Chapter 18
BISHOP
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
The incessant noise cuts through the heavy, thick darkness I’m swimming in and slowly starts to draw me out of its depths. I groan and try to roll away from the sound, attempt to escape back to the soft, warm, floaty place where I’ve been, where nothing else existed.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
That goddamn incessant beeping…
The dark gray around the edges of my mind continues to eke away.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
I draw in a deep breath, about to yell at whoever the hell is making that racket, but as soon as the familiar smell I hate so much registers fully, I know where I am.
The hospital.
There is nothing else that smells like it.
Nothing I dislike as much as the scents that cling to everything here.
Why am I at the hospital again?
I search that grayness that coats all my memories, trying to find a reason, but all I find are strange flashes that make my heart lurch in my chest.
What is happening?
It takes far too long for my eyelids to comply with my attempt to open them, but when I do, Mom is staring back at me, her worried eyes wide, the lights of the room glowing behind her like a damn halo.
I wince at how bright they are, blinking groggily to try to clear the spots from my vision.
She releases a relieved breath, squeezing my hand while she swipes away a tear from her cheek with the other. “You’re awake.”
I nod, groaning as the pain hits me with the movement of my head, throbbing in my temples. Trying to roll toward her only earns me agony in every bone and muscle in my body.
Mom squeezes my hand again. “Don’t try to move too much.”
God…that hurts…
I reach up to rub my forehead, but the IV line stuck in my arm tugs at the skin, only causing even more discomfort. “What happened?”
Now that my vision is starting to clear more, I can see how red-rimmed her eyes are. She’s been crying—a lot. “You don’t remember?”
I close my eyes again, wracking my brain, trying to come up with the answer through a cloud of confusing, jumbled sounds and images that won’t align in any understandable order.
Meeting with everyone…
The phone call with Satriano…
Talking with Gage…
Morning at his place after being up all night…
Riding down in the elevator…
Arriving at the club…
Stepping into the parking lot on the way to lunch…
“Oh, God…” It hits me suddenly, the same way the blast did. Blindsided. Then blackness. “An explosion.”
I open my eyes and Mom nods.
“Yes. You’re going to be okay, though.” She presses her lips together, swallowing thickly to hide the emotion I can see in her gaze. “A severe concussion. You’ve been out for a while.”
“What’s a while?”
All sense of time is gone.
The memories still not lining up properly.
Like they got thrown in a blender and dumped into a glass and now I’m trying to pick out tiny pieces and arrange them back in an order that makes sense.
She glances over her shoulder to look at the clock on the wall, her lips twisting before her focus comes back to me. “Eight hours.”
What?
“Eight hours?”
My brain struggles to piece together everything, to process what she just told me and the bits of memory.
The bright sunlight…
Gage leaning against the SUV, talking to Luca…
Dad about to get into his car…
Savage, Gabe, Isaac, Coen, and Stone only a few feet away from us…
The world exploding in a crash of light and sound…
“Is-is everyone else okay?”
The way her brow furrows, I can tell that she doesn’t want to give me the truth. She wants to hold back, save me from the pain of whatever it is that’s too hard to say. “Mom? Is everyone okay?”
She swallows thickly, clutching my hand tightly.
“Savage has a few broken ribs and a wicked concussion like yours. He was unconscious for a while but woke up a bit ago. Gabe suffered some physical injuries and hasn’t woken up yet, but they’ve done an MRI and there seems to only be some mild brain bleeding they’re hoping will resolve itself on its own. ”
Oh, God…
“But Stone, Isaac, Coen, and Dad are all fine, just shaken up and sore.”
I release a relieved breath for them, but it catches in my chest thinking about Savage and Gabe. “Good. I mean…”
She smiles softly. “I know what you mean.”
Warm blue eyes flash through my head…
The affection in his voice when he calls me Hellcat…
“What about Gage?”
Mom glances back toward the hallway, then moves in closer, lowering her voice slightly.
“He hasn’t left your side since the moment they brought you in.
He wouldn’t let Nora or Pope examine him anywhere else.
” She offers me a knowing smile. “He’s been standing at the door like your own personal bodyguard even though he was thrown against one of the vehicles and is pretty banged up himself and should be resting.
When I’m not sitting here with you, he has been. ”
He hasn’t left your side…
My chest tightens, the ache there more intense, and the burn of tears that’s been threatening finally gets too hard to fight.
There’s a question in Mom’s gaze, but she doesn’t ask it.
Everyone knows there’s something going on between the two of us, yet she hasn’t probed, hasn’t pried. I know that’s hard for her, but she also understands it would be impossible for me to talk about it, even if she did ask.
It’s always been hard for me to discuss relationship stuff with anyone.
Especially her.
Maybe because I’ve never truly had one and that’s all she’s ever wanted for me.
“I’m going to go tell everyone you’re awake.”
She squeezes my hand, then pushes up out of the chair she was sitting in and disappears out the door I hadn’t even realized was open until now.
Gage’s tall, broad frame appears inside the jamb instantly, filling it as he steps in and nudges the door closed behind him. His intense blue gaze stays locked on me as he approaches and settles into the chair Mom just vacated with a wince he tries unsuccessfully to hide.
He runs his hand back through his disheveled hair, releasing a heavy sigh, and I can see from the bags under his eyes and the lines around his mouth, how worried he’s been. “I thought you’d never wake up.”
I force a smile, blinking away the moisture that wants to trickle down my face and give me away. “That would’ve been rather inconvenient.”
A half-grin pulls at his lips, but it looks as painful for him to do as it is for me to witness. “Yes, it would’ve been.”
He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and scrubs his hands over his face. Sheer exhaustion emanates off him along with a tense mix of emotions I can’t pinpoint.
“You’ve been here the whole time?”
Keeping his head down, he nods. “Yeah.”
I scan him over, searching for any signs of injury. Black stains on his shirt mix with red ones that must be blood, and my stomach twists violently. “You got checked out?”
Gage nods again, finally lifting his gaze to meet mine. “Your aunt insisted. I’m fine. You’re the one I’m worried about.”
“My mom said I’m okay.”
A muscle in his jaw tics, and he clenches his hands together in front of him. “I don’t call a severe concussion okay.”
“It could’ve been much worse.”
“You’re right.” He bobs his head again, and the intensity with which he assesses me tightens that vise around my chest. “It could’ve been.
And I’ve seen it. So many guys I served with ended up dead or with TBIs that fucked them up forever in all kinds of ways.
” He presses his lips together as if he’s biting back something else he wants to say and shakes his head.
“I don’t want that for you. You need to make sure you follow the doctor’s orders and take it easy. ”
I laugh, but then immediately regret it as every muscle in my body hurts and pain stabs at my temples. “Oh, shit.”
He shifts forward, reaching for me. “What?”
“Nothing.” I wave him off. “That just hurt more than I thought it would. I have a hard time taking it easy.”
“No shit.” There’s absolutely no humor in his voice, only a waver I’ve never heard before that belies how deeply concerned and shaken he really is. “That’s what I’m worried about, Hellcat.”
I shift in the bed, trying to get more comfortable which seems impossible, especially under his watchful eye. “I’m sure my brother and aunt, not to mention my mom and dad and everyone else, will do everything in their power to keep me from working too hard.”
His brow furrows as he leans in even closer, those warm blue eyes going absolutely icy cold. “Working too hard? You’re not going back to work, Bishop.”
I try to push myself up because I am not going to win this argument while lying prone in a hospital bed, but the slightest movement makes pain sear through my entire body and head. Wincing, I grit my teeth, never getting more than two inches off the shitty mattress.
Gage reaches out and gently presses on my shoulder, forcing me back down. “Exactly my point.”
“But with Gabe out of commission, I need to be there more than ever—”
“I’m going to help any way I can. Figure out what the fuck happened.”
“What did happen?” I close my eyes, trying to replay the events again, but they’re fragmented. Missing parts. “All I know is there was an explosion…”
Gage’s silence draws my lids open again, and the wary look he gives me makes my blood run cold. “Your mom didn’t tell you?”
I shake my head. “No…”
He sucks in a long breath, shoving his hands roughly through his hair.
“Gabe’s car exploded. You were thrown against your SUV with the force of the blast. I was unconscious for a few minutes, and when I came to, I found you crumpled on the pavement beside me and everyone else in various stages of injury strewn across the parking lot. ”
“What?”
His large hand comes to rest on my shoulder before I can try to get up again. “We don’t know what caused it…the police are still investigating obviously, but my bet would be an explosive device of some kind. This wasn’t an accident, Bishop.”
Not an accident…
It wasn’t an accident.
“Someone tried to kill Gabe?”
He nods. “Or all of you…”