Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
The curtain surrounding my bed stirs. Before it’s pulled back, I know who’s on the other side. The sound of his gait is somehow hardwired in my brain.
When the nurse draws the barrier back, every single emotion inside me rushes to the surface.
“Hey,” I whisper.
“Hey.”
His voice is raw too.
For a few seconds we just look at each other.
Until Walt lunges across the space, drops to his knees next to the bed, and buries his face in my stomach.
“Easy now!” The nurse grabs his arm.
Holding him to me makes the tears start to flow. “He’s not hurting me. It’s just my thigh we need to worry about.”
Breathing hard, Walt searches for my hands and takes them in his. For the first time since I met him, he’s ice cold.
“Mari, I am so sorry. God. I’m so glad you’re okay.”
I tighten my hold on him, wishing I could chase away the chill. “I’m going to be fine. You’re scaring me. You’re shaking all over.”
He breathes and breathes, pressing his face into the sheet covering my stomach, his whole body vibrating.
The nurse clutches her chest. Her eyes wells up. “I’m going to go now.”
My own tears are running freely as I nod to her.
The curtain rings jingle as the fabric slides on the bar around the bed. After it settles into place, we’re left alone in the cool dim light. Distant voices and a hum of machinery are the backdrop.
“I’m fine.” My whispered chant.
Finally, after a long time, Walt raises his head. The anguish in those steel-gray eyes breaks me.
It’s hard for me to speak with all the tears clogging my throat. “Please don’t be upset.”
He’s not upset. He’s destroyed and it’s killing me.
His hands tighten around mine. “This is my fault.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“It’s the truth.”
I pull his hands to my heart and tighten my hold on him. “Will you tell me about the accident? I can’t remember much and the hospital staff are being very hush-hush.”
Maybe getting him to talk will help with his anguish.Answers would be great since I have lots of holes in my memory, but all I truly care about is thathe’s safe.
My question has the opposite effect. The pain in his expression grows. “You might not remember. That’s not uncommon. You were unconscious. Then you were in shock. It’s normal for that time frame to be blurry at best.”
Fuzzy bits of details have come back to me about waking up in the truck. Then flying.
“Did I ride in a helicopter?”
His reply is strained as he looks down at the sheet. “Yeah, you did.”
“I’m guessing I’m in Carollia, since they don’t really do much surgery at the regional hospital near Karma.”
“I insisted that you be flown here. I only wanted the best for you.”
He’s really upset and has made sure I’m safe and taken care of. But a sense of unease builds inside me. I shiver as I try to put the pieces together, but my mind is foggy. “What caused the accident?”
For an agonizing minute the only sound is the hiss of machines.
Walt drops his chin to his chest, his head swaying back and forth. When he meets my gaze again, his eyes are red, his throat is taunt. Wetness beads on his dark eye lashes.
That look alone crushes something fragile in me.
I’m scared to ask him what is wrong.
In a destroyed voice, he grinds out, “Another car bomb.”
First, I’m breathless. Then I’m in utter shock.
“A bomb on the truck?” My hands shake violently. “Lord. How? I can’t believe we survived.”
A fresh wave of fear wells up inside of me. A car bomb . On his truck.
I can’t speak for a long time. When I do, I sound ancient. “Thank god, we’re both alive.”
He leans over, putting his elbows on the bed, resting his head between his hands. There are deep furrows through his thick hair like he’s been pulling it all day.
I bet he was in the waiting room doing this exact thing.
A pain slices through me. Pain for him. My lip quivers as I breathe through the overwhelming emotion. I’ve never felt the need to hold someone so badly.
To hug him. Comfort him. But when I try to move, it hurts.
It’s impossible to hide my quick intake of air. “Ouch. Okay. I can’t climb the jungle-gym for a few days.”
“Don’t move.” Swiping a hand over his face, Walt covers his grimace. “Just please lay still and rest.”
“I want to hug you.”
He looks at me with such intensity you’d think I told him I wanted to have his baby. Confusion wells up in his gaze, only to be swamped by something darker.
Slowly my protector reaches for my cheek. With the most tender touch, he skims the back of his fingers over my skin. “Thank you, but you need to take it easy. Don’t rip out your stitches.”
The coldness of his fingers worries me. Everything about the way he looks is concerning. This is a haunted version of the man that just hours ago was full of vigor.
And there’s something red on his throat. Little splotches.
When he realizes that I’m staring, he pulls back, scrubbing the palm of his hand over the spot just below his chin. “I’m sorry, I thought I got it all.”
“That’s blood.” Heart skipping, I pull at the sheet. “Are you sure you’re okay? I saw the bandage, but it looks like you bled a lot more than a cut that size would bleed.”
Dismissively, he touches the bandage on his forehead. “This is nothing. I wish it was me that got the shrapnel.”
I shake my head and wish I hadn’t because it worsens my headache. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s the truth, something so beautiful and delicate as you should never be touched by something so horrific.”
Those fierce words slide into my heart and warm some of the spots that have been filled with fear for the last few hours.
But even with him here, I can’t wait to be out of this place. It’s the machines, the drab blue-gray walls, the sterile bedding. “I’ve always hated hospitals since my mom died. Can you stay?”
“It would take an army to drag me away from here.”
I let that sink in.
After a minute of breathing intentionally, I swipe my tongue across my dry lips. I do this while wondering how this is my life now.
It happened so fast, but I can’t imagine not wanting him by my side.
“That means the world to me.” I reach for his hand. “I only want you here. I don’t want to tell my father. I hope you didn’t call him.”
Just thinking about the man sours my mood.
“Shit. I didn’t even think about him.” He rubs his brow, the lines there growing deeper. “All I could think about was you. I’ve been going out of my head in the waiting room.”
The pillow makes a crunchy noise as I sag back, sinking deeper into the bed. I picture him wearing out the rug, or shredding up books with his bare hands.Bending those ugly waiting room chairs into pretzels.
“I’m sorry you’ve been so worried. And I’m hugely relieved that you didn’t contact him. I really don’t want him rolling in here making a scene.”
He doesn’t deserve that.
The dark, swirling emotions he’s harboring harden his expression. I hate whatever is going on right now in his mind.
Not only does he feel protective of me, I want to slay his inner demons, patch up his wounds. Kiss away his worry.
“Are you sure you’re not hurt? I’m just getting this really weird vibe from you, and I’m afraid someone like you might not admit that you’re injured because you didn’t want to upset me.”
He shakes his head, but the tightness of his lips says there is plenty wrong.“It’s not that. I’m a little banged up, but I’ve had worse from training exercises.”
As he sits silently, I run my fingers over the back of his hand. Scrapes and scabs. A crisscross of small cuts. Even some bruises. He definitely got more damage than he’s letting on.
A somber energy fills the space between us.
Something different is here, unspoken.There’s some kind of emotional cord between us after what we did together—the sex we shared before I was injured.
An energetic connection.
A tingle builds in my lower belly. “In case you were wondering… I do remember what happened before the accident.”
A small smile pulls at my lips, but the corners of his mouth turn downward.
Oh. Uh. I didn’t expect that reaction. That stings.
I blink and give myself a little mental shake.
My thoughts aren’t very clear. The medication makes me a little foggy. Feeling uncertain, I pull the sheet tighter against me. Maybe I’m misinterpreting his reaction.
I hope.
Then a realization hits me like a lightning bolt. Maybe he thinks I didn’t like it. I never told him how much I loved what we did.
He watches me reach for his scruffy cheek, where I brush my fingertips along the strong angle of his jaw. “I liked it.”
My words hang in the air.
After a beat, the hard lines around his eyes soften as he squeezes my other hand. “I loved it.”
If I didn’t have a headache I’d smack my forehead.
“I mean I loved it. Boy I messed that up. I’m sorry, I’m not very articulate right now. These drugs…”
“You’re perfect. You’ve always been perfect.” He leans in and brushes a kiss over my forehead. His warm breath dances over me.“I’m just real fucking sorry it ended up this way.”
“Well, I have to say this put a dent in my afterglow. I don’t know exactly how it all happened and that is very disorienting. One minute we’re talking and then…” I press my hands over my eyes. “I don’t even remember if you were driving or where we were going after we had sex and got our clothes back on straight?—”
“Ahem.” A loud throat-clearing snaps my mouth shut.
“Ready for company?”A strange male voice asks.
Walt groans. Turn his face to the ceiling with a pained expression. “Not now, you guys...”
The curtain snaps back to reveal three men and a woman, all looking a little sheepish.
These aren’t just average people. Each of the men look like warriors, dressed in black and gray camouflage pants with tight fitting black T-shirts. But it’s not just the clothing. It’s the way they are standing. The fourth one, a young woman has the girl next door thing going on, including a cute gray dress that compliments her long auburn hair.
With her cheeks turning pinker by the second, she twists her hands together. “I’m so sorry. We didn’t mean to interrupt a personal moment.”
Crap. They heard.
God knows how much, but the look on her face says enough—the word sex didn’t go over their heads.
Walt rises to stand beside the bed, but he doesn’t let go of my hand. “Ever heard of a concept called privacy?”
The taller of the three men rubs the sandy-brown scruff on his jaw as he shrugs. “The nurse sent us to check in on you two. I think she was just worried that some lug head was going to climb in bed and crush the patient.”
Walt grunts, his unhappiness clear. “How long have you been standing there?”
The dark haired guy in the middle flashes a smile that can probably be seen from space. “Long enough.”
He points a shooting-gun finger across the room toward Walt. “Ma’am, your boy there was freaking out. We’re lucky he didn’t break some necks to get back here to see you.”
“You weren’t even out there in the lobby,” Walt counters in a stubborn tone.
“I saw the video Camile recorded of Beast with you in a Full Nelson, dragging you out of the room.”
A growl rumbles beside the bed. Walt is emitting nuclear energy. “You recorded that?”
The tension climbs. Any second there could be blows.
The woman waves a dismissive hand and smiles at me. “Ignore these morons.”
As she approaches the bed, her expression softens. “I’m Camile. That guy in the baseball cap is Scout, and…” She punches the arm of the one standing in the middle. “This is Justice and he’s a flirt.”
He ruffles her hair, smiling that electric smile of his.
She leans into the last man. “This big guy is mine, his name is Beast. And yes, I recorded that because I wanted Evan’s woman to see how badly he wanted to get to her.”
Instant silence falls to which she seems oblivious. Gripping the footboard of the bed, she continues to smile at me. “Anyway, we all work with Evan at Agile Security & Rescue. But he’s been very private about having met you. He hasn’t even told us your name.”
The men share a look as Beast clamps a hand over Camile’s mouth and picks her up by looping an arm around her waist. “And…we’ll be going now.”
Somewhere on the other side of the curtain, his deep voice rumbles. “Babe, I think you might have opened a can of worms.”