Chapter 6 #2
“I. Don’t. Want. Any. Drugs. You just want to jack up my bill.
Well, I have news for you, I’m not going to pay it.
” Something in her head made her sick, and she leaned over to puke.
She hoped that it would get all over the place, but nothing but bile was coming out.
It worried her too that it was streaked in red. “Why am I throwing up blood?”
“Your body is trying to tell you how much pain you’re in. And the tumor in your brain isn’t helping. Hasn’t the doctor talked to you about this?” She said that she’d never seen a doctor. “He’s been in here several times.”
“Well, he must have had the wrong god damned room. I’m not going to be put on hold just because he went to the wrong room.
Get him in here so that I know what’s wrong with me.
” But she knew. Sen had told her that she was dying.
Beth looked at the nurse as she was leaving.
“I want something for pain. And not anything that is going to knock me out either. You do that, and I’ll put you on my list of people to kill.
I’ve had it with people doping me up and acting like I’m dying.
And I want out of these restraints. They’re making it so that we can’t do anything, and that’s not right. ”
When she left, Beth tried to take inventory of her body.
She could move her legs, but they felt heavy.
Bending her knees felt like she was putting undue weight on them, and she didn’t understand why she couldn’t lift her hips.
They had weights on her; she just knew it, and they were making her weak.
The nurse came in with a tray and set it on her lap.
“Where is the furniture?” She said that this type of room didn’t have furniture. “Why not? It’s not like I’m going to be able to get to them the way you have me tied up. And don’t think that I didn’t notice that you’ve not untied me either.”
“You won’t be untied until the doctor says you’re fit to be let go.
” She felt the nurse do something with the IV that was in the crook of her elbow, and then the feeling of being lifted into the sunshine rolled over her.
“I’ve given you half a dose of medications. If you need more, then let me know.”
Closing her eyes, she let the pain just ride away. Everything in her body felt better, and she felt herself smile. She was feeling better, and if this was only half a dose, then she wanted the entire thing. This was the perfect solution to not being in pain.
When she woke up, she didn’t know where she was.
It was a room that she’d been in before, she thought, but didn’t know how she’d gotten here.
Looking around, she could see that the room was mostly stainless steel and that the things in the room looked to be locked behind gates.
The door opened just as she was going to try to find the call button.
She knew there was one because all hospitals had them.
“Beth?” She couldn’t recognize the voice, so she asked who she was. “It’s Serenity. You asked to speak to me.”
“I did?” She tried to look at her hands and felt them tied down. “Why am I tied down? Or for that matter, why am I in the hospital?”
“You were hurt when you tried to hurt me. They brought you in here from the auction of Helen’s things. Don’t you remember?” She said that her head hurt. “I know. They said that you can have pain medication if you need it.”
“Yes, please.” Something in her mind told her that Sen was out to get her, but she didn’t know why. There was money involved, but she had no idea how to think about it. “I’ve got money coming to me. Something about a house. You sold it.”
“I auctioned it off and sold it, yes. Helen asked me to do that in her will.” She didn’t nod because she was beginning to feel sick from the pain again. “You’ve had surgery since you were brought in here. Do you remember?”
“No. I don’t remember anything.” She didn’t either, and that bothered her. “You took something from me, but I can’t think what. I’m in so much pain right now that I’m going to be sick with it.”
Leaning over, she only gagged. She had a feeling they weren’t feeding her, and that was why she was so weak.
Asking Sen why she was here again, she felt a pain in her head go from her chin to her right eye.
Blinding her for a few moments, she could only beg her sister to let her go so that she could hold her head.
“I can’t. The pain is only going to get worse. Why don’t you let me call for some more medication?” She nodded, anything to make the pain go away. “I’ll call right now for you.”
Crying now, she didn’t know what was causing her so much pain. She remembered something about surgery and that she’d had something wrong with her head, but she didn’t know what. As soon as Sen returned, she asked what she’d done to her.
“Nothing. You have a tumor.” That didn’t sound right, so she called her a liar. “I never know which person is going to be here when I talk to you. You’re driving me crazy.”
When she burst into tears, a little bit of her heart hurt.
But then she remembered that this was all her sister’s fault and that as soon as she got out of here, she was going to make Sen pay.
The nurse came in and didn’t say anything, but went right for her IV.
She said something about a drip, but she didn’t understand.
The pain was becoming unbearable for her, and she just wanted to be left alone.
~*~
Sherman watched as Serenity paced back and forth.
At some point in the last ten days, while being in the hospital with her, he’d fallen in love with her.
He’d loved her before, but now it was all-consuming.
She didn’t know it yet, as he was afraid to tell her, but he would do anything in this world for her.
Serenity was going through a great deal right now, and he didn’t think that telling her that he loved her would lessen her stress.
“Did you find a house?” He nodded, but before he could tell her about it, she cut him off. “I need a place to stay that’s not charging me an arm and a leg. The hotel that I’m staying at has been nice, but I can’t afford it anymore.”
“The house isn’t ready to move into just yet, but the bedrooms are all right if you just want to sleep there.
The kitchen needs an overhaul.” She nodded, still distracted from her earlier conversation with Beth, he’d bet.
“I can go get your things from the hotel if you want. That way you can go home and have a good night’s sleep. ”
“She’s either pretending not to know me, or she’s progressing much faster than Helen did.
At least I could have a conversation with Helen right up until the very end.
” He wanted to bet that she was in a great deal of pain, but didn’t say anything.
He’d learned that she didn’t want his opinion, just for him to listen.
He was all for that. “And she’s in so much pain, too.
They’re going to give her an IV drip to make sure that she’s getting medication all the time.
Helen had that as well, but it didn’t much help her with pain other than to have her doped up all the time. ”
“When are they going to do that?” Serenity said that they’d done it this morning.
“That could explain why she’s not speaking very much.
She’s drugged up too much. She’s in a great deal of pain from the surgery alone.
The tumor they told us was pressing hard against the back of her eyes and causing the pain.
Did anyone mention why she was a different person once in a while? ”
“They told me that I should expect all kinds of changes in her mood while she’s here.
” She began pacing again, and he leaned back in the chair he was sitting in.
“I want her to be herself, and if that means her mean self, then that’s fine.
I’ll put up with her doing that if she will just be all right. ”
“But she’s not going to be all right. They told you that.
” The nurse said she could go back and visit her again, and he watched as Serenity seemed to gird up her loins to put up with her.
“She’ll be out again. You said that she’s been out the last two times you’ve seen her.
I wouldn’t expect anything different right now. ”
“You’re right.” She looked down the hallway where her sister was and asked him if he’d go with her. “I mean, even if you just go in with me and leave. I want to know who I’m going to be dealing with when I get in there.”
“You know that I’d go anywhere with you.
You just tell me when and I’ll be there for you.
” He stood up when she nodded again. “You’re going to be all right, honey.
I know that they want to do a scan on you, but anything that might have been there is gone the moment you found me as your mate. You can’t die.”
“I don’t know what to do with that information.
I don’t want Beth to die either, but I don’t want her around forever either.
” She looked up at him, and he pulled her into his arms. “I just want things to be normal with her. All she talks about is killing me and watching the life go out of my eyes while she strangles me.”
He wanted to say that it was the tumor that was making her say those things, but Serenity had told him that she’d always been mean and selfish.
She’d never talked about killing her before, but she was now.
He thought that the tumor was making her say things that she normally wouldn’t, but he didn’t know. This was all new to him as well.
Following Serenity into the room that Beth had been put in had his dragon snarling at him.
It smelled of death, impending death. He sat in the chair that was on the opposite side of the bed and waited.
Either she’d wake up and talk or just continue to sleep.
He hoped for the sleep part. Beth was cruel when she was awake.
When she raised her head, he tensed up when his mate did.