Chapter 38
I groaned, swallowing around a throat that felt like sandpaper.
“Ahh!” I shifted and then stilled as pain shot through my chest.
“Phoebe?” A pretty face appeared above me. “You need to hold still.”
Don’t worry, I would. I wasn’t making that mistake again.
It was several minutes later when a whole bunch of people dressed in scrubs surrounded me. Hands poked and prodded and things were removed from my body. I wasn’t going to think about that. I was asked a million questions, and then finally, someone gave me some water.
Who knew water tasted better than wine? That could be the drugs talking.
A warm feeling spread over me, and the woman who’d told me not to move, my nurse, promised me the painkiller I’d just been given would make me feel much better.
I doubted that.
“What happened?” I croaked, frowning at the doctor with his stethoscope to my chest.
“You don’t remember?” another doctor asked from the other side of my bed.
I sifted through the dark fog that encompassed my brain only to regret it. “I remember what happened. I was shot.”
I remembered a whole bunch of other things, but I wasn’t going to think about that right now.
The doctor broke down my injuries for me and I reeled. “I was shot in the heart?”
And you’re to blame. You give love a bad name. Bon Jovi’s voice played in my head, proving my brain was still just as screwy as always.
“Essentially, yes,” the doctor confirmed.
He went over what to expect and a whole bunch of other things I couldn’t keep track of.
He then blew my mind telling me I’d been in a coma for ten days.
They’d taken me out of the medically induced coma on day two, and I guess I decided to do a little Sleeping Beauty routine for a few more. So why was I still so freaking tired?
“I DON’T CARE! YOU LET ME IN TO SEE HER RIGHT NOW!” Alex’s yell had me giggling.
FYI, laughter of any kind after being cut open was a no-no.
“That woman,” the doctor muttered, helping me as I started to cough, which turned to a wheeze from the pain squeezing my chest.
“Breathe, Phoebe. Nice and slow.” The doctor adjusted me to take the pressure off my chest.
“What did you do to her?” Alex flew into the room. An argument ensued around me while I fought through the pain.
“Slow breaths, scribbler.” A large warm hand cupped my cheek, another one resting on my back.
Distantly, I heard someone say they were going to up my pain meds, and the doctors gave Alex instructions. I heard none of it. A pair of amber eyes was in front of me, and there was nothing else in the world.
“That’s it.” He held my face, a look of pure reverence on his.
“Ty,” I sighed. The lingering chill from that dark place I was in faded, warmed by his presence.
“Welcome back, baby,” he breathed, emotion making his voice sound deeper. “Can you sit up now?”
Could I? “I think so.”
With infinite care, he helped me. When he went to move to the chair beside the bed, I held him. “Stay with me.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.” He hesitated.
“Then stay with me.” I tugged his hand gently, weaker than I realized.
I would remember the way he looked till the day I died.
Ty sat gently on the bed beside me, and I did what I’d been longing to do, even in that dark place.
I curled as much as I could into him, letting his warmth seep into me.
A shudder worked through his big body, and I knew he was just as affected as I was.
“As cute as this is, what about me?” Alex put her hands on her hips. “I did just spend the morning beating Jeremy’s ass all the way back to Atlanta for you.” She harrumphed. “The ingratitude.”
“Hi, my feral rescue friend.” I gave her the same greeting I did when she was the one in the hospital.
In a very un-Alex-like moment, she burst into tears, rushing to the bed. I held out the arm Ty wasn’t holding and pulled her gently to my chest, letting her sobs soak my hospital gown.
“I missed you, too.” I kissed the top of her head.
I held her while she cried, Ty holding me. I felt the first tear in my hair and closed my eyes. Life had so few perfect moments, and I knew I’d cherish this one. There was only one thing missing.
“Where’s Lock?”
Alex lifted her head, rubbing angrily at her tears like they offended her.
“Ah, yes. My brilliance.” She reached for a tissue from the box on the tray by my bed and handed it to Ty, who took it silently.
“Lock is currently with Aunt Edith, who has essentially bought out the only hotel in town. He’ll be thrilled to see you.
He said today you’d wake up. I lost a hundred bucks thanks to you. ”
I raised an eyebrow or thought I did. I couldn’t really feel all of my body right now.
“I said you’d wake up yesterday.”
“Ah.”
She pulled her phone out of the back of her jean pocket, sending a text. Probably to Aunt Edith. I wasn’t sure I was up for seeing her.
“They’ll be here soon. So how to pass the time?” Alex put a finger to her cheek in dramatic contemplation.
“Alex,” Ty warned. “Can you give us a minute?”
“In a minute.” Alex propped a hip on the foot of my bed. “There are some things she needs to know so she doesn’t start to overthink.”
“Fine,” Ty sighed, knowing she was right.
“The short version before you spiral: Lock is safe. Jeremy is handled for now. Amber-Rae is in jail. Your books are not ruined. Your house is still yours. And everyone who matters knows exactly who you are and loves you anyway.” She held up her hand, ticking things off on her fingers.
“Also, I am temporarily acting as your human shield, crisis manager, and your permanent professional manager. I have a plan for your public statement and your publisher.” She winked at Ty.
“I have some really epic thoughts about your future last name, but apparently near-death experiences do not give me legal authority over your branding, so I had to wait for you to wake up.” She shot me a dirty look like I’d deliberately chosen to be in a coma.
“Wait!” I tried to sit up, hissing when pain stabbed me in the chest. “What do you mean?” New last name?
Alex snapped her fingers. “That’s for later.
Where was I? Ah, yes, your divorce from the tofu sandwich will be finalized in thirty-two days, and he got the bare minimum.
I may have used the cheating thing to our advantage.
Was there anything else?” She thought it over.
“Nope. That’s about it.” Hopping up, she blew me a kiss.
“I’ll leave you two kiddies to talk about what a glorious human I am and go wait for Aunt Edith and Lock. ”
The door closed behind her with a soft click.
I tilted my head toward Ty and found him staring down at me.
“I love you.” There was such emotion in that statement I wanted to cry. “I love you so much.” He choked up, and my heart, the wounded thing, healed from the wounds inflicted before the shooting. I didn’t need fancy words or long speeches. Those three simple words were a benediction and a promise.
“I love you, too.”
There were so many more words that needed to be said, but none of them were necessary right now. Not when all the things we needed to say were in this moment, in each look, each caress of his hand on my face, each beat of his heart beneath my fingertips.
Words would come later. Right now, I relished the fact I hadn’t just woken up. Looking into Ty’s eyes, I knew I’d come home.