“I’m in pain, but I’m okay. Can I ask you some questions?” I said.
She looked down at me and nodded. “Of course. What can I do for you?”
“Um…” I looked over at Vincent and Anton, both leaning towards the nurse and I with curious gazes. “Can… we speak in private?”
“Oh, of course.” She wasn't as quiet as I was. Turning her head towards my brothers, she said, “Can you please leave the room?”
“You guys don’t have to stay,” I said. “I can… call when I’m out. I know you’re both busy.”
Vincent shook his head. “We’re her brothers, and her next of kin. We’ll stay.”
Despite the fact that my brothers were well-known, powerful political figures, the nurse held her ground firmly. “Next of kin rules only apply if Miss Narzand herself is incapacitated or out of control of her faculties, but neither case is true here. You’ll be contacted if anything changes, but for now, she’s capable of making her own decisions, and if she wishes for privacy in speaking with myself or any members of our staff, that’s what she’s entitled to.” The smile on her face screamed, ‘I’m being polite, but I’ll call security if I have to.’ I was the governor’s daughter, but I’d never had that sort of gumption when dealing with my brothers, or anyone for that matter.
I started to wonder if she’d teach me a thing or two.
“Very well.” Vincent stood up and Anton followed his lead. “We’ll go. Avion, I expect a call soon.”
“Sure,” I responded. Vincent led out of the room with Anton on his heels, and as soon as he was out, the nurse both shut the door and pulled the curtain around my bed closed to ensure we had maximum privacy. “Thank you so much,” I said. “I’m not that brave when it comes to them.”
“I think you and I both know that being a woman in a male-dominated field can be a bit tough. We have to look out for one another.” She winked at me. “Now, what sorts of questions did you have?”
“Well, really just one big one for now. Is there anyone else… here? Waiting for me, I mean? Not family?”
She smiled. “Yes. There’s been a young man outside ever since you first came in. Your brothers restricted him from coming back, which became a bit of a problem for our staff. He’s got a bit of a temper, but only after he learned he would never be allowed back. He eventually calmed down and has a couple of friends with him now.”
“Can I change that restriction?” I asked.
“You may. Would you like him to be the decision-maker for you in case of an emergency?”
I stared at her blankly for a moment. That felt like a very serious thing for Gio and I who still hadn’t really decided what our relationship even was. That said, if it came right down to it, I’d rather have Giovanni in charge of making decisions for me versus my brother or fathers. “Yes, please.”
She nodded. “Okay. I’ll get the paperwork to make that change drawn up. You’ll have to sign, but we can cross that bridge when we come to it. Was there anything else you needed for right now?”
“Just… him?” I said.
The nurse’s expression turned warm. “I get it. I’ll go get him right now.”
She checked the rest of the monitors I was attached to, jotted down a few notes on her clipboard, and then walked out of the room. Once she was gone I tried to shift in a way that wouldn’t have my body in so much pain, but nothing seemed to help. Even though, to my knowledge, I’d only been shot in my torso, everything in my body hurt from my head down to my toes. Thinking back, I couldn’t remember what happened after I got shot. I remembered hearing the glass shatter and the mind-numbing pain before everything went dark. Maybe I fell and hurt something else?
“Avion.” I looked up and Gio was standing in the doorway to the hospital room. He lingered there for a minute, but then I reached out a hand and he moved immediately, coming to stand at my side. He took my hand and gave it a sweet kiss on the knuckles--very outside of his character. “I was starting to get a little worried. They told me I could only come back if you asked for me, so…”
“Yeah, about that… I guess my brothers were in charge of decision-making for me if I can’t make them for myself, and… well they threatened to kill me, so I’m having them removed and changed…” I cleared my throat. “To you?” Gio recoiled a little bit and I instantly felt like I’d made a mistake. Of course, he didn’t think of me in any real significant way. We had fun as a sub and dom, but he likely wasn’t considering me for any sort of actual relationship. “B-but, I can change it. To Lorie, maybe, or…”
“No, no, no,” he cut in. “That just took me by surprise, but I’m glad. I promise, I won’t do anything without talking to you first.”
“Okay…” Suddenly there was an awkward tension between us that I hated. “Sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” he asked.
“Knock, knock.” I peered past Gio and Milli was standing just inside the room. When I locked eyes with him he smiled, a look of relief reading all over his face. “I thought we covered that youshouldn’tjump in front of bullets.”
I snickered a little bit. “However, was I going to achieve being as cool as you if I didn’t?”
His smile grew a little and he walked into the room and sat down where Vincent had been before. Milli had always been a little rough around the edges, but I was coming to learn that he was a steely exterior, gooey interior kind of guy. He was fiercely loyal to the people he cared about, and I counted myself lucky that I was becoming one of those people.
“How are you feeling?” Gio asked.
“I’m in pain, a lot of it.”
