Chapter 16
brOCK
A chopper ride to the base turned into a quick visit to the base hospital, another chopper ride, and then a flight to the hospital in Germany. I’d thought for damn sure I’d be forced to stay in Afghanistan, but Mercer had laughed and said I was on leave and could go wherever the fuck I wanted.
We arrived in Germany after the sun came up. They quickly transferred Adam to Landstuhl. The nursing staff and doctors rushed Adam into an exam room. Then did the same for me, despite my protests.
“Let’s go, Chief.”
I turned toward the voice. I recognized the nurse’s face, but I didn’t remember her name.
“Go where?” I asked.
“To get checked out,” the nurse said.
I stared at her in confusion. I glanced at her name tag. Ursula.
“Ursula, I don’t need to be checked out. They just sent me with the senior chief.”
“I’ve worked here long enough to know you team guys are always banged up. So, let’s get you checked out.” She shuffled me into an exam room.
I got checked out, and the nurse and doctors reminded me I had a knee that needed some love. I nodded, giving them the same song and dance, then asked about Adam.
“Where’s Senior Chief DuBois?”
The nurse said she would send in Adam’s doctor. I knew a stall tactic when I saw one.
“How about you take me to him?”
She sighed, but did as I suggested. When I got to Adam’s room, his doctor was waiting at the door for me.
“Chief Jones?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yes, sir.”
He crossed his arms. “I’m Dr. Ott. Your buddy is in a bad way. Can you tell me what happened to him?”
I stared at the guy. He knew better.
“How is he?”
Dr. Ott sighed. “Well, you already know he’s in bad shape.
He’s severely dehydrated, which may be the cause of the cardiac issues, but what’s really concerning me is the infection.
He’s septic. He was shot in the side and outer thigh.
Both rounds missed anything vital, but wherever he was after being shot was not a good environment.
The wounds would have been cleaner if he’d been living in a pigsty. ”
“So, he’s septic. What’s the prognosis?” I asked.
Septic was fucking bad, but it could be dealt with.
Dr. Ott groaned under his breath. “Septic shock is a concern, and until I see some improvement in his condition, I’m listing his condition as critical, but stable.”
“Can I see him?”
He shook his head. “You might as well. You team guys are all the same. I won’t be able to keep you out anyway.”
I pushed into Adam’s room and came to a stop at the foot of his bed. He’d been cleaned up and dressed in a hospital gown. I don’t know how I’d missed it, but he was so thin compared to his typical fighting weight.
I pulled a chair up next to Adam’s bed, placing myself between him and the door. I angled the chair, so it was close enough that I could prop my feet up but still watch the door and reach out to him.
The doc hadn’t said as much, but looking at the shit they had running through the IV, Adam was going to be out of action for a bit. Which was good. He needed the fucking rest.
I texted Foster.
Brock
The doctor said critical but stable.
Foster
Get some rest. We’re headed your way.
Sleep took me quickly. The dreams that plagued me woke me regularly. Visions of Adam dying in front of me, of the team not getting to him in time. I couldn’t decide what would have been worse. Him dying alone or watching him die.
After jumping out of my skin for the third or fourth time, I got up. I paced the room, tried reading a book, watching TV, but the only thing that kept me from losing my shit was standing at the end of the bed staring at Adam.
Relief and anxiety had me trembling. I folded my arms over my chest, leaning back against the wall, trying to relax, but it wasn’t working. I tucked my chin to my chest and squeezed my biceps as if that would keep me from rattling apart.
“You need to chill. I didn’t die.”
I scoffed, but didn’t look up at him. “I know you didn’t die, but it was damn close, and you’re still not out of the woods.”
“Yeah, the doc told me. Apparently, rolling around in your own piss and shit and puke isn’t all that great for gunshot wounds,” Adam said, downplaying the shit he’d gone through.
“Don’t do that.”
He cocked his brow at me. “Don’t do what?”
I walked to him. “Don’t downplay the shit that happened to you. You were betrayed by your own country. Left to fucking die.”
“I’m aware, Rocket, but I’m not ready to go back there, not even if it’s just in my head.” Adam sighed, groaning as he tried to raise his arms.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Adam’s body was shaking like a leaf. His face was etched with pain and suffering.
“What can I do?”
Adam closed his eyes, shutting me out. I knew he was trying to protect me, but I didn’t want him to shut me out. I’d spent weeks thinking and feeling as if I’d never see him again.
“You don’t have to do that.”
He gasped. “What?”
The agony in his voice was a kick to my junk. I hated when he was hurt or sad or upset in any way.
“Protect me. Shut me out.”
“I know, but I don’t want you to experience what I did. Not ever. I thanked God every day I was the one taken,” Adam whispered. His eyes were still closed, and he was pressing the pain pump.
I reached for his hand, closing mine over it. “Do you need me to speak to the nurses?”
He shook his head. Tears seeped out from under his lids, leaving trails down his face before disappearing into his beard.
I sat down next to him on the bed. “I’ll raid the pharmacy if you want.”
The corner of Adam’s mouth twitched, and he glanced up at me. His mouth opened. “Brock…”
The door opened, and a cacophony of voices invaded the space.
“How’s our returning hero?” Carson yelled as the team filed in.
Adam’s eyes flew open. His gaze darted from me and my hand holding his to the team and back.
I waited for the shove, knowing how much it would hurt to be pushed aside by Adam when all I wanted was to pull him close and wrap him up in my arms. I’d promised if I got him back, I’d take what he could give and live the rest of my life in the shadows.
When the rejection I was expecting didn’t happen, elation ballooned, but I shoved it down.
I wouldn’t make Adam feel bad for what he’d called self-preservation all those years ago.
When I looked at Adam, he was looking at me.
A smile hovered over his mouth as he turned to the guys. “Brock’s trying to keep me from decimating the pain pump. Other than that, I’m as good as can be expected.”
Adam still hadn’t pulled his hand away from mine or pushed me from the bed, and I didn’t know what the fuck to make of it.
Has he had a change of heart?
Adam continued talking with the guys, but he never once pushed me away or pulled away himself. It was a mindfuck. A good one. Any time Adam’s hands were on my body or even close to my body, my brain short-circuited. Add in how long it’d been, and I was fucking done for.
“Brock?”
“Huh?” I asked, yanked out of the rabbit hole of mindfuckery Adam had caused.
Foster and Finlay cracked the fuck up. They handed me a bag of cheeseburgers and fries. When I gawped at them like an imbecile, they shook their heads and turned to leave.
“We’ll leave you two to eat. Don’t let Nurse Ratchet know we smuggled those in for y’all. Oh, and one of us will be posted outside the door to make sure Adam’s not bothered unnecessarily.”
Adam somehow managed to groan through a gasp. I wasn’t much better.
Is Foster doing that to give us time alone? Or is there an issue?
When the door closed behind the team, Adam’s brows climbed his forehead. “Gimme the food, motherfucker. I’m malnourished.”