“Unhook him!” Jakob roars into the room, causing me to wince. One wrist frees, and I use every ounce of strength I have to roll to my side and finally empty the contents of my stomach. Jake rubs my back until I stop and groan with the pain that came with it.
“Hurts.” I groan as I reach for my head, but before I can get too far, my wrist is restrained again. With his hands in my hair and his soothing words filling the space, I let darkness pull me back.
* * *
The constant beep is like driving a knife into my head every other second. I wiggle my fingers first and feel something heavy on my right. Next I attempt moving my legs. They don’t seem restrained, but I’m scared to push the limit too much. Slowly I blink my eyes open and sigh in relief when the room is completely dark. Slowly moving my eyes around the room, I instantly recognize that I’m in my own room.
The figure beside me moves and it takes me a second to realize that it’s Chaos. He smiles at me and presses a gentle kiss to my forehead.
“Hey, mein Engel.” He whispers, and I give him a weak smile.
“Hi baby.” My voice sounds croaky and strained.
As my eyes adjust. I can see him beaming at me. There’s two of him, but still.
“How long was I out?” My voice hurts my head but I need answers.
His eyes look to the other side of the room, then back at me, but before I can question it I hear Rowan. “Just about a full day. You woke up for a few minutes during a CT then passed back out.” He’s trying to keep his voice to a whisper to the best of his ability. “You have a nasty concussion. Like really nasty. Mac’s going to help Owen run your spot for a little while until you’re back on your feet.”
“A little while?” I question, my brain feels like it’s working through sludge to process what I’m being told.
“Don’t worry about it. You tired?”
I nod at him, feeling like a little kid who’s in bed with the flu or something.
He runs his hand gently over my hair. “Go to sleep. We’ll be here when you wake up.”
Deciding to be brave, I turn my body into Jakob’s and wrap my arm around him while laying my head on his shoulder. Then, without any more prompting I fall back to sleep. Being awake sucks, being awake fucking hurts.
* **
It’s been more than a week since I woke up in my room clueless about where I was or why. Yesterday, I remembered most of what happened, but Jakob hasn’t asked, so I’m not pushing it. Everyone’s treating me like I’m made of glass and it’s driving me insane. I can’t scroll on my phone, answer emails, or watch TV. My eyes are still a little light sensitive, so I’ve been wearing sunglasses when I leave my room, and I have a constant lingering headache. It isn’t a stabbing pain anymore, which is good, but the ache is definitely lingering. I slowly make my way down the stairs and into Rowan’s office. He looks up from whatever he’s doing on his laptop.
“Hey. How are you feeling?” He keeps his voice down. I’m grateful because my head throbs, but I’m annoyed because, just talk in a normal voice.
“I feel like I want to get back to work. Seriously, Roe, I can not sit in this house and stare at the ceiling any longer.”
“You need more rest. You have a fucking TBI, Declan.” He looks at me like I’ve sprouted another head.
“I have a concussion, drama queen.”
“Which is a TBI, you buffoon.” He shoots back. “Does your head hurt? Answer me honestly. If it’s a no, then sure, but if you can’t honestly tell me that lights in the house, nevertheless the sun, aren’t giving you a headache, then you need to go back to bed.”
He’s such an asshole. Who put him in charge, anyways? I stand up and make a move for the door when he speaks again.
“We going to talk about what’s going on with you and Fischer?”
“Nope.” I make sure to pop the P as I throw up my middle finger and exit the office.
Jakob. Yeah, that’s a whole other thing. He hasn’t left heresince I was hurt, aside from popping in and checking on the bar. Don’t get me wrong, I want him with me. Hell, he could crawl into my skin and declare it his new home and it wouldn’t faze me. I just want him to act less like a caretaker and more like my boyfriend. Well, I guess we’re boyfriends? We haven’t talked about terminology, but I guess we should soon.
He also hasn’t kissed me since before that night. He kisses my forehead, my temple, the top and side of my head, but not my lips. It’s infuriating when all I want to do is crash my lips to his and spend my time in bed with him exploring each other. Alas, Jake’s a rule follower, and the doctor said no strenuous activity of any kind until my head stops with its bullshit. So my lips stay neglected, and my poor cock weeps at the lack of attention.
As far as I know, Natasha hasn’t texted or called me, but I don’t expect her to for a little while. She knows she has me by the balls, but she also knows that she can’t summon someone when they aren’t allowed to be on their phones. I think I’m going to tell Jake what’s going on. Not today, but soon. I can’t keep doing this shit, and he got shot at because of me. He claims it wasn’t at him, but the way Sully tells it, it’s by the grace of God that his ear didn’t get blown off.
I pass the movie room when the small sound of my sister-in-law calling my name stops me. Peeking inside, I see poor Nix, who’s about to pop, laying in one of the big overstuffed chairs watching a movie.
“Dec, come hang out with me.” She pouts. She’s so needy, but she’s really not allowed to move around much. She went into preterm labor last week and now is on bed rest. She’s fucking miserable, so I, along with my brothers, will do whatever she asks of us. It’s the least wecan do.
