Chapter 14 #2
Letting go of my hand, I can feel the air almost shift as he moves. I’m hypersensitive to his presence, and I can hear him pick something up and the ice moves around as he puts it into something. Is that tissue or a washcloth in a glass?
Ugh, I hate that I can’t see.
“You’re fuming, Hollis. I’m going as fast as I can. Your heart beat is racing and you’re going to get me in trouble with the nurses,” he admonishes.
Malcolm sounds…normal. It’s almost like I can pretend I didn’t get my ass kicked, outside of how the pain of my broken body is flaring up. Something wet and cold moves over my eyelids, and he works slowly and methodically until my eye lashes begin to release. Blinking, I sigh slightly as I see him.
“All better,” he whispers. “Hollis…”
“I feel like shit, so I’m sure I look like it,” I moan.
I have an IV in my hand, and I can hear the monitors as they beep along, trying to make me insane. Have I mentioned that I’m a terrible patient?
“You scared the shit out of me,” he admits. “Your ribs are broken, you have a pretty severe concussion, and I had to ask the doctors to look the other way while I removed your weapons. Why aren’t you wearing your gun?”
“Good question,” I grumble. “I don’t think I would have used it on Aster even though she held me at gunpoint to keep me walking. And it’s hard to pull a weapon or defend yourself when you’re getting the snot kicked out of you.”
“Hollis?” Lars asks, popping his head into the room when he hears my voice. “Fuck, it’s good to see you’re awake.”
His eyes are filled with shadows and tears threaten to creep up on me.
“Hi,” I whisper.
“Don’t cry,” he groans, walking further inside. “Look, those guys were over twice the size of you. You can’t defend yourself against that. Aster used emotional blackmail, right? None of this is your fault, Hollis.”
“I feel so dumb,” I gasp, tears leaking anyway. “I didn’t think anything of it when she was complaining about her flowers getting trampled.”
“I didn’t either when you mouthed that you had a flower emergency,” Malcolm admits. “We said we wouldn’t let you go anywhere alone. We definitely failed you there.”
“Nope,” Lars says. “We aren’t going to do that either. Hollis you have the world’s softest heart, and that’s the only reason Aster isn’t dead. Cian is fucking furious with her. You know he doesn’t do second chances.”
Remembering how he killed his wife because she betrayed him, I wince. Even that slight movement hurts.
“Do I at least get good drugs?” I complain.
“They haven’t given you any?” Malcolm asked. “I thought that was what was in the IV.”
“Hollis has a high tolerance for medication,” Lars mutters. “I’ll grab a nurse. Caleb is at the door, and I don’t want to leave him, which means I’m going to obnoxiously yell until someone comes over.”
Smiling hurts, but damn that’s funny. Watching as he walks out of the room and closes the door, I wait for him to do it.
“Nurrrsesee!!!!” Lars bellows.
Cackling despite the pain, I moan as my ribs complain.
“You’re all insane,” Malcolm mutters, picking up my hand to kiss it. “I can’t touch you anywhere that you’re not bruised. Cian almost shot me because he could tell I was hurting you while I held you.”
“He’s probably blaming himself,” I wheeze. “Oww.”
“Fuck, Hollis. Please come home with us when you’re released. Take over the backyard, the office, whatever you need if you need to work. I just can’t have you living alone right now,” he says.
“There’s a problem with that,” I remind him gently.
“What? If I can fix it, I will. Brice is three seconds away from kidnapping you, Hollis. I mean it,” he growls. “He’s in my head, plotting how he can do it and not die.”
I bet he is. Remembering how he had to force himself not to be anywhere near me when I orgasmed in the hallway makes me shift in the bed. I cannot be thinking about sex right now.
“Being around you all could set off my heat,” I say. “Even then, I’m going to go into heat soon because I’m late. Living with you all? It’ll definitely happen sooner rather than later.”
Malcolm breathes deeply as he groans. Before he can say anything, Caleb begins to yell as well from the door.
“Think they’ll kick me out for having the world’s most annoying guards?” I ask.
“Oh my God!” a nurse yells from the hallway. “You two are so damn annoying. Loud enough to wake up the dead.”
Should she say that in a hospital? Isn’t that kind of like asking for trouble?
The nurse pushes open the door while Caleb and Lars hide their smiles, pretending to be perfect guards.
I have no doubts that they can protect me.
Lars may pretend to be a grumpy, upstanding citizen, but he almost became an enforcer.
He won’t hesitate to kill, but he will complain about the blood later.
It’s a fun paradox.
“Hi,” I murmur sheepishly as she glares at me. “I asked Lars if I could get something for the pain, and he’s not allowed to leave the door.”
“I would say you’re being absurd, but I unfortunately have eyes,” she grumbles, moving toward me. “Up.”
Malcolm gets up with an unhappy noise, and the nurse bustles over to check my chart.
“This says you’re on a high dose of pain medication,” she says, looking over at me and the chart.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” I rasp. My voice is beginning to crack, which means that the longer I’m awake, the more everything hurts. “I’d say just knock me out, but I have a feeling that my concussion won’t allow that and I need to speak to people.”
“You…you can talk normally,” she says, confused.
“She has regular migraines and is able to function through them then too,” Malcolm replies. “Baby, what’s your pain level?”
Thinking, I murmur, “A nine, but only because my head doesn’t hurt as much as my migraines. Those are easily a twelve.”
“How often do you get migraines?” the nurse asks.
“Like two a month, but they last for three or four days,” I mumble. “That’s just the ones that I can’t catch in time with my normal migraine meds though. I knock myself out with a pill and sleep them off when they’re bad.”
“This isn’t going to do anything to help then,” she says, sighing. “I’ll go get you something stronger.”
“Thank you,” I rasp. I’m starting to feel sleepy. Maybe that’ll help the pain instead.
My lids droop, and Malcolm stops the nurse.
“Is it okay if she falls asleep?” he asks.
“It should be. I’ll be back to monitor her. My name is Rose,” she says.
“I don’t want to sleep,” I decide. “I want to know what I’ve been missing since I’ve been passed out.”
“Nosy little omega,” Malcolm grunts. “One more question, Rose. Can she have visitors?”
“I’ll check with the doctor,” she says, leaving.
I end up dozing for a while, enjoying the cocoon of sleep. Everything hurts less here.
Unfortunately, it’s interrupted before I’m ready by very grumpy alphas.
“You’re all so loud,” I complain. Huffing out a sigh, I open my eyes to find myself surrounded by Pack Ledger and Cian. “I’m fine, don’t look so grumpy.”
“Can you see out of that eye at all, Hollis? You look worse than some of Jasper’s fighters,” Cian mutters.
“Clearly, you should see the other guys,” I smirk, despite my fat lip.
“That’s not funny,” Felix grumbles. “Damn, that was fucking dark, baby.”
“That’s nothing,” Caleb says from the door. “She can get much more twisted. I don’t know if you can handle her.”
Felix growls, while I raise my brow at Cian.
“Chill the fuck out everyone,” he says. “What do you need, Hollis?”
“Drugs,” I immediately say. “I fell asleep before the nurse came back.”
“I see her,” Caleb says. “Rose!”
“I’m going to beat you with my clipboard,” she growls. “Is she awake?
“And hurt this pretty face?” Caleb says. “You wouldn’t.”
“Yeah, she’s awake,” Lars replies, grinning.
“I’ll be right there,” Nurse Rose says.
“Catch me up, please, Cian,” I say, trying to sit up.
“Shit, wait. There’s a remote for the bed, Hollis,” Malcolm says.
The slight buzz of the bed moving allows me to lay like a bump on a log as the bed rises.
“Regal even when beaten to hell,” Cian mutters, sitting next to me. “Are you sure you don’t want a career change?”
“I’d probably continue to stick my nose into things I shouldn’t and get myself killed,” I sigh.
“Could we stop talking about you dying?!” Brice yells.
“Sorry,” I say immediately. “I call for a change of subject. What’s going on with Aster?”
“Hayes interrogated her, helped her find her sister, and then told her to get the fuck out of Minneapolis,” Cian says. “He said that he wouldn’t be able to not kill them both the next time he saw them because all he’d see is how Aster misled you.”
“Not to mention he described every single bruise and broken bone you have and made her cry,” Caleb adds. “I’ve been texting him for updates. I think Aster got off too easy.”
“What else was he supposed to do?” Remy asks.
“Shoot her between the eyes and feed her to the pigs,” Lars grunts. “I like that idea.”
“Lars, you’re starting to sound like a mafia man,” I tease him.
“Gross, no thank you, Hollis,” he says.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Cian says.
Pack Ledger looks very confused, which is funny.
Unfortunately, I can’t laugh because it hurts too much.
“Aster and her sister are taken care of, your event ended well and they filled out what they needed to so you can do your follow up. Aisling says that they all are worried about you.”
“I’ll send out an email saying I’m fine,” I say. “I have a feeling I’ll be saying that a lot.”
“Alive doesn’t mean fine. We need to find you a new adjective, baby,” Brice grunts.
Nurse Rose walks in with my medication, and I drink it down with some water with Malcolm’s help.
“Take it easy,” she says. “You’re going to be here through the night at least. The doctor isn’t very happy with the sound of your lungs, and he’ll be by soon. Try to keep it down, gentlemen.”
The “gentlemen” don’t give a shit, but I keep my lips sealed as she leaves.