I practically sprint back there, Kooper hot on my heels. Neither of us says anything, and when we get back to the room Dad has called his own for more than half a year, a nurse is there changing the bedding.
She gives me a kind smile as she continues. I’ve seen her a few times but never spoken to her. She knows who I am well enough to know I don’t like idle chitchat. Something a few of her colleagues don’t get.
“He should be back soon,” she says to me as she leaves.
I look at the empty room and see Kooper is still here with me. Mad Max must be with Dad or something. I start to pace, bringing my thumb up to my mouth and nibbling on it. Since the call, everything has been a blur. And now that I’m here, it’s all just hitting me.
Dad’s awake. Dad’s going to live.
I won’t be alone anymore.
“Shit,” I mumble to myself, but Kooper hears it. He’s been watching me not so subtly this whole time.
“What?”
I shake my head.
“What, Ruby?” He takes a step, just one, toward me.
I bite my lip and stop pacing to look at him. “I told them. I didn’t mean to, but I told them.”
He looks confused, and when I don’t say more, he shakes his head as if he doesn’t understand. How can he? I’m so lost in my head with everything going on, I’m speaking in half-truths. “Told who what?”
“My class. I said my dad was awake. But I wasn’t meant to, was I?” I turn and start pacing again, running my hands through my hair and pulling at it. “Shit, what if I fucked it up? What if I caused him harm now that he’s awake?”
“It’s okay. I’ll take care of it.”
I hear his words but don’t stop to look at him as a thousand and one thoughts go through my head. “How? How are you going to take care of it?”
“Don’t worry about that.”
This time I do look at him and see him shrugging with a soft smile on his face. As if he really thinks he can just take care of something like this for me. He’s either a magician or a psycho killer.
“Sure, I’ll not worry about you killing twenty-five people.”
His deep chuckle has me stopping my pacing completely to look at him in wonder. It’s been so long since I’ve heard a man laugh. Something deep and throaty. Something that sends goose bumps down my arms.
“While I’m flattered that you think I can kill that many for you, I was thinking about just talking to them first and doing some background checks, seeing if any of them are a threat or not. Then, and only then, I’ll take out those who are. Might be a handful, tops.” He winks at me as he puts his hands in his pockets.
I huff out a laugh. He’s completely right. I’m being an idiot.
“No, you aren’t.” He takes a step closer, and I realize I was talking out loud. “You have a lot going on. This, this is huge. It’s okay that you spoke up. You should be able to talk about this stuff. The club will deal with anything that isn’t right. We got you. We got you and your dad.”
I nod and let him pull me into his arms. He feels so warm as he wraps them around me, and I do the same, tentatively at best. I close my eyes and breathe in his scent—leather, just like Dad. He’s tall like Dad and has muscles like him too. But unlike Dad, he has an underlying scent. I can’t describe it, but it’s different. It’s not bad, though. Makes me want to nestle my nose into the crook of his neck and lick him. And other things.
My eyes spring open, and I push him away and step back all in one movement.
“Fuck, what am I doing? Why do I always go to you? What kind of sick game are you playing?”
“No game, Ruby.” He’s locked down his emotions, and I hate it. I can’t do that, and I want to. I can get there, but I don’t do instant shutdown well, like him.
I shake myself out of whatever that was and cross my arms to keep from reaching out to him.
“Whatever, I can’t deal with this right now. Dad’s awake. I need to find out what condition he’s in and then talk to General about his PT plan. He won’t be down for long, and I want to make sure he gets the best from me so I can help. We both know he’ll start running before he even attempts to go easy.”
I’m saved from having to say anything else to Kooper as Dad is wheeled back in by General and a nurse. Mad Max, Casper, Bulldog, and Chains are right behind him.
I twist my hands together as I wait for them to put Dad back into the bed, then wait some more for General to give his doctor speech.
