Chapter 13
Waverly
I was losing my fucking mind. Finn hadn’t woken back up since he passed out. The ambulance driver wouldn’t go faster. Then they shoved me in a tiny-ass waiting room to…wait. Fuck. That. I needed answers and I needed them now.
“Sit down and stop pacing. You’re making me nauseous.”
“Nobody asked you to be here, Shayne.”
“Someone has to control your crazy ass.” She shrugged.
“He’s been unconscious for like an hour. You’d be acting the same way.”
“It’s been more like twenty minutes, drama queen, but yeah, you’re probably right.”
“Agent Mitchell?” A young nurse wearing peach scrubs stood in the doorway.
“That’s me.” I hurried toward her.
“While the doctor reviews the CAT scan results, I can take you to Mr. O’Lachlan’s room.”
“Did he wake up yet?”
“No, I’m sorry. He’s got a pretty nasty bump on the back of his head. It might take a little while.”
“It’s already been too long.”
“Way.” Shayne knocked into my shoulder as we followed the nurse down the hall. “Be nice to the nurse. She knows where they keep the good coffee.”
“Is it too late to ask for Duncan?”
“Haha.”
“Where is he anyway?”
“Sorting out the shitshow.”
“Speaking of.” I kept my voice low. “Did Wes make it?”
She shook her head. While the loss of life was never something to celebrate, I couldn’t bring myself to feel bad.
Wes had been terrorizing Finn for weeks.
He deserved to rot in prison for the rest of his life.
Bastard made his choice when he detonated a bomb in a building full of people, then held us at gunpoint.
At least now we knew it was over for good.
“Here you go.” The nurse opened the door. “There’s a call bell on the bedside table if you need anything.”
I was too busy staring at Finn to notice when she left.
They’d changed him out of his tux and put him in a standard hospital gown.
His bare feet peeked out from underneath the tan blanket they’d covered him with and hung slightly over the end of the bed.
But he was alive, thanks to the Kevlar vest. The bullet hit him in the center of his chest. If he hadn’t been wearing it, no amount of speeding would’ve gotten him to the hospital in time.
“Go sit with him.” Shayne nudged me forward. “I’m gonna find the cafeteria. Some of us were too busy working to eat a fancy dinner.”
Closing the distance, I grabbed a chair, dragging it across the off-white linoleum floor to the side of the bed.
It took me a few minutes to figure out how to lower the rails so they didn’t block my access.
Once I had them down, I practically fell into my seat.
The adrenaline from earlier had worn off a while ago, so the fact I was still functioning was a testament to my grit and determination, both of which were waning.
I held his hand between both of mine, watching his chest rise and fall. Between counting his breaths and the steady beep of his heart monitor, I must’ve dozed off for a few seconds. My eyes popped open to see ocean-blue ones staring back at me.
“You’re awake.” Realizing my head was resting on his thigh, I sat up quickly
“That’s a relief. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.”
“Do not joke like that, Finnian.”
“Too soon?” He chuckled, then grimaced and groaned. “Feck. Getting shot hurts.”
I reached over, pushing the red button on the call bell. In no time, a male voice sounded through the room.
“Can I help you?”
“Mr. O’Lachlan is awake and he needs something for pain.”
“Okay. I’ll see what he has ordered and let the doctor know. He’ll come in shortly.”
“Thank you.”
“The pain isn’t that bad, baby, but thank you.” He reclaimed my hand. “What happened? Everything’s a little fuzzy.”
“Before or after you took a bullet to the chest?”
“Wait. Are you mad at me?”
“Furious.” I kissed the back of his hand. “But not at you.”
Now that he was awake, everything hit me at once.
It was like my mind was playing a game of emotional tug-of-war between fear and anger.
Fear still had her claws wrapped around my throat, but anger was trying to pry her loose.
Eventually, I’d need an outlet for both.
Maybe Duncan would be up for a round in the boxing ring.
“Talk to me, Waverly.”
“I––”
“Knock, knock.” An older gentleman with glasses and a trimmed beard walked in, followed by the same nurse from earlier. “I’m Doctor Billings. How’s your pain?”
“My chest and head are both pretty sore.”
“I’d expect they are. You’ve got a moderate concussion and a contusion to your sternum.”
“Contusion?” Finn asked.
“Basically, you’ll have a hell of a bruise across your chest for a week or two, but you should be fine. I’d like to keep you overnight since you were unconscious when they brought you in. Just to monitor you a little more closely for the next twelve hours.”
“Sure.”
“All right. Let’s have a look, then Nurse June can give you something to help with the pain.”
He poked, prodded, shined a light in Finn’s eyes, then waited while the nurse checked his vitals, which were all within normal limits.
The doctor gave the okay for the mild pain reliever then left to check on his other patients.
Nurse June followed, but quickly returned with a Styrofoam cup of ginger ale for each of us and a little clear cup with two pills inside for Finn. He took them without complaint.
“Come here, baby.” Finn shifted over once we were alone, patting the space next to him.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t. I just need to hold you.”
Kicking off my shoes, I carefully climbed onto the bed, which was no easy task considering I still had on my fancy dress.
We made the most out of what little room we had.
I lay on my side with my head on Finn’s shoulder while his arm curled around my back.
Neither of us spoke for a long while, though it was anything but quiet, not with all the activity happening in the halls of the hospital.
Finn sighed, then closed his eyes. “Are Joel and Noreen okay? I’ve been afraid to ask.”
“They’re fine. Wes didn’t lie about getting them out of the building. Joel got a cut on his arm, but other than that, they’re just worried about you.”
“And Wes? What happened to him?” Finn’s lips pressed to my forehead when I hesitated. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say the words.”
“Yeah, I do. It’s over, Finn.”
“I still can’t believe he was behind everything.”
“He fooled everyone. Joel is blaming himself.”
“I’ll speak to him. Did someone call Sloane? She’ll be worried.”
“Noreen did. Sleep, Finn.” I yawned. “I love you.”
“Love you too, baby.”
Finn
Sleep didn’t come easy for a multitude of reasons.
Every couple of hours, a nurse woke me up to ask the same questions over and over.
What year was it? Who was the president?
It got to the point where I spouted off the answers as soon as they walked in the room.
They all got a little chuckle over my grumpiness, but feckin’ hell, I’d been shot––sort of.
Even Waverly, who’d been accommodating at first, started to get prickly by the fourth time our sleep was interrupted.
Her attitude had more to do with the nightmares she was having in between their visits than anything.
She tried to hide them, but I heard her whimpers and felt her tears.
We had a long road of healing ahead of us, both physically and emotionally.
There was no doubt we’d get through it. All we needed was each other.
Waking up this time, I was surprised to find Shayne lounging in a pleather recliner. Her tired eyes were fixed on us.
“How are you feeling?”
I cleared my throat. “Tired and sore.”
“Yeah.” She looked away briefly, her fingers tapping wildly against the arm of the chair. I knew what was coming before she said it. “Thank you for saving my best friend.”
“I love her.”
“I can tell.”
There was no other explanation needed. My life meant nothing without her in it. All the money in the world couldn’t replace her smile or the way my heart picked up speed at the mere thought of her. Waverly was the other half of me; the missing piece I never thought I’d find.
“Wes is dead,” Shayne spoke matter-of-factly.
“I’m aware.” I didn’t want to talk about him, not now, maybe not ever. Changing the subject, I asked, “Was anyone seriously injured in the bombing?”
“One person broke their leg. Other than that, nothing more than cuts and bruises.”
“We got lucky.”
Waverly stirred at my side at the same time the door to the room slowly opened.
“Morning, baby.”
“Morning,” she grumbled. “What time is it?”
“Too feckin’ early.”
“I told you to knock first, Noreen. They’re probably sleeping,” Joel whispered loudly.
“Psh. No one sleeps in a hospital.” Noreen strode with purpose to my bedside. “See? He’s awake.”
Tears welled in her eyes when she leaned over to kiss my cheek.
“Are you both okay?” I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.
“Us?” She frowned. “We’re better now that we’ve gotten to see you.”
Joel pulled a chair over for his wife, then stood behind it.
His eyes travelled around the room, never meeting mine.
From the way he was acting, our conversation couldn’t wait.
Raising the head of the bed, I called out his name and waited for the stubborn fool to give me his attention.
It took his wife elbowing him in the side for that to happen.
“It’s not your fault.”
“I hired him, Finn.”
“With my blessing. We had no way of knowing how things would turn out five years down the road.”
“I should’ve seen it.”
“None of us saw it, Joel,” Waverly interjected. “I’m a trained FBI agent and he wasn’t even a blip on my radar. How do you think that makes me feel?”
“I baked him cookies,” Noreen added.
It started with Waverly biting her lip, then Shayne snorted. Before long, the two of them were laughing so hard tears were streaming down their faces. I tried to hold off, knowing how much it would hurt, but the dam broke anyway. Grabbing a pillow to hold over my chest, I joined them.
“Sounds like there’s a party going on in here.” The doctor popped his head in the door. “How about if I make it a going away party?”
“I’m busting out of here?”
“Scale of one to ten, how’s your headache?”
“About three and a half.”
“That’s expected. Any nausea?”
“None.”
He moved to the bed, shined a light in my eyes, and asked the same set of questions the nurse had all night. When he finished, he declared me ready to leave.
“I’ll have the nurse come in to go over your discharge instructions.”
“Thank you, Doctor.”
“We’re gonna get out of here,” Noreen announced. “We’ll stop by with dinner later, if that’s okay.”
“Of course it is.” Waverly stood, giving her a hug, then Joel.
Right after they left, I was officially released from the hospital. Thankfully, Shayne had thought to grab us both some clothes and while we got dressed, she went to pull her car around.
“I want to ask you something.”
“What is it, Finn?”
“With everything yesterday, it got me thinking.” I wrapped my arms around her back, pulling her close, and dropped my forehead to hers. “I want to meet my sister.”
“I think that’s a fantastic idea.”
“And I want to marry you.”
Her head snapped back. “Was that a proposal?”
“No. It was a statement of fact.”
“Well, here’s one for you.” She breathed against my lips. “When you ask, I’ll say yes.”