Thirty-Four
Hale
I lay there, studying her inky-black hair spread over the pillow as she slept for far too long. I needed to get up and go take a piss, but when I’d opened my eyes, that was my view, and, well, I’d not wanted to move.
She’d fallen asleep during the third episode last night, and I’d covered her up, taken my pain meds, and turned off the lights, then reached for her leg to pull over mine, thinking if she tried to leave the bed, it would wake me up.
A grin tugged at the corner of my mouth as I thought about her reaction when she’d woken up to find us like this a few hours ago.
It had still been dark out, but I was close enough to watch her facial expression from beneath my lashes.
Those eyes of hers had gone so fucking wide that it was hard not to laugh.
Burl deserved extra for this one. I’d not slept so damn good in years. That was saying something because my shoulder hurt like a bitch.
I winced, moving slightly to ease her leg off me. No reason to wake her up. I could go to the toilet alone and take the pill to ease the pain.
Biting back the string of curses as I rolled over and managed to get to a sitting position, I glanced over at my phone to see three texts from Linc.
Fuck. I stared at it for a moment, not sure I wanted to read them.
What if it was about Bay? Time for her to go back home?
No, I wasn’t ready for that. I needed her here while I was recovering.
I’d been fucking shot—didn’t he realize that?
With my teeth clenched so tightly that I could hear my molars grinding, I picked up the cell and slid my finger over the screen. Dread tightened my chest, making my already-painful wound ache more.
Linc: All’s been checked out. I’ll send Ransom to come get Bay tomorrow and escort her home.
No. No, he wouldn’t. I needed her here. When I was ready to take her back, I would do it.
Linc: Why did you have Burl tell her she had to sleep in your bed?
Seems Doc can’t keep his mouth shut. Never mind that raise, I thought bitterly.
Linc: When you wake up, call me.
I set the phone down, not responding to him.
I’d call him after I sent her down to get our breakfast. Explain that she was staying a little longer.
Not forever, but until I had my fill. I was fucking injured, and she made it less annoying.
No reason I shouldn’t have some entertainment and company while I recovered.
Slowly, I stood up, wishing I’d taken the pain meds first. Or maybe had a couple of shots of whiskey. Fucking hell, this hurt. Once I was upright, I grabbed the bottle of pills and tossed one back before heading to the bathroom.
If the son of a bitch who had shot me wasn’t dead, I’d go do it myself when I was better.
It had been decades since I’d been shot.
I had forgotten how bad this hurt. At least, this time, the bullet had gone straight through, and I’d not had to be put under for surgery while Burl removed it and did internal stitching up.
I should be grateful it had been an easier fix.
The walk to the toilet took entirely too much energy. I was feeling all of fifty fucking years old right now.
“Do you need help?” Bay asked in a raspy voice.
Just the sound of her sleepy tone made me grin.
“Not unless you just wanna watch?” I replied.
No response. I couldn’t glance back at her because looking over my shoulder wasn’t possible at the moment. My pain tolerance was high, but I was pushing it.
“I, uh, I’ll just stand out here in case you need me,” she finally said.
I hadn’t closed the door behind me, which would have probably been the polite thing to do, but I wasn’t polite, and, hell, she’d seen me piss yesterday.
No reason for her to get all shy about it now.
Although I’d be lying if I said I thought her awkwardness about things like this wasn’t fucking cute.
Holding back the groan of relief for her sake, I did my business, then tugged my sweatpants back up with my good arm before flushing and turning back to see her standing at the doorway, not looking this way, but into the bedroom.
Her bottom lip was between her teeth as she appeared to be in deep thought about something.
Not wanting to hobble around in front of her, I stood straighter and did my damnedest not to look like an old, wounded man. “Didn’t mean to wake you up,” I told her as I made my way toward her. “You can go back to bed.”
She hesitated, as if not sure it was safe to look this way yet before glancing at me, then appearing relieved that I wasn’t at the toilet. “I’m, uh…you didn’t. I just woke up. Do you need me to get your pain medicine?” she asked with her brows puckered in concern.
Apparently, I wasn’t hiding my pain as well as I’d thought.
“Already took it,” I told her. “But I could use some coffee if you really want to do something.”
“Okay. What about breakfast?”
I wasn’t hungry yet, but that would keep her busy long enough for me to call Linc.
“Yeah, sounds good.”
“Um, Slash is still with Than,” she said. “Does he have his food there?” she asked, looking concerned.
I’d told Than to keep Slash for me, not wanting to give Bay anything more to do. He’d taken all the meals Slash would need, along with one of his dog beds, while she took a shower yesterday.
“He’s got all he needs there,” I told her.
Her cheeks pinkened. Why was she blushing? I liked it, but I didn’t know what it was that had caused it.
“I won’t be long,” she told me, then began to make her way to the exit, as if she couldn’t get out of here fast enough.
“Take your time,” I told her.
I wasn’t sure how long this call with Linc would take, and I didn’t want her hearing any of it.
Just because I was enjoying her company didn’t mean she wouldn’t want to leave me the moment she was free to do so.
I had to fix that. But how? I’d never had to do that before. Get a woman to want to stay with me.
Once I heard her footsteps fade, I snatched my phone up and hit Linc’s number, not wasting time.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he asked when he answered.
“You need to be more specific,” I replied, sitting back down on the edge of the bed.
“You know what I am asking. Are you fucking her?”
My back went rigid, and I inhaled sharply. “No,” I bit out.
“Why did you have her in your bed last night? She needs to go back to her apartment and life today. We are done with her. Ransom will give her instr—”
“No,” I cut him off. “She’s not going anywhere yet. I need her here while I’m recovering.”
“Burl has vetted nurses he can assign to you for that.”
“I don’t want his goddamn nurses. I want Bay.”
“This isn’t like you.”
Yeah, no fucking shit. I was working through it too.
“I like her company. Most women annoy me. A nurse will get on my nerves. She doesn’t. When I am ready, I will take her back home. I’ll be the one to go over the rules to her freedom, like her not talking about any of this or us.”
Linc sighed. “We’ve covered things up so no one will come looking for her, but that’s a temporary thing. It won’t hold out for much longer. You can’t just keep her, Hale.”
“I don’t want to keep her. Just need her help while I’m getting better. Then I will be the one to return her.” And possibly put a camera or two in her apartment just so I could make sure she was safe. I wasn’t going to dig into that too deeply either.
“Fine, but a week, tops,” Linc replied. “We both know that’s more than enough time.”
A week. Sure. That was plenty of time. I’d be more than ready to take her back by then.