving me alone in the room with Loki. He's awake when I enter the room, and his eyes immediately lock onto me and follow as I go and sit in the chair next to his bed.

"G'day, mate." He gives me a faint smirk in response, but doesn't say anything. "I hope you're feeling better, at least a little bit. You're too strong for things like paralysis." I pause for a second, guilt washing over me once more over the possibility that he could be paralyzed because of that fight. My eyes well up with tears against my wishes, and one drips down, eager to escape. Loki is still watching me, a frown drawn between his brows.

"It's all my fault." He says quietly, hoarse and gritty sounding. "All of it. It had nothing to do with you. I'm so sorry Sophie." He coughs and hacks for a moment, and my heart squeezes as his words, and to see him so weak.

"What do you mean?" He appears to swallow painfully, and I wait patiently.

"I'm an alcoholic, and a womanizer. I sleep around and don't call women back, I drink so much I can't think straight, and then I start fights." More coughing before he continues. "One of those guys was just pissed I'd fucked his sister and never called her back. He said some crude things about what I was doing with you, and I was trashed." I'm quite surprised by this, although I'm also relieved.

"But you didn't seem to be that drunk." I protest, he never has appeared to be so totally drunk that he couldn't handle himself. He laughs with no amusement in his voice.

"I'm surprised I was even able to play at the gig, I was so blitzed. I'm embarrassed, shit. Only the people who are close to me know my problem. I hide it well, or mostly anyways. I started that fight because I'm a dumb fuck who was drunk. None of it has anything to do with you." He glances around the room, and I spot his eyes land on the water jug with a cup next to it on a table at the end of his bed. I go and fill up the cup, picking up the straw next to it. I sit on the edge of the bed and assist him in sipping the water from the straw.

I can't believe I didn't notice he was always drunk. With my father being such a fuck up as he is, I guess I feel I should have noticed the signs more, rather than be so focused on myself.

"Thank you," he says once I set the glass on the side table next to his bed and return to my chair. I'm uncertain what I'm supposed to say now, but he continues on. "My stupid choices led to you getting hurt – something I can't stand to think about. I need help, Sophie. I really do." A single tear clings to his lower lashes, and my heart clenches in agony for him. I've never seen him so low.

"I'm here for you, whatever you need." I assure him, and I'm saddened to see more tears trickle down his cheeks until he closes his eyes and begins to weep with pained, hoarse sobs that wrack his body and break my heart. I don't think anything is sadder than a man breaking down and crying. I rush to his side and grab a tissue from the box on the side table, dabbing his face gently and shushing him soothingly.

"I'm sorry, Sophie. I'm so sorry." He continues to repeat this with his sobs, and I soothe his hair back and try my best to help calm him down.

"It's all right," I murmur in his ear "I'm not upset, and I'm alright. We just need to get you right as rain again, mate. We need to fix you up and help to get you on the right path again." He slowly starts to settle down, and I wipe his face again. "Gunnar and I are here for you, to help you every step of the way."

I hear a sound behind me and see that Gunnar is standing at the end of the bed, looking at us with sadness and love in his eyes. I realize now that my face is soaked from my own tears, and I brush them aside with the back of my hand. Gunnar clears his throat, and moves to perch himself carefully on the opposite side next to Loki, so we are both surrounding him with our support and love.

"So," he begins, looking between both of us with a small smile on his face "enough of all of the tears. I have some great news." Loki and I both stare at him expectantly, sniffing from our tears.

"I spoke with a man after the show. He absolutely loved our set. He said wants to sign all three of us to his label, and we're going to be a real official band now." He turns to Loki, patting him on his right arm. The fingers of the hand twitch in response, and we all smile and feel hope swell within our chests. I squeal loudly with absolutely joy and delight, standing up and dancing around in my enthusiasm, much to the guy's delight.