Chapter Twenty-Two
Let There Be War
Ziggy
My body was shaking like it had the first time we trained at the beach in the marines. My clothes were dry. My skin was normal, but I was shivering to the bone. Ro’s hand was clutched between mine, and my entire being was focused on her next breath.
“Sir, I’ve asked already. I’m going to need you to step outside so we can get her sorted.” The nurse’s voice droned in the background.
Her fingers gripped my shoulder, and I violently shrugged her off and fixed her with a look. It was bad enough being abruptly snatched back to reality, but being left with nothing better than her pinched face staring back at me was inexcusable.
“Get your fuckin’ hands off of me, and get to fixin’ my wife,” I advised.
“Yeah. We’re going to need you to step outside and answer a few questions yourself until we know what is going on here,” someone in a white coat announced behind her.
“Ziggy,” Ro weakly groaned.
The sound of her voice moved me so much, I went limp. Her hand flopped in mine when she stirred.
“Ro,” I snapped, my voice climbing. “I’m here, baby.”
“You need to step out,” The nurse shoved at me, a bit of urgency climbing into her tone. Ro’s hand fell away as I was bullied back.
“I want my husband,” Ro moaned, her words slightly slurring as medical staff surrounded her. “Get away! Get away, my husband will hear about this. He will fuck you up.”
The breath rushed from me, it kind of came out in a laugh. I wasn’t amused by it, but if she knew I was going to hurt whoever did this to her, then maybe she wasn’t as bad as she looked.
She’d collapsed and had the worst seizure I’d ever witnessed right there in my arms at our front door. Her neck was snapping back like she was intent on breaking it herself. I’d never seen anything like it, nor had I ever felt so helpless. All I could do was hold her and watch until the ambulance arrived.
She gave a long howl as someone in blue tried to start an intravenous line near her wrist, “My husband will kill you! Do you hear me?”
“Ro, honey, calm down for them,” I begged, covering my mouth.
She was belligerent and flailing. People were restraining her and as much as it killed me to see it, I knew she had to be still for them to help her.
A man in a long, white coat stepped into the room and scolded, “Let him over there already before she hurts herself, will you? She’s likely concussed. I need images. Call imaging again. Now.”
He stepped toward me, and tipped his head, lowering his tone as he asked, “Who did this?”
“Pray you find out before I do,” I snapped.
He gave a slow, stiff nod, “O– kay.”
“I– Sorry.” I closed my eyes as she started to thrash around.
“Don’t provoke her. You must try and keep her still, if she has a brain bleed…” the doctor began to chew the staff’s ass while I took a moment to compose myself. I didn’t mean to snap at that man, but her face was fucking with me so bad. I hadn’t seen a woman with a face that fucked up since the war. It was swollen and distorted. The discoloration beneath her eye and along her jaw was so dark. I was pretty sure that the orbital socket was gone.
I exhaled, forced my jaw to unclench and relax, and hesitantly started back toward her.
“Ziggy?” She squinted from her good eye, and her voice cracked, drawing me to her with twice the urgency.
She clung to me and sobbed.
“It’s okay. You’re going to be okay,” I quietly tried to convince myself, as well as her.
“I won’t do it no more,” she quietly whimpered, and the tension came back with a vengeance. Every fiber of my being steeled when I processed those words and stared down at her fearful gaze.
She thought I ordered this, and I didn’t even know what to do with that knowledge. I drew her toward me, holding her against my chest so she didn’t see the tears I was grinding my teeth against.
A loud knock alerted us to a uniformed policewoman in the doorway. Her hand froze in the air, knuckle still poised to tap another round, when she saw Ro’s face.
“Ma’am, I just needed to–” she began.
Ro squinted hard toward the door, it took her a minute to focus on the woman, but everyone could tell when she finally got a good look at who was addressing her. She sucked in a hard breath that caught on a sob, and manically shook her head.
“This can wait!” the doctor roared, rushing forward to encourage her to still all the head movements and lay back down.
“No, it can’t,” the officer and I snapped simultaneously.