Chapter 30 – Hawk
Chapter Thirty
Hawk
“Keep an eye on both of them,” Moretti says to me, palming the flash drive he got from Magnum.
“I’m going out. I need to get these to my tech team, and someone needs to ensure he doesn’t throw a blood clot.
” He strides toward the door without a backward glance, and I frown.
“I would avoid any sexual contact for a few days, at least if you value your boyfriend’s life. ”
“He’s such a dick,” Magnum mutters. “Sex is totally on the table come tomorrow.”
“Is that something we need to watch out for? Blood clots? How do we even keep an eye out for that?” Vanessa asks, blinking repeatedly. “Where the hell is the doctor? I need to talk to him.”
“He’s who I was speaking to in the kitchen while you and Moretti were arguing,” I say, wondering if I’m about to get yelled at.
She was kinda hysterical, and Emory had zero patience, telling her to stay with me while he checked on Magnum.
I believe Moretti wanted to verify that Magnum wasn’t in rough shape before letting Vanessa see him. I could see both sides, so I let them fight it out while I got a play-by-play of Magnum’s recovery care instructions.
“I’m going to catch him before he can leave.” Vanessa takes off toward the doorway. “I need to know what to do to make sure he’s okay. Emory, get the doctor back here if he’s already left.”
Magnum smiles, but as soon as she’s out the door, his face twists into a grimace, and he pulls his hand to his injured shoulder.
“Need help?” I ask, shoving off the wall.
He frowns. “I think the meds are wearing off, but I’ll be fine.”
“Gonzalez left pain meds and an antibiotic to get you through until he comes back to check on you,” I tell him, crossing the room. “You’ll probably want to wait until the next dose kicks in, but when it does, we need to get you changed and clean off all the dried blood.”
“The metallic smell is pretty bad,” he says, shaking his head. “Man, today sucks. I hate being a burden.”
I grunt in agreement.
No one wants to feel like they’re dragging everyone else down, but the first week is always the worst.
“Healing from a gunshot wound is never fun, but you got lucky.”
“That I did,” he agrees solemnly.
“And look at the bright side, Vanessa can give you a sponge bath,” I say, chuckling.
He snorts, and his hand flies to his shoulder. “Aww, fuck. Don’t make me laugh.”
Magnum is in a fair amount of pain once the IV medication wears off, but he gets a few hours of sleep at a time.
Vanessa is restless, tossing and turning all damn night as she sleeps between us in the pack bed.
She doesn’t have any additional heat spikes, which breaks the record of it happening nightly. I have no proof, but if I had to guess, I’d say her system is too anxious to allow that particular bodily function.
She keeps a notepad on the bedside table that lists the time and which medication was given.
Once the sun comes up, Magnum finally falls into a deep sleep. Trying to get Vanessa to come down and have some breakfast with me leads to a quiet argument that makes me rethink Moretti’s approach to dealing with her.
She needs to take care of herself so she can take care of Magnum.
It’s that simple.
She’s not pleased as I scoop her out of bed and stride out of the pack bedroom, though she waits until we’re in the sitting room to struggle in my hold, likely to avoid waking him.
“I can’t leave him,” she hisses, smacking my shoulder. “I’m not even hungry.”
“You need to eat. That way you have the strength to look after him,” I say, tilting my face down to hers.
“Okay.” She nods, bringing her hand to run her fingers through my beard. “I’ll stay with him. You go down and bring us up a tray. That’s a good compromise.”
I chuckle, shaking my head. “He’ll be fine for half an hour while we eat at the table like civilized human beings.”
If he ever came home last night, Moretti left again by the time we make it down for breakfast.
He doesn’t return by dinner. Vanessa is clearly concerned, and I agree. An update would be nice, but he isn’t answering my texts. That leads me to believe that Magnum found something important in Grigoryan’s office.
After dinner, the three of us head back to the pack bedroom, and Magnum gets his next dose of pain meds. He came down to eat with us, and although he’s hurting, he seems to be doing better.
Dr. Gonzalez mentioned it was good for him to get up and move around for short bursts of time.
Once we make it back to the pack bedroom, Magnum lingers near the edge of the bed. He sniff tests his armpit and frowns.
“Fuck. I’m ripe. God, I can’t believe you guys didn’t say anything,” he says, looking at me. “Would you mind swapping my bandage over to one of the waterproof ones? I need a shower.”
“I’m happy to.” I nod toward the hallway to the bathroom. “You want to do that now?”
“Want might be a stretch, but I need to,” he says, taking off.
Vanessa shoves herself off the bed.
She must be coming too.
Magnum’s wound looks good, at least from what I can tell. The waterproof dressing sticks in place without any trouble, and I nod toward the shower.
“You should be good,” I say, gathering up the trash. “Give me just a second, and I’ll get out of your way.”
“I’m probably not strong enough to actually catch him.” Vanessa huffs, planting her hands on her hips. “But either you stay in here to make sure he doesn’t slip and fall, or I will.”
“I’ll be fine,” Magnum assures her.
Vanessa’s lip wobbles, and her damn eyes somehow plead with me to stay without any extra words spilling from her lips.
Seeing her sweet-talk Moretti into letting her keep Magnum blew my mind. I couldn’t figure out what angle he was playing by not killing the former biker. At first, I assumed he wanted to use Magnum’s skills as a thief, but now I’m wondering if he’s just as whipped as I clearly am.
That fucking wobbly lip.
How could I ever tell her no to anything?
“Fine, but once he’s done, you’re taking a bath and actually relaxing,” I negotiate as I toss the used bandages.
“Okay,” Vanessa agrees. “But only once he’s settled into bed.” She spins around, heading toward the doorway. “I’m going to call my husband. He’s been gone all day, and I swear it’s giving me an ulcer. Why are all of you so opposed to staying in the nest twenty-four seven? At least it’s safe!”
I snort, shaking my head as the water in the shower turns on.
I lean against the counter, crossing my arms over my chest. “Don’t go too crazy with the hot water, I’ve heard it can worsen your symptoms if you do have a concussion.”
According to Vanessa, Dr. Gonzalez made it seem obvious that Magnum has a mild concussion. He didn’t mention that part to me, but based on what she said, the doc wasn’t too concerned. She has, of course, been watching Magnum closely for any of the symptoms the doctor warned her to look out for.
He’s young and healthy.
I’m sure he’ll be fine, but I’ve apparently taken over Vanessa’s mother-hen role. It reminds me to head over and start the tub. This house has multiple tankless hot water heaters, so I’m not risking leaving Magnum without any hot water.
“So…” he calls out from the shower. “How are things with you and Vanessa? She smelled like a combination of you and Moretti last night. She didn’t shower when she got home, and she’s barely let me out of her sight all day.” He chuckles. “She probably does need a cleanup.”
I grunt, checking the bottles around the tub.
There’s a basket of bath bombs, but upon smelling them, I decide to skip it. If Vanessa wants something fragrant, she can pick one for herself.
“You really think he’s going to share once he bites her?” Magnum asks.
Hell if I know, but he can’t do much to stop it if one of us claims her first. It’s going to be a pain in the ass dealing with Moretti as a packmate—he sucks at sharing.
It gives me a small amount of hope that Emory managed to share in his office. He might not like it, but just like me and Magnum, he’ll figure it out if he wants to keep Vanessa happy.
Magnum’s shower goes off without incident, and I tape him into dry bandages.
“All right.” I hold out a hand, helping him off the bench that sits in front of the vanity. Once he’s upright, I grab his sweats and nod at his towel. “You good to get into these yourself?”
“Yeah, definitely.” He drops his towel, grabs the sweats, and promptly stumbles forward as he bends down to get into them.
I sigh, wrapping an arm around his back. “No face-planting on my watch.”
“The meds help, but damn, they make me loopy,” he mutters, finally getting both feet into his pant legs. He pulls them up, and I step back.
That’s about the extent of the level of help I would be comfortable accepting in his position, so I don’t push when he takes off toward the door without assistance.
“Thanks, Hawk,” he says, looking back over his shoulder from the doorway. “Never get shot. I’d try, but I’m not sure I could do the same for you.”
I chuckle. “Send Vanessa in.”
“You got it.”
Vanessa makes her way into the bathroom.
“It’s ready and waiting for you.” I nod at the tub. “You deserve a solid soak.”
Vanessa doesn’t fight as I help her out of her clothes, but it’s an entirely different form of torture watching her nude body just under the surface of the water as she gets settled in.
She rests her head back against the cushioned pillow, and her eyes fall shut. Watching over her while she gets some much-needed relaxation fills my chest with pride.
On the other hand, my dick acts like she’s naked just for our enjoyment. I normally have much better control over my physical reactions, but sexy little replays of last night filter through my mind.
Yeah, it’s probably about time I bite her. That way Moretti won’t have any delusions that he can keep her to himself.