Chapter 5 #3
When he woke up, he did feel better than before.
But that was true every time he woke up.
He’d feel better for a while, then he’d be weak.
He supposed that he should be taking it easy when he felt good and not think he was going to be able to get up and around after only a couple of days.
Ivan told him that he’d lost too much blood to be fucking around with his body, and he believed him.
As soon as he could, he was going to get better so that he could make love to his wife.
Not moving was making him bored, but he didn’t so much as swing his feet off the bed this time.
He did ask for something to drink and a book, but was bored with the book even before he started.
It wasn’t until he reached out to Guy to ask him for a book to read that he was interested in.
Just as he was staring on the newest Adam Sloan book, he knew that he’d be just fine.
The Roman brothers were still in jail. They’d be there until the judge came around and heard what they’d been doing to be put in jail.
He didn’t think that James, Gary’s brother, would get anything other than a fine.
But Gary was going to get the book thrown at him.
At least he hoped so. The police had the gun locked up, too, and it would be held there until the hearing. Devlin liked that just fine.
He’d read Roman’s mind and knew that he’d been discharged from the army because he couldn’t kill anything.
Not what they called it, but close enough to get him out.
He’d not wanted to kill Lisa either, but had thought that if he threatened her with murder, then she’d work harder to get his job back.
The only reason that he’d wanted the job was so that he could yell at people.
Stupider things had happened, he supposed.
Lying on the bed after lunch, he closed his eyes when he was slightly dizzy.
He’d not told anyone about the being dizzy part and thought that he might get out of bed sooner if he kept it to himself.
He wasn’t so sure about that now. All he wanted to do was sob at how weak he was and have someone fix him.
About the time he was going to confess to being weaker than he thought, Ivan came to see him.
“I’m going to put you on something to fight an infection.” He asked if his wound was infected. “It is. I think that when you were shot, some of the dirt from the ground came up and got into your skin. I’m worried about you.”
“I’m worried about me. Even just lying here, I’m dizzy. That’s not right.” Ivan told him that he’d take care of him. “I know you will, but I have things that I want to do, and lying here on this bed isn’t getting them done. And I miss going to the office if you can believe that.”
“I believe you. I took three days off last week to move some furniture around with Sen, and at the end of the three days, I was ready to beg her to allow me to go back to work. I think I was more exhausted working around the house than I was working a full week at my job.” He asked how Sen was liking her job.
“She seems to be enjoying herself a great deal. Just yesterday, she signed up a larger retail store to sell their furniture. It was one that Howard couldn’t get to sign on at all. She feels pretty good about that.”
“I bet she does.” When the meds were hooked up to the IV he had in, he watched it drip into his arm for a few minutes before Ivan spoke again.
“At the end of the year that she’s going to be working for her father’s company, she thinks she might stay on.
I want her to do whatever makes her happy, but I miss her working longer hours. ”
“I don’t know what I’d do if Lisa didn’t pop in to see me all the time.
Sometimes when I’m feeling a little down about having to be in bed, she’ll come in and hold my hand, and I’ll feel better.
Is that what you mean?” Ivan told him that it was more than that, but holding hands was nice.
“I’ll say. It’s like a calmness falls over me that makes even this tolerable.
I’m not used to being down with something. ”
“You were like that as a kid, too. Never one to make a cold put you out of commission for a while.” He smiled, and Devlin asked him what he was remembering.
“One of the few times I remember Grandma Frazier coming to town and watching us. We had hot pizza from the store that had been made just for us and soda pops. It was a rare treat and one that kept me in good memories for a long time. You must have been about two or something like that.”
“I don’t remember.” He was glad that he didn’t remember his younger childhood days.
His parents had beaten them daily when they remembered they had them.
There were days when they’d tie them to the tree in the back yard and didn’t give them any water or food for days on end.
That’s the memories that he had. Plus, the big one where they ended up getting nearly killed when they had a plan.
Their parents had got it into their heads that they were going to kill Lica or send him to prison by beating up on them.
The plan had been perfect, too, if not for the Alpha coming around when he did; they might well have all ended up in prison.
But Mom had shot Dad in the gut, and he died, and Mom had ended up in prison because she’d been the one who murdered him.
He might not have as many memories as his brothers had, being the youngest, but his were just as deadly and dangerous.
If they ever found out that they could all shift, it would have been another nightmare to add to their list of things that he’d had them do in the name of getting money when he wanted it.
After Ivan left him, he read some more of the book he’d gotten from Guy.
It was a thriller that he loved, and when he had to put it down when dinner was called, he wanted to read instead of eating.
However, he did have a better appetite than he had before, and that made him feel better.
Maybe the infection was being taken care of now that he was on something to combat it.
Lisa came to his room after dinner and got into the chair. She’d been sleeping there every night since he’d gotten shot, and tonight was going to be different. He asked her to please get into the bed with him so that he could hold her.
“I’ll behave myself. I just want to hold you so that I can sleep better.
Knowing that you’ve been sleeping in that chair makes me want to pick you up and carry you to the bed.
While I know I’m not strong enough to do that, I just want to hold you.
” She asked him if he’d really behave. “Yes. I feel better tonight. The stuff that Ivan gave me made me feel good, but I’m not going to mess that up by being all macho and making myself feel worse than I did before.
I want to get better, not feel like this again. ”
“All right, but there will be no hanky panky. For as much as I want you, I’ll not have you feeling worse simply because I’m right here with you.” He said that he understood. “Good. I wasn’t sleeping all that well in that chair anyway. I’ll be glad to have a nice firm bed beneath me.”
Once they were situated in the big bed, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. The feeling of having her there made him feel like he could conquer the world, but he had made a promise. Tonight he was going to sleep good and with his mate. That’s all he needed.