Thirty-Four | Jo
Thirty-Four
Jo
I woke up to the sound of machines beeping as I looked around, noticing that I was in a hospital room. My arm hurt, and there was a new bandage that hadn’t been there before. I looked to the other side and found Dom sitting beside me.
I took a deep breath in, wincing when everything hurt. I had no idea what happened because the last thing I remembered was falling asleep on the couch and having the best nap of my life.
“Hey,” he said softly, scooting forward in his chair to see me.
I looked at him, noticing the tears in his eyes as he gently held my hand as if he needed confirmation that I was there.
“What happened?” I asked, my throat dry and sore, likely from being intubated.
“You... umm... well,” he stammered, blowing out a heavy breath as he shook his head. “You almost died, and we rushed you to the hospital where Dr. Foster did surgery to stop some internal bleeding.”
I nodded slowly as I squeezed his hand reassuringly.
“You scared the shit out of me,” he whispered, sniffling as he scrunched his nose. A single tear escaped and slid down his cheek, but he didn’t bother to wipe it away. “I thought I was going to lose you.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said quietly, trying to sit up so I could see him better. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I had no idea...”
“I know. It’s just that I really love you,” he said, his voice cracking as more tears fell.
“The thought of having to live without you nearly killed me, Jo. I can’t imagine a world without you in it.
I’ve been through some really hard shit and have experienced tremendous loss before, but fuck...
” He stopped and laughed for a second. “Losing you made me feel like I had nothing to live for.”
“Well, lucky for you, even God isn’t ready for my bullshit yet,” I teased, hoping to get a smile out of him.
He shook his head and stared at me in a way he had never looked at me before. Almost as if I were the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“I don’t ever want to be without you, baby,” he said softly. “Promise me that we’ll always be together.”
“I promise.” I smiled and squeezed his hand with as much strength as I could muster.
Before we could continue our conversation, there was a knock at the door, then it opened, and Dr. Foster walked in.
“Hey,” she said softly as she went to the sink and washed her hands. “How are you feeling?”
“I’ve been better,” I admitted.
“I can imagine.” She dried her hands and then stood beside me as she slowly lifted the sleeve of my hospital gown and looked at the bandage. “You gave us quite the scare.”
“So I heard. I’m sorry about that. I had no idea anything was wrong. I just felt tired and figured it was from the stress of everything that had happened. I never gave it a second thought that there could be hemorrhaging.”
“Neither did I. Next time we’ll be more thorough.”
“Next time?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “Just how many times do you plan on me getting shot?”
Dr. Foster shook her head and laughed, making the energy in the room lighter as it floated through the air.
“Well, I hope that you never get shot again. I meant in general when we’re seeing patients at the clinic. It’ll be something I’m more mindful of from now on,” she replied.
I nodded in agreement, then stopped when it hit me that I hadn’t seen Al’s body this morning when I woke up.
“Hey—what happened to your dad’s friend?” I asked, lowering my voice so no one would hear.
Dr. Foster’s face tightened as she fought the smirk that played across her face. When she spoke, her voice was lowered as well.
“Last I heard, he went out for a walk this morning, a few miles behind the cabin. There’s a cave he loves that is always filled with random wildlife, so who knows what he encountered this time.”
I nodded, reading between the lines to know that she meant that Axel and Dom had taken care of him while I was sleeping.
I leaned back against the pillow and didn’t allow myself to think about how hard that must have been to carry his body through the snow in the blistering cold.
I also didn’t allow myself to think too much about the cave or what lived in it, which now had a fresh meal waiting for it.