CHAPTER 44 – EVERY WAY POSSIBLE
When Chase makes her completely his, no man would have even a shred of audacity to look in her general direction the wrong way. He would fucking gauge the eyes out of anyone that dared.
His thoughts suddenly strayed back to Mackenzie’s friends, and he remembered “Uncle” Maverick. Something just didn’t sit right about that man with him.
“Is that guy, Maverick, your Uncle?” He asked.
Mackenzie looked up at him. “Uh, no.” She let out a tiny smile. “We just call him that out of habit.”
Chase didn’t like the fact that she smiled just at the mere mention of him. Jealousy reared its head in his mind. He asked again, “Why would you three call him that out of habit, though?”
“Well, he and Charlotte are actually cousins. But he’s older that us by a big gap, so he was always the protective figure when we girls were little kids. So we just started calling him that. Till today, he’s still very protective of us.”
Chase blinked, unimpressed.
Protective? He wouldn’t mind if that guy was protective over her friends, but not Mackenzie. Chase hated the way he kept fawning over her back when she was drunk, trying to steal her attention away and touching her so freely, at every opportunity.
He leaned back into his seat, levelling her with a sudden accusing stare. “Yeah. I noticed just how protective he was when you were dead drunk last night.”
Mackenzie’s eyes widened, as she vaguely remembered the details of everything that happened back in the Nightshade Club and Bar. Tequila had the miraculous ability to wipe memories so she could not remember a lot.
Instead of worrying about what she might have done or not done, she chose to forget.
She did remember running into that room to hide from Jeffrey. And Chase saved her. Everything else was a blur, except when she heard Uncle Maverick’s voice.
“Uh. I didn’t mean to get that drunk. I just wanted to have a good time with my friends. And Uncle Maverick was waiting to take us home safely.” She sounded defensive all of a sudden.
“Really?” Chase said. He was getting sick of hearing that guy’s name. “You were really reckless last night. You could have gotten hurt, or worse.”
His voice had lowered, as he remembered her in nothing but her underwear, sexily asking him to take off her bra. Her beautiful eyes drawing him in seductively. Her soft voice asking, don’t you want me?
Fuck.This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.
She looked clueless though, like she had no idea what she did in the dark room. He considered mentioning it, just to see her reaction, but she would probably just be embarrassed. Especially when alcohol made her do it.
He would prefer it if she could tell him those exact words… but sober. He would not even fucking hesitate to take off every item of clothing on her skin and pleasure her in every way possible.
He cleared his throat, wiping those naughty thoughts off and asked, “So essentially, you three are close enough to Maverick to take care of his kids?”
“His kids? He has never even been married. We are the ones pestering him to get married, especially Charlotte. He’s not really committed to anyone and I’ve known him all my life. If he had kids, I would know.” She said.
“I saw him with some kids though last night, at your place.” He said.
Something screeched like a broken disk inside Mackenzie’s mind. She went stone rigid, as she realized he was talking about her kids. He had seen them!! Panic was threatening to break out, but she knew that she could not let it show, or he would get curious.
She glanced off to the side to the counter. “I want to order something. I’m hungry.” She avoided the topic entirely.
Of course, Chase noticed. But he let it go and made the orders. Throughout the meal, he kept noticing how nervous she had gotten, avoiding his gaze, fidgeting and rambling about Charlotte and her mom getting here fine.
She was not even eating and she claimed she was hungry.
Chase was about to ask her why she was acting strange when he got a call from a staff member informing him that the chopper was back and they had the patient. He ended the call, “They’re here.”
Mackenzie shot out of her seat, eager to leave his presence as soon as possible before he saw through her. “That was fast. I’ll go meet Charlotte, you can wait here.”
He got up too. “It’s my hospital. My presence will make the staff work even faster.” He held her hand. “Let’s go.”
As he led her out of the cafeteria, he knew she was just trying to get away from him and something wasn’t right somewhere. He just wondered what.
Mackenzie wanted to go up to the roof to meet them, but Chase knew they would already be in an elevator halfway down to the nearest ICU, so he suggested they head the same way.
Soon, they got to the hallway leading to the ICU. Before they walked a few feet, some swinging doors burst open to reveal a team of nurses and doctors wheeling a stretcher down the hallway urgently.
Mackenzie recognized Mrs. Weston laying on the stretcher, looking so pale and sickly as the one of the nurses placed an oxygen mask over her nose. Her heart was shattered seeing the lovely woman in this state.
Her eyes were sunken and her lips looked chapped. Even without being a medical specialist, she knew Mrs. Weston was hanging on by a thread.
Charlotte knew that too, as her face was a picture of despair as she hurried after them, but some nurses cleared her back while they rushed into the ICU where cardiovascular specialists waited.
Mackenzie ran over to her side, “How’s she holding up??”
“Someone gave her CPR before we arrived at North Dakota, but it wasn’t enough. She was slipping away so fast. The staff were quick and skilled so they were able to stabilize her somehow, but it’s very bad.” She sobbed. “I’m so scared, Mackenzie.”
Mackenzie gave her a soft look, holding her close and rubbing her arm “This is the best hospital in the country, Charlotte. She’ll get world class treatment here. She’ll be okay.”
Charlotte nodded, sniffling. “I really, really hope so. But I really can’t thank you enough, Mackenzie. You have really saved me. And Chase, I don’t even know how to show how grateful I am..”
She broke down into more sobs. “Our savings are gone, and I had nothing… what if I actually had money, getting her here would have never be as fast as a chopper. I can’t stop thinking of all the worst case scenarios…”
“It’s fine, Charlotte. Stop thinking of all those negative things, okay?” Mackenzie comforted her.
Charlotte stepped towards the door, “I just want to see if-”
A doctor stopped them from going any further, “Please wait here, they are currently doing emergency electroshock to revive her for the surgery.”
The sound of that made Charlotte sob harder. The doctor tried to reassure her, “She’s in safe hands. She’ll make it.” He gave Chase a quick nod and went into the ICU.
Mackenzie hugged her, “Come on, stop crying and come eat something. You’ll feel better.”
“I’m not hungry..”
“You have to eat, okay? Let’s go.” Mackenzie pulled her along. “We’ll be back, Chase.” She said to him.
He nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets.
As they turned the corner, Mackenzie tried to distract Charlotte from her anxiety. “Felicity must be so worried by now. We should call her and properly explain what’s going on to her.”
She slid her phone out and dialed Felicity’s number. After a moment, she answered, “Kenzie! Finally, I was so worried!”
“So sorry we couldn’t call earlier. Things have been so chaotic. Charlotte’s mom is in critical condition. She collapsed.” Mackenzie explained. “We managed to get Chase to help us transfer her to his hospital as fast as possible. We were in such a hurry, that’s why we couldn’t wait to explain it all.”
“Oh my god, that’s terrible.” She gasped. “Charlotte? Are you handling this well? Mrs. Weston will be fine, right?”
It was Charlotte who spoke this time. Her voice was hoarse from crying for hours. “Her chances of survival are better here than any other place. I saw the way the Axford Medicals response team worked first hand. I have never seen anything like this. If not for them… she would have…” The rest of her words died into a choke.
Mackenzie sighed, “I’m taking Charlotte to go eat something. We’ll stay here for the surgery and come home soon.” Her voice lowered into a whisper. “Give my babies a kiss for me, okay?”
“Alright, Kenzie.” Felicity said softly. “Please take care, Charlotte.”
Mackenzie ended the call, patting Charlotte’s shoulder comfortingly.