31. Carson James
31
CARSON JAMES
B lood pooled on the storeroom floor as Lennon lay in my arms, gasping and groaning. The flurry of bodies swarming around blurred into a mass as people shouted orders and called 911.
So much blood.
“What the hell happened?” Nate roared as he barreled into the doorway. He stopped dead in his tracks, saw Lennon and Julian, and shoved a hand back through his hair. “Oh my God.”
He bolted over and dropped to his knees.
Whether it was shock or sheer stupidity, all I could grit out was, “What are you doing here?”
Nate looked up at me like I was an idiot. “I know what gunshots sound like, and that I shouldn’t be hearing them while I’m out for a run. Has someone called 911?”
I nodded.
“Okay. You’re doing good. What’d the operator say?”
“Helicopter,” slipped out of my mouth in a rasp.
Nate glanced over his shoulder and shouted, “Get me a fucking first aid kit!” He turned back to me. “Who’s the other guy?”
“Cook,” I said as Lennon’s eyes fluttered shut again. “He attacked her. Long story.”
“She’s gonna live to tell it to me, so I need you to hold it together. Copy?”
I nodded.
Nate grabbed a first aid kit and rummaged through it. He pulled out a small roll of gauze and packaged wound dressings. “Don’t take the knife out. Hold it steady.”
There was a fucking knife in Lennon’s chest, and I couldn’t do a damn thing but sit there and hold her, biting back tears.
Lennon whimpered as I kept the knife from moving while Nate wrapped gauze around the puncture to stem the leaking blood flow.
“You with me, slugger?” I bent and pressed a kiss to her clammy forehead.
“Hurts,” she cried. “Can’t . . . breathe.”
“It probably collapsed her lung,” Nate said. He pressed his palm on the right side of her sternum, around the knife’s tip. “Help her sit up.”
Lennon gasped, letting out a desperate cry as I eased her upright. “It hurts—hurts!”
“I know, sweetheart,” he soothed. “Try to stay awake. Sitting up will help you breathe until the helo gets here.”
Nate had spent his entire military career in and out of war zones, but he didn’t talk about it much. I knew he had some training in combat medicine, but I had never seen him in action.
All my resentments and grudges vanished as he coached us through the minutes it took for the helicopter to land. After what felt like an eternity, the flight nurses rushed into the restaurant and found us.
Cops swarmed the property as the medevac crew loaded Lennon onto a stretcher and pushed her into the back of a helicopter.
“Let’s go,” Nate said when the rotors started spinning. He clapped his hand on my shoulder, practically hauling me to his truck.
I tripped over my own feet as we crossed the grass. The bunkhouse shimmered through waves of tears. “I should—I should get?—”
“She doesn’t need stuff,” Nate said. “The hospital will take care of that. But she needs you to be there as soon as she opens her eyes.”
“Okay.”
We didn’t speak on the way to the hospital. Nate gripped the wheel in silence and sped twenty over the limit for the entire drive. The world on the other side of the windows became a blur.
What if she didn’t wake up? Why had I walked away to fix that damn piece of equipment? Why didn’t I check on her sooner?
Why did I leave her in the room with him?
“Get your head right,” Nate said as he came to a screeching halt in a parking space. “I know where you’re at. Trust me—I’ve been there. If you let yourself go down the rabbit hole of all the things that could have prevented it, you’ll never climb out of it. Sometimes you get to cut the fire line to stop the blaze, and sometimes you have to walk through it to get out of the heat. Today you have to walk, because your girl is counting on you to carry her through it. So pull up your boots and get going.”
The doors of the Baylor emergency department slid back, and a blast of frigid, recycled air rushed out.
“Lennon Maddox. She came in on a helicopter. I’m her?—”
“Fiancé,” the nurse behind the desk supplied as her fingers flew over the computer keys. “They told us you were coming.”
It must have been a slip of the tongue, but I didn’t care.
“She just went into surgery. Someone will call you when we have an update.”
Nate had to physically pull me away from the desk and shove me down into a vinyl chair.
I braced my arms on my knees and dropped my head into my hands. “Thank you,” I croaked as I cupped my palms over my mouth. The world hadn’t stopped spinning, and I wasn’t sure it would until I had Lennon back.
“It’s gonna be alright,” he said as he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into a hug.
For the first time in a long time, it felt like I had my brother back. Now I needed my girl.
The door opened, and Ray wheeled in with Christian beside him. “How is she?” Ray asked when he spotted us.
“Just went into surgery,” Nate said when I couldn’t find the words. “It could be a while.”
Ray parked his chair in front of us, and Christian pulled a seat over to complete the circle.
“Cass is handling things at the ranch. Brooke is helping her and watching all the kids. Becks and Momma are getting some stuff together for you and Lennon.”
“I don’t need anything,” I said as I stared at the floor.
Ray looked around. “You’ll be here a couple of days at least. Maybe more.”
I sighed and raked my hands through my hair. “I have so much shit to do...”
Christian put his hand on my back. “All you have to do right now is be there for Lennon. Everything else is taken care of. I’ll jump in and work with your guys like the old days. Cass said DeRossi and his wife, Maddie, are already on a plane to cover for Lennon.”
I didn’t know what to say because every version of “thank you” was wholly inadequate.
My brothers sat with me as the hands of the clock went around and around and around. My parents and Becks joined the cluster of chairs soon after, expanding the circle.
“Thanks for coming,” I said like some kind of morose party host.
Mom reached across and squeezed my knee. “We’d do the same if it were one of you. You know that. She’s ours as much as you are.”
“Carson Griffith?”
I whipped around at the sound of the man’s voice and nearly knocked my chair over with how fast I stood.
Nate gave me a little push. “Go get your girl. We’ll be here.”
I grabbed the bag that someone had thrown together for me and followed the nurse. He escorted me back through the maze of hospital corridors, and handed me off to a woman in green scrubs.
“Lennon is out of surgery,” she said as we stood outside of a closed door. “The knife went through the space between her ribs over her lung and punctured it. Her care team and I decided that surgery would provide the best outcome. She’s stable and improving. We’ll probably keep her in the hospital for a few days so we can monitor her recovery.” The surgeon cracked a smile. “For right now, I think she’s ready to see you. She never stopped talking about her fiancé while she hung out in the PACU.”
“Thank you,” I said as I opened the door and slipped inside without asking for permission.
Lennon was resting upright in the bed. Her hospital gown was half-open, revealing bandages wrapped tightly around her chest. A tube snaked out of her body and down the side of the bed. IV lines and monitors dotted the rest of her body.
She peered at me through heavy eyes as the clomp of my boots echoed in the pristine room.
“They gave me drugs.” A lazy smile painted her face as she closed her eyes. “They’re really good. I think I told them we’re getting married.”
I chuckled as part of the knot inside my gut loosened. “I’m glad you’re feeling good.”
“Did you bring my jacket?” she asked through labored breaths. “It’s cold.”
I reached into our bag and pulled out my ranch jacket. “Momma and Becks threw it in here for you.” I opened it up and draped it over her lap like a blanket. “Better?”
“Mhmm.”
“What do you need?” I asked as I pulled a chair up to her bedside and wrapped her hand in mine. “Say it and it’s yours.”
“Marry me?” she mumbled as her head lulled to the side again.
I leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’m planning on it.”
“Mmmkay,” she said in a labored breath. “’Cause I think I love you.”
Time was a myth in hospitals. There was no distinction between day and night. The fluorescent lights and relentless interruptions had completely fucked up my circadian rhythm.
It had only been three days, and I was about to start climbing the walls.
Lennon yawned as she rolled her head across the back of the bed and looked at me. “Hi.”
I offered a weary smile. “Hey, trouble.”
“You’re still here?” She tried to shift to a more comfortable spot, but froze and groaned. “Everything hurts.”
“I’m still here,” I said softly as I readjusted her pillows. “Told you I wasn’t going anywhere.”
She stared at the wall in front of her and gave a vacant nod. “Sorry. I’ve been kinda out of it.”
I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Rest. That’s all you have to do right now.”
“I’m so tired of resting,” she grumbled. “There’s shit to do.”
Lennon was perfect. A work-hard, play-hard force of nature. They say opposites attract, but I wasn’t so sure about that. Lennon and I were more similar than I ever would have guessed.
“Everyone’s covering for us. Chef DeRossi was here a little bit ago.” I pointed to the flowers that were in a vase sitting on the windowsill. “He brought those and lunch from the restaurant for all the nurses on the floor.” I pointed to the takeout containers on the rolling table. “And for us.”
Something sad crossed her face, like clouds eclipsing the sun. “I’m so getting fired.”
“No, you’re not,” I said as I settled onto the bed, carefully draping my arm around her. “You know why?”
Lennon tucked her head into the crook of my arm.
“Because when you’re part of the Griffith family, you can’t get fired by someone outside of it.”
Cops and a few FBI agents had been in and out of the hospital room today. They were trying to sort out jurisdiction and what the hell had happened.
All I cared about was the fact that Julian was dead.
Even though the restaurant’s security cameras recorded our—uh—tryst, we still had to recount everything to ensure it all added up. I’d probably never live that blowjob down.
A knock on the door startled us both.
“Hi, Lennon,” the surgeon said as she slipped inside. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I got stabbed in the chest and then ripped open in the OR, and then someone stuck a tube inside me.”
The surgeon hid a laugh behind a professional smile. “We’re trying to lower your meds today to see if we can get you out of here. How does that sound?”
Lennon closed her eyes. “Awful, but I’ll take it.”
“You’ll have some outpatient appointments to remove your chest tube and keep an eye on things.” She looked at me. “Can Mr. Lennon drive you to those?”
“I’ve got it covered,” I said.
Lennon glanced over at me. “You need to go back to work.”
As much as I missed the peace and stability of my routine, I wasn’t leaving her side until she could come home with me.
“What’s home like?” the surgeon asked. “Stairs are not a good idea. We want you to rest as much as possible.”
“I can sleep on the couch downstairs,” Lennon said as she glanced up at me.
I shook my head. “I’ll make arrangements. Don’t worry about it.”
“Babe,” Lennon grumbled.
I didn’t care that she was mad that I was handling things without her input. She called me “babe.” That little bit of affection from her made me stand that much taller.
“Good. We’ll continue to monitor things for the next twelve hours or so, and then revisit this conversation.” The surgeon backed toward the door. “I’ll let you rest. Don’t be afraid to hit the call button if you need something.”
“Thanks,” I said as she slipped out the door.
“I can sleep on the couch,” Lennon argued. “If it gets me out of here, I don’t give a shit.”
“Trust me?” It was both a question and a request.
Lennon tucked her head into my chest and tried to get a little more comfortable. “With my life.”
Another knock at the door had us both annoyed.
“What?” I snapped as it opened.
Ray wheeled in, and I was a little bit confused.
“What are you doing here?”
The door opened again, and another wheelchair poked through. Brooke was wearing a hospital gown that matched Lennon’s. She was being pushed by a nurse because she was holding a baby.
“Holy shit,” I muttered as I sat up straight.
Lennon’s eyes widened as she grabbed my arm for help sitting up.
Ray was smiling from ear to ear. I had never seen him so happy. “Thought we’d come down and see you guys before we get settled in a room.”
Brooke looked exhausted but happy as she cuddled the little bundle in her arms.
“Oh, that baby is fresh fresh,” Lennon said with a mix of shock and awe.
“Why didn’t you tell us Brooke was in labor?” I asked as Ray came around to my side of the bed.
He shrugged. “It happened pretty fast.”
The nurse pushing Brooke’s wheelchair parked it beside Lennon.
Brooke tilted her arms, showing off the little baby. “Want to meet your niece? This is Olivia.”
Olivia had little brown curls just like Brooke, but her features were all Griffith.
“You can hold her if you want,” Brooke said.
Lennon reared back. “I’ve never held a baby.”
“It’s easy,” I reassured her as I reached out and carefully scooped Olivia out of Brooke’s arms.
I could feel Ray breathing down my neck as I brought the baby to my chest and settled back beside Lennon.
Olivia let out a displeased grunt as she was jostled around, but she quickly went to sleep.
“Hey, girlie,” I soothed as I cradled her in the crook of my arm. “I’m your Uncle CJ. This is your Aunt Lennon.”
Lennon looked at me with wide eyes as I eased the baby into her arms, careful of the IV lines still taped to her hands and arm. “Is it okay if I hold her, or would you prefer I don’t?”
Brooke’s eyes were kind. “Hold her if you feel up to it. It won’t offend me if you don’t. I know you’re hurting, too.”
Watching Lennon hold little Olivia did something funny inside me. She looked absolutely stunning like this.
The black and white strands of her hair blended into a silver braid. Shadows and light. She embodied both beautifully. Ash coated what flames couldn’t take down.
“Oh, you’re very snuggly,” Lennon said with lifted brows.
Olivia squirmed and started to cry.
“Shit,” Lennon muttered in a panic. “I fucked it up. Someone fix it.”
Ray chuckled as I passed Olivia back to Brooke. “Don’t worry. She did that to me too. Apparently, my little princess was rather unhappy with her surprise birthday party today.”
“Hope you feel better,” Brooke said as the nurse carefully pulled the wheelchair away from the bed. “When do you think you’ll get to go home?”
“Hopefully tomorrow,” Lennon said. “Fingers crossed. I’m ready to go back to the ranch.”
“Maybe we’ll go home together,” Brooke said with a smile. “And the boys can wait on us hand and foot.”
Lennon let out a soft laugh, then pressed her hand to her chest when it started to hurt. “Congratulations.”
“You know what I think?” I said when the door closed, and everything grew quiet.
Lennon leaned into me again. “Hm?”
“We should finally name that little bottle-fed calf.”
Her expression was curious. “I thought we didn’t name the cows?”
“I think we should name yours.” I laced my fingers with hers. “There’s always an exception, right? Just like I said you’d never have my last name?” I tipped her chin up and kissed her. “You’re my exception.”