Chapter Twenty-Eight
Aidan sat in a chair next to Bethany’s hospital bed. She was unconscious and had not awakened since the crash.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Michelle yelled as she walked into the room. “Get out!”
Aidan looked up and shook his head. This was not going to be pretty. “Look, Michelle, I respect you for protecting her. I know she cried on your shoulder. I know I treated her poorly, but let me make something perfectly clear. You will not kick me out of this room. I love her, and I’m staying right here.”
Michelle snorted. “Yeah, right.”
“It’s true. I don’t have to convince you. I mean to convince her when she wakes up.”
Michelle looked dejected for a moment. “If she wakes up.”
Aidan stared at her. “No, Michelle, when she wakes up.”
Michelle started to sniffle. “It’s just that she hasn’t woken yet, her face looks like someone took a baseball bat to her… Aidan, she’s a mess. Oh God, why won’t she wake up?” She started to cry.
Aidan wrapped his arms around her and held her close. “She’ll wake up, darling.” He prayed what he said was true. But he was not sure. Her beautiful face was one big bruise, and her sweet mouth was swollen and puffy.
“I hope you’re right.”
“The doctors seem to think she will wake up soon, so stop worrying.”
Tom walked in with Chinese takeout. “Hey, Aidan! Shoot, I didn’t know you were here, or I would have picked up another egg roll.”
“Don’t worry about me, I’m not hungry,” Aidan said softly as he watched over Bethany.
The nurse who came to check on Bethany practically dropped her clipboard when she recognized Aidan. “Oh my God, aren’t you Aidan Shannon?”
Aidan forced a thin smile, as this was the third nurse to walk in and pretend that she was checking Bethany’s vitals. “Yes, it’s me. Could you find the doctor, please, and ask what more we can expect?”
“Oh, sure, Mr. Shannon, right away.”
“Damn, you’re never left alone, are you?” Michelle asked, struggling with her chopsticks.
Aidan shook his head. “Only when I’m home.”
“Do you mean Ireland?” Michelle said dejectedly as a sloppy piece of spicy chicken landed on her breast.
“Yes.”
Tom frowned as he chewed on crab Rangoon. “You mean to tell me you can’t, like, go to a Taco place and get a burrito?”
“No, I can’t do that. I also can’t shop at the stores. People are just too curious. It’s very hard being scrutinized all the time.”
“Well, I have to say, then, that I would not want to be famous. No tacos? No famous Tom. That’s all I’m sayin’.”
“Yes, it is difficult not having good Mexican food,” Aidan said, trying to swallow a sarcastic tone. Would this man ever stop talking? All he wanted was to look at Bethany.
Tom nodded. “I know. I feel for you, man.” He proceeded to make quick work of the rest of the fried rice.
Michelle rolled her eyes. “Tom…”
“What?” he asked, casting an interested look at her chest where a stain from her chicken was evident near the swell of her breast.
“Nothing, sweetie.”
Tom smiled and gave her a noisy kiss on the mouth. Then he whispered loudly, “I’ll take care of that stain myself a little later if you catch my drift.”
Aidan shook his head. He faced Bethany again and gently held her hand. Once again, he started murmuring to her, cajoling her to wake up and talk to him.
****
Bethany sighed, the shadows on the wall were moving around like a demented puppet show. Trippy. She groaned as she attempted to move; something appeared to be holding her down. She couldn’t wake all the way up. Oddly, she thought she heard Aidan talking to her. “Wake up, Beth. Wake up now, please? For me? I’m not sure I can do this whole thing without you, luv.” Bethany smiled. This is a very nice dream. She felt a kiss brush her lips, a soft voice whispering, “I love you, Bethany. Wake up.”
It was odd how not only Aidan was in her dream, but he seemed to be having a conversation with Tom about burritos. How strange. But then dreams were always weird. Perhaps it was something she ate. That ice cream cone from Carl’s, or—wait a minute—did she have that cone? She’d been driving, listening to The Cranberries and—
Bethany slowly opened her eyes and was shocked to see Aidan’s face, a mask of concern, staring back at her.
“Aidan?” she asked huskily.
Aidan squeezed her hand tenderly. “Bethany? Sweetheart, did you say something?”
Bethany tried to open her eyes farther, but it was almost like her eyelids had gained weight, and she could not lift them. “Are you here?”
Aidan pressed a kiss to her bruised forehead. “Yes, luv, I’m here.”
“Not a dream?”
“No, I’m here.”
A nurse came in with a frantic Michelle by her side.
They were all ushered out while a doctor checked on her.
****
Aidan took that moment to turn on his phone and check his messages. Serena had called four times in the last half hour. He sighed as he punched in her number. Something was wrong.
“How is she?”
“All I can tell you is she just woke up and seems coherent. The doctor is with her now.”
“We have problems right here in River City.”
Aidan sighed and banged his head against the wall. “Didn’t I tell you I would fire you if you made musical references in general conversation?”
Serena sniffed indignantly. “The Music Man is always perfectly suitable in conversation.”
“I’m a little stressed out here. Can you tell me why you called me four times or do you need to sing a number from Fiddler on the Roof first?”
“Paula.”
Aidan cursed. “What now?”
“She told Karen Davis of On Deit that recent photos of you proved that she was right about you having an addiction. Plus, she found out Bethany’s name and went on to say that she is the psycho fan who is feeding you drugs and keeping you addicted.”
Aidan’s face drained of all color. “What?”
“She gave them her name, Aidan. The world is about to be introduced to Bethany Michaels. And unless we do something, they are going to hate her.”
He had never needed a drink more in his life. Hanging up the phone, he added loose change to the coffee machine and slugged down the horrid brew. It would have to do. He had not wanted to drag Bethany into this. Now he would be forced to tell the world about his relationship with her. His sweet Beth was about to be thrust into the spotlight. He had never wanted that for her.
“Do you think you have a chance of receiving an Actors Guild nod now that it’s fairly obvious you have some kind of a problem? And what’s with the slut feeding you drugs?” a smug voice asked him.
Aidan turned to see a man of the press sauntering toward him.
Aidan punched the man in the face, and then picked him up like a limp rag. “You listen to me, you piece of trash. I don’t care about the Actors Guild. What I do care about is Bethany, and if you write a single bad thing about her, I will find you. And the punch I just gave you will feel like the kiss of an angel. Do I make myself clear?” He shook the man once more for good measure and asked the astonished nurse to call security. “Have them come and pick up the garbage, will you?”
“I will sue you for this! You can’t attack a member of the press!”
Aidan looked at him with disgust. “Yeah? Sue me. But remember not to write anything about my girl, you hear me, you disgusting piece of crap?” He walked away without a backward glance.
****
“Where is he? Was he really here?” Bethany asked anxiously.
“That handsome Aidan Shannon from the movies? Yes, he has been here for a while. Never left your side once he got here.”
Bethany pouted, the painkillers making her a bit childish. “Well he isn’t here now, is he?”
The doctor smiled. “No, honey, he isn’t. But that’s ’cause I told him to get so I could check you over.”
“How am I, Doctor?”
The doctor sat down on Bethany’s bed and gently patted her hand. “You look like death on a cracker, but you are going to be fine. Those airbags can make anyone look like an eggplant.”
Bethany began to fuss. Could she really look that bad?
The elegant doctor, who thought nothing of wearing high heels to do her rounds, smiled. “You look like a very beautiful eggplant. Don’t worry about it.”
Aidan walked in a moment later, nodding at the doctor as she exited. “How are you?”
“I look like an eggplant.”
“What?” Aidan asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“The doctor said I look like an eggplant.”
Aidan kissed her lightly on the mouth. “The doctor,” he murmured, as he kept his mouth close to hers, “is strange. She looks like a model and talks like a comedian. Did you notice her heels?”
“Yeah. Who wears heels on these floors?”
“I love you,” he whispered, kissing her lightly again.
Bethany’s eyes became misty. “You do?”
Aidan stroked her hair tenderly, and kissed her bruised forehead. “Yes, I do. I’m really sorry I was such a bastard. I…” He sat down and ran his fingers through his hair. “I guess I had to know what the world was like without you.”
Bethany smiled. “What was it like?”
“Bad.”
“Bad?”
Aidan touched his nose to hers. “Very bad.”
Bethany smiled. “Will you be here when I wake up?”
“Yes,” Aidan said.
Bethany drifted off to sleep, content in the knowledge that Aidan would be with her.
The murmur of a masculine voice touched with a lilt woke her up. Thinking he would be smiling at her, she opened her eyes to find Aidan surrounded by nurses of all ages.
“So when you played Jesse James, was it, like, the coolest thing ever?” a young nurse asked, her long legs tucked under her in one of the many chairs in her small room.
“Well, with that movie, it was like living out a young boy’s dream, you know? Gunslinger, outlaw…” Aidan’s eyes met hers and he smiled. “Ladies, I’m sorry, but she’s up now, and I want to spend some time alone with her, all right?”
The women stood, some sighing romantically, others watching her with open hostility as they made their way out of her room.
Bethany counted them. Nine nurses. Nine. She frowned. This business of dealing with other women was the pits. Aidan walked up to her and gently kissed her swollen lips. Once again, he whispered that he loved her. Mollified, she smiled at him.
“I’m hungry,” she whispered. Then she pressed the button to give herself more pain medicine. Her face, neck, and back all felt the worst effects of her accident. As medicine soothed her battered body, she smiled droopily at Aidan.
****
“I’ll get something for you.” Aidan watched her and smiled. She was higher than a kite. He walked over to her and gently kissed her nose. “How does Chinese sound?”
“I don’t really know, perhaps you should ask a Chinese person to talk for a while and then you’ll know.”
“What?” he asked, thoroughly confused.
“Well, then you’ll know how a Chinese person sounds.”
He laughed. “No, luv, would you like to eat Chinese for dinner?”
“You’re pretty.” She smiled at him dreamily.
“Thanks, sweetheart. Do you want to have dinner?”
“Sure, what do you want to eat?”
Aidan sat down and laughed. All his stress about Bethany, his life, his career came pouring out in his laughter. It couldn’t be controlled.
Bethany pouted. “What did I say?”
Aidan looked at her and burst into another long bout of laughter. When he finally quieted down, he went down the hall and called Serena on his cell phone.
“You want me to find a good Chinese take-out place in Virginia when I’m in Los Angeles?” she asked archly.
“Bethany wants Chinese food. I think she could smell Michelle and Tom’s food when she was unconscious.”
“How about I connect you with Michelle, and she can tell you where to call?”
Aidan stopped pacing and blushed. “Oh, that is a good idea.”
Serena hung up with a wicked click. Aidan winced and waited for Michelle to return his call.
Once the order had been taken, and the nurses cajoled to look the other way, Aidan walked into Bethany’s room to watch her sleep.
When Bethany woke up, Aidan fed her chicken with cashews and helped her slurp some egg drop soup. “Sweetheart, you really need to get into some Szechwan food. All this Cantonese food doesn’t have enough bite to it.”
Bethany chewed thoughtfully. “Well, to be truthful, Aidan, I don’t really like spicy foods.”
Aidan stared blankly at her. To his way of thinking, this was one of the best reasons to leave Ireland, even for a while. Other countries had kickin’ spicy food, and he loved it.
“A mild salsa has been known to make me break out in a sweat.”
Aidan kissed her softly. “We have to break up then.” His eyes twinkled as he took her hand and began to nibble on it.
Bethany smiled at him. “Okay, then, see ya.”
Aidan laughed as he brushed his lips over her eyes, cheekbones, and her sweet elfin nose. “I’m so outta here.”
Bethany squeezed his hand and muttered, “Don’t let the door hit your very fine ass on the way out.”
Aidan grinned and brushed a kiss on her forehead.