Satisfied Seth would keep the details of the shooting quiet, Masaki put his game face on, stepped out of the car onto the curb, and headed through the automatic doors of the hospital.
His passage through the security checkpoint was simple. Seth’s plan was perfectly executed, and within moments, Masaki was walking through the glass doors of Oshun’s surgical intensive care room.
He pulled the privacy curtain closed, then walked further inside the room, sitting in the lone chair at the side of her bed.
Her long locs were spread all over her pillow in a messy heap.
She needs her satin pillow case and head wrap. She’d never allow her hair to rub against cotton with no protection.
They’d only been together three months. It wasn’t a long time. The fact that they were in this situation proved there were tons of things they still needed to learn about one another. But somehow, none of that seemed important as he stood looking down on her still body.
The way she pretended she was too hard to care about anything, but brightened whenever he did something thoughtful for her was important. The way she excitedly learned to prepare his favorite Japanese meals just to be able to surprise him with a home-cooked meal on his last birthday was important. The way she purred when he made love to her, and plastered herself against him during the night, that was important. But the rest of it, the rest of it wasn’t important enough that she should be lying here with a bullet wound in her chest.
A tap on the glass sliding door pulled his attention away from Oshun. “It’s Nurse Samuels. I need to check on your vitals Ms. Sampson.”
She entered the room, taking care to secure the privacy curtain once the door was closed. The young nurse walked in the rest of the way, acknowledging Masaki with only a brief nod.
“How is she doing?”
The nurse didn’t face him as he spoke. For the most part, she attended to Oshun, ignoring him as if he weren’t there.
“I’ve risked enough sneaking you in here. I can’t tell you anything about her condition. The only thing I can tell you is she is in serious, but stable condition.”
“But she’s not awake?”
“She’s had a pretty exhausting day, don’t you think? A girl is entitled to a little beauty rest at the end of such a long day.”
She smiled at him as she was leaving, stopping once she reached the curtain again. “Don’t stay too long. Her regular nurse will be returning in another thirty minutes.”
The nurse disappeared behind the curtain, and slid the glass doors closed, leaving Masaki alone with an unconscious Oshun and all the beeping machines in the room. He caressed the back of her hand with careful fingers, before gently bringing it to his lips. He cradled her hand, linking their thumbs, as he closed his eyes and pressed her hand against his cheek.
“I don’t know how I missed any of this, Oshun. I was so worried about fixing things to prevent you from getting hurt, I didn’t see the treachery in my lieutenant’s eyes. I promise you I’m going to make this right.”
“You’d better,” she whispered. “Otherwise us living together is going to get very complicated, very soon.”
He slowly opened his eyes, hoping he wasn’t conjuring up her voice. When he found heavy lidded chocolate eyes staring back at him, his fortitude crumbled, and his body shook with relieved tears.
“Are you in pain? Do you need anything?”
She squeezed his hand, as if she were lending him her strength in his weakened state. It was the nurturing side of her checking to make certain he was all right.
“I’m in pain,” she answered. “But, I’m alive, so I’ll deal. The bullet entered the side of my chest at an angle.” She stopped, taking a slow, but deep breath before she continued again. “It tore a hole in my chest cavity. They got it out, and put a chest tube in me to keep my lung from collapsing.” She paused again, drawing in another slow breath through her flared nostrils. “As long as I don’t go and do something stupid like throwing a blood clot, or trying to move, I should be fine.”
There she was, the young, snarky goddess he’d fallen for. The woman whose quick wit and aloofness had pulled him in that very first night he’d laid eyes on her
“When I realized you’d been shot…I thought I lost you.”
She shook her head, adjusting the slipping oxygen cannula in her nose as she did. “You’re not that lucky.” She stopped to take another deep breath before continuing. “You gave me a key. You’d have to change the locks to get me out.”
He chuckled as he stood up, placing a gentle kiss on her smiling lips. The small gesture reminding him just how lucky he was to still have her in the land of the living with him.
“I gotta tell you, I don’t really see a way out of this mess for us. Izzy and Aesop set this up good. Even if your council believes I had nothing to do with this, we may still never be free of this night. I don’t know who, if any, were a part of Izzy’s attempted coup.”
“I have the same concerns, Masaki. But.” She paused another moment, holding her hand to her wounded side, taking another slow, deep breath before she attempted to speak again. “You’re my enemy Masaki. Yet, my instinct was to protect you tonight. I can’t ignore that.” Her words warmed him from the inside. Those words calmed the raging waves of anger and fear seeing her in this condition caused. He held her hand tighter, and delighted at the weak smile pulling at her lips.
She repositioned herself in the bed, taking a moment to catch her breath as she did so. “I want you, and I’m not about to lose you to the war that’s coming,” she continued. “A war neither of us started.”
“Oshun…” His words faded as she shook her head, holding up a lone finger in the air to silence him.
