It was an agonizingly slow five seconds.
Sam finally spoke. “You want us to sandbag the area?” I snapped my eyes open and nailed him with my answer. Was this kid fucking kidding me? “It’s okay ... um … we’ll hold pressure.” Sam sounded embarrassed.
Yes, you fucking will, do I ever fucking sandbag anyone?
Thirty-five minutes later, Sam hadn’t moved. The kid was a fucking statue holding pressure over the spot where the catheter was removed. His face was the color of a beet and his eyes never dared to stray from the ceiling tiles, avoiding her nakedness under his white knuckled grip. Good kid.
The sun set behind the glass window, only the night sky illuminated the small room. Time was irrelevant. I hummed her favorite song. Our song. I wouldn’t give up on her, on us. It didn’t matter how long; I would never give up on her coming back to me. God knows we’re worth it.
“Chase.” I heard that voice too many times in my dreams to count. I had to be fucking delirious. “Dr. Handsome.” The death grip I had around her fingers tightened, but it wasn’t my force squeezing. I was scared to lift my head and open my eyes. Too many times my dreams had vanished when I woke up to my nightmare. “Chase…” It was low and broken, but it was her voice. In this very moment my nightmare ended and my dream became a reality. I breathed for the first time in two fucking days, a deep fucking breath. The hot tears that I struggled to keep bottled up since I found her lifeless body poured like a faucet. Her trembling hand tried to ruffle my hair, and I buried my face deeper into her side. I couldn’t get close enough.
“Hey, you ... you’re scaring me. Chase, look at me.” Her voice was so fucking frail, just above a whisper. She sounded like an angel.
My girl was back. Her crystal glass blue eyes were open. Heavy and drug-laden, but open. She was wide awake and asking me to look at her. Her face was still swollen, her bruising now black. She was gorgeous.
I caressed her cheeks and showered her perfect face with gentle kisses. “You came back to me. Fuck baby, I love you so much, so much.” Never again would an hour pass without her hearing how much I loved her.
“Chase, what ... why are you-”
“I know you’re confused, baby, it’s normal. But you’re awake, you’re talking and you’re mine. Sweet fuck. Christ, I could have lost you.”
“Hey ... you didn’t lose me. I’m right here with you.” She couldn’t really lift her head from the pillow but weakly pulled my face to hers and kissed my nose. Fuck, if I hadn’t done that to her sweet face a million times. It was the softest, sweetest kiss. Her warm lips were my heaven.
Then a shadow crossed her face. “I remember … Chase, I remember everything. The stairwell, CJ ... he was … oh my god, it was Jennings ... and then I fell. My head … it hurts so bad.” She cringed and clenched her eyes while she attempted to grab the back of her head.
“Baby, don’t touch, you have a nice sized gash back there. We’ll get you some more pain meds. We didn’t want to give you too much that you couldn’t wake up.” Shit, I could only imagine how fucking bad her head hurt.
“What about poor Kate, is she okay? Oh god, did he do something to her?” My selfless girl had her head bashed in by a fucking lunatic, was in a coma for two days, had so much brain swelling she needed to have her body temperature dropped so low she almost shivered off the fucking bed, and she was worried about her girlfriend. I loved this woman.
“Kate’s fine. Don’t worry about her. And Jennings, he’s a fucking drug addict rotting in a jail cell. He won’t hurt you or anyone else again.”
“Sierra ... and the baby? Oh god, she’s gonna be worried about me. It can’t be good for the baby.”
“Shhh. Sierra’s fine too. She’s actually downstairs on labor and delivery. She broke her water this morning. Otherwise, she’d probably still be up here driving me fucking crazy. Looks like you woke up just in time. You’re gonna be an aunt sometime tonight.”
“This morning, what ... wait, what day is it?” Her brows shot up in confusion.
“Wednesday night, baby. You’ve been in a coma.” Damn. I hated the panic on her face.
“A coma? What? Did my dad know? Oh god.” She was still worried about everyone else. Pure fucking sweet.
“It’s okay, baby, look at me. Everyone knows. Everyone’s been here patiently waiting for you to wake up.” I smiled for the first time in days. Fuck, it felt so good. I pressed the call button and told the ICU nurse she was awake and to get her morphine drip ready.
“I sent your dad and Sharon back to my place a few hours ago. They needed some sleep—they haven’t left your side. They were exhausted, but they’ll want to hear your voice. Let me get them on the phone. You okay to talk?”
She nodded.
While she talked to her dad, I texted Dodd and Asher.
AWAKE!
My girl looked so weak, pale and battered talking on the phone, but she was talking. It was the best fucking sight in the world. She hung up and smiled at me, nothing but love in her eyes.
She wasn’t going to rest peacefully until everyone was accounted for, so before she asked, I gave her the rundown. “Dodd texted back. Sierra just got her epidural. He’ll keep us in the loop and have her call once she’s comfortable. Just so you know, she hasn’t stopped bawling since she found out you’re awake.”
“She’s never gonna let me live this one down. Poor Dodd.” She half smiled. “Was she that bad?”
“Put it this way, baby, I finally figured out the whole Asspuck name. She’s ... a lot ... and be glad you’re not down there. Dodd basically made it sound like he has been doing nothing but wiping fluids ... fluids dripping from too many orifices.”
“Ow, don’t make me laugh.” She winced in pain when she chuckled. But she laughed. She was awake and laughing.
“Do you have any idea how many times I’ve pictured your beautiful smile?”
She bit her bottom lip and did that thing where her smile goes a little crooked, driving me crazy. So fucking sweet. “Careful, baby, that’s the face that puts me over the edge. And I need you better. We have plans. Lots of plans, involving some quality healing time at the Cape ... naked.”
She groaned and coaxed me to come closer to her frail body. Her arms and legs freely moved. Thank fucking god.
I climbed into the way too small bed, and she curled against my chest. She was so thin, her ribs pressed against me and I felt her heartbeat. The best feeling. Then she wiggled her left hand in the air.
“I’ll make you a deal, me naked ... for a lifetime with you.”
Fuck, yes. Was she implying what I fucking hoped? If this was a dream, fucking leave me in it.
“Are you saying you’re ready, Blue? Because I’ll marry you tomorrow, baby, truth.” Truth. No sooner did the word come out of my mouth, I knew I had to tell her. If she was going to promise me forever, she deserved to know. She deserved truth. “There’s something else I need to tell you, baby. Something you need to know before you can promise me forever.”
“Let me guess.” She coughed and winced in pain, but she was still smiling. “You don’t know the first thing about hockey, do you, Dr. Know-it-all?” Her smile never wavered, but the look she gave me said something completely different. She was giving me an out. And her blue eyes were begging me to take it. Battered and weak, she was trying to protect my sorry ass. No more.
“Hate the fucking game, but you already knew that, baby ... but that’s not what I’m talking about. I need you to listen, Blue. I need you to know what I’ve done ... who I am.”