My eyes snap to the large mat and focus on Danny, laid out near the center, completely still. My body disentangles from something that’s holding me, briefly realizing that it’s Fitz as I race down toward the stage, only to be stopped a few paces in by a tall, bald-headed man in a black shirt.
I fish in my pockets and grasp the VIP pass, knowing full well it’s not supposed to grant me access until the ring is cleared. He looks ready to tell me so, when Frank, Danny’s security detail, appears behind the man, filling me with hope.
“She’s his lady, man. Don’t you read the tabloids?”
A train of objections rise in my head that I shake off as the bald man moves aside. Frank grabs my elbow and nods to Fitz, who’s managed to catch up.
A trainer that I’ve been introduced to in passing repeats Danny’s name a few times and then waves his hand in Danny’s face. Danny slowly moves and ignoring someone’s objections, I climb up onto the mat and quickly make it over to him.
“Hey, babe, how’d you get down here?”
“She’s fast. Maybe she can teach you a thing or two,” Frank teases from beside me.
Danny’s lips slide into a smile, but his eyes close and I see the grimace he’s working to fight.
“The son of a bitch better be banned after pulling that stunt. The degenerate asswipe.” The trainer’s voice is a growl.
“What’s the call, Vin?” A heavy arm slides across my shoulders as Danny’s father, Daniel, stands beside me, reminding me of the trainer’s name: Vinny.
“He needs to go to the hospital. His chest needs X-rayed from that elbow, and I wouldn’t doubt if he has a mild concussion.”
Daniel nods once and pulls out his phone and strides back to the sidelines.
“You should go home, H,” Danny says, wrapping a hand around my exposed ankle.
I shake my head in response and kneel down beside where he still lies on the mat.
“I’ve got to find Dom. I need to get that tape submitted to get that bastard kicked out,” Vinny states, looking around anxiously. “You stay put, kid. Otherwise, I’ll knock you back on your ass.”
“You’re too slow, old man.”
Vinny smiles slyly at him before he takes a few steps back.
“So this was all I had to do? Let some chump give me a few cheap shots, and you’ll come backstage again, huh?”
“I don’t think you let him land that cheap shot. I think your squirrely ass pissed him off till next Sunday, and he didn’t know how else to beat you.” Frank chuckles, looking far less stressed than I currently feel.
“Hey, hey.” Danny reaches his hand forward and grasps mine. “I’m okay. I promise.”
I want to cry, but I want to cry in front of all of these people even less, so I stop trying to think, and with doing so, bend over and kiss Danny. It’s a hard and demanding kiss, a plea from me that evolves to a lighter, gentler promise from him.
When I sit up, Danny’s fingers that are still linked with mine squeeze. “You just made getting my ass kicked on national television worth it.”
I shake my head, but can’t help but smile at him.
After some deliberation, Fitz and I agree to follow the ambulance to the hospital, along with a small crew of people that I’ve periodically seen around Danny.
After an hour, the hospital staff wheels him away to get X-rays, and tell us he’ll be gone for about thirty minutes.
Fitz crosses his ankle over his knee and looks at me with a warm smile. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, he’ll be fine.”
I nod a few times to convince him that I’m okay and stand and turn toward the hallway. “I’m going to take a walk and find a bathroom. Do you want anything to drink?”
“I’ll come with you.”
I shake my head as he begins to stand. “I just need a few minutes. Being in a hospital again makes me uneasy. I haven’t been in one since I visited my dad at his office shortly before he died.”
Fitz’s face is marred with indecision as I see his desire to comfort me wage against my wish for him to stay. “I’ll be fine. I just need a moment.” I give him a small smile and then depart before he can talk himself out of staying put.
I wander through a few empty hallways before going through a corridor comprised of windows. The darkness seeping through delivers an eerie chill to the air that I’m happy to leave as I step into another well-lit foyer. My eyes land on the first person that I’ve seen since I stepped out of the waiting room.
“Kitty?” The name leaves my mouth before I can stop the question. This can’t be her. She looks nothing like Kitty, mainly because she’s completely bald and wears no makeup on her older, paler, and gaunt face. Yet her head turns so that she’s fully facing me, and Kitty’s familiar bright green eyes lock with mine. They’re filled with panic.
A wave of chills runs over me, filling me with dread, and my head shakes in confusion.
She’s sick.
Not flu sick.
Sick, sick.
My head shakes swifter, moving from confusion to denial, refusing to allow the obvious to infiltrate my mind in droves, like it’s working to do. This can’t be happening.
“Harper.” The authority in her voice as she rises from her chair makes me realize that I’m moving backward.
I stop and she takes a few hesitant steps closer to me. I do what feels like the most selfish act imaginable—I begin to cry.
She opens her arms and holds me as I hang my head against her shoulder. Kitty, my strong, feisty, bossy therapist, who has helped me to see the world again, and who is sick, holds me, as I cry.
After leaving Kitty, it takes me fifteen minutes from the time I reach where I’d left the then smaller group to find Danny was moved and has to stay in the hospital for at least tonight. The room is swimming with people. Voices and movements stop as I step into the room. I’m certain it’s because my face is blotchy and tear-stained. Though no one actually says anything, they all quietly file out into the hall.
“Fitz said that being here was hard.” Danny’s words are quiet, his expression filled with concern. “I’m so sorry, H. Come here.”
I take a few steps closer to Danny, sniffling as I look over him. “What’s the damage?”
“I’m concussed and have two bruised ribs.”
“I told you fighting’s barbaric.”
“Why don’t you go home and get some rest. Maybe stay with Fitz tonight?” Danny suggests, reaching a hand out and gripping my fingers. “I’m so sorry you had to see that and be here, H. I’m good though, truly. I’m going to be okay.”
I nod a couple of times, fighting back additional tears. “I’ll come back in the morning. If you need anything let me know, okay?”
“They’ll release me in the morning. I will call you as soon as I hear from them, and we’ll make plans to meet, okay?” His hand squeezes mine again. “Let my dad and I know when you get home tonight. They just gave me something and said it will make me drowsy. I’ll tell him to watch for your text in case I fall asleep.”
I nod again and lean forward to press a kiss to his cheek. As my lips meet the slight scruff that prickles my lips, my tears begin to fall again in heavy streams, and Danny’s arms wrap around me, pulling me closer to him.
I’m not even positive if I’m crying because of Kitty being sick, Danny being hurt, the memories that hospitals bring, or because even with all of the pain that tonight has brought, it only seems to magnify how much I miss my family. How much I miss him.
“We know what we are, but know not what we may be.”
–William Shakespeare