He starts to wander off, so I hurry after him before noticing someone entering the hospital room. “The nurse is here. Just… don’t do anything foolish. Better yet, head for the hospital.”
“I hear ya,” he says as I open my eyes. I can still sense the illusion and I’m still aware that I’m following Asmodeus, but myfocus is more on the nurse. Especially in my groggy state, it’s hard to follow multiple things at once.
“How are you feeling?” she asks.
“I’m good.”
“Fantastic. What level is your pain?”
“Not too bad.”
“That’s not a level,” she says as she points to the chart on the wall.
“A… four.”
“Good, good! And we want to keep it that way, so don’t be afraid to let me know if it begins going up.”
“Okay,” I say as she checks things and informs me they’ll be moving me to my room for the night shortly, but my attention is shifting to Asmodeus who is now climbing a tree.
“Get down from that tree,” I snap. “Your ass crack is hanging out.”
“What tree?” Landon asks.
It takes me a second to realize that the drugs I’m on are fucking with my concentration because I just told the nurse to get out of the tree with her ass crack on display.
I freeze while she stares at me. Landon lets out a squealing noise as he claps a hand over August’s face, like he’s the one laughing up a storm.
Deciding I’ll just fake a coma, I close my eyes.
“Nooo! Ellison, don’t go. I want to know more about this ass crack on a tree. Was it the tree itself that had an ass crack?” Landon asks.
“Are you…” the nurse starts, sounding concerned. I think she believes I’m seeing things or talking incoherently, but nope… no, I am just the fool who forgot to switch over to my illusion before opening my mouth.
“I’m fine, thank you. I was just… using my power and the pain meds… messed with me a bit,” I explain.
Landon basically skids his chair toward me. It doesn’t even have wheels but he sure makes it fly. “Excuse me, let me get this straight. You are… using your illusion… somewhere… and are dealing withwhoseass crack exactly?” He waggles his eyebrows as the nurse seems to conclude that I’m fine and leaves.
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“So like… you could be out there doing the nasty and in here pretending to talk to us.”
“That your mind went there identifies the type of person you are,” I decide on, hoping that’ll shame him into shutting up. I should have remembered the kind of person I’m dealing with because he givesnoshits.
“So… where is your dirty little illusion, then?” Landon teases.
“Don’t make me hurt myself dealing with you. Better yet, I’m sleeping. Don’t bother me.”
“Butareyou sleeping or are you actually at some strip club while you leave us here to sob and fret by your bedside?”
“Youcango home,” I remind him.
“We are your friends, Ellison, doing friendly things like harassing you and caring for you. You want to hold Zacia? Will that make you feel better?” He sets her in the crook of my arm and then, because I’m apparently not holding her well enough, he forces my arm around her. She must look cold, since he pulls the blankets off me to swaddle her like she’s the patient and not me.
Her purrs fill the room, giving me no choice but to submit to this extremely chilly position.
I close my eyes and decide I’ll take it out on Asmodeus.
“You made me make a fool of myself,” I inform him.
