“Ah, well, that’s a bit of a long story, I’m afraid,” said the doctor. “Most of which I don’t actually have. Basically, they just pay me to wear a stethoscope and poke people with ball-point pens at the end of a thirty-six-hour shift.”
Knox stared at her with bleary incomprehension.
The doctor gave him a kind smile. “Maybe we can start with some ice chips and go from there. Nurse?”
“On it,” the nurse said.
The doctor turned to me, with her practiced smile in place. “There are still a bunch of tests to run that don’t involve a biro,but this is a major milestone. Don’t worry if he goes right back to sleep. His body needs proper rest, which is quite a different thing from being unconscious. We’ll be monitoring him carefully over the coming hours.”
Alone with Knox once more, I couldn’t help the way my whole body slumped with relief. I might not be all that close to Knox myself, but knowing how intensely Heath and Gage loved him, it was hard not to feel connected to his recovery.
Speaking of which...
“Hey, Knox? I’m going to call your packmates and let them know you’re awake. They’ll definitely want to hear the news.”
“’Kay,” Knox mumbled weakly. My heart soared at the confirmation that he was aware of what was going on and could understand what I was saying.
I pulled my phone out, ignoring an instinctive flash of anxiety at the low battery charge. It was plenty for a couple of short calls.
I pulled up Heath’s contact first, not sure which of them was likely to be sleeping, and which of them would be awake guarding Jez. The call went straight to voicemail without ringing, and I frowned. He wouldn’t have turned his phone off, but he’d been running on no sleep and might have forgotten to charge it.
It didn’t matter. They were both at the house. I called Gage instead. The phone rang four times and disconnected without picking up.
“C’mon, Gage,” I muttered, and called again. This time, it only rang twice. I called a third time and it went straight to voicemail.
What the hell?
I left Gage a stilted message updating him on Knox’s condition, and another on Heath’s voicemail for good measure.
“Problem?” Knox asked, just as the nurse returned with a plastic cup.
“No,” I said immediately, telling myself I’d try them again in a few minutes. “I’m sure everything’s fine. They’re probably asleep, is all. You just worry about resting and getting your strength back.”
EIGHTEEN
Jez
I NEARLY JUMPED OUTof my own skin when Gage’s phone rang while I was waiting for the Uber to show up. I fumbled it, nearly dropping it on the pavement in my haste.
The top of the screen spelled out ‘Tony Scalise’ in large white letters against a black background. I stabbed at the red ‘decline’ button. When that didn’t seem to do anything, I tried dragging it instead. The phone stopped ringing and the screen went dark.
I’d barely gotten it back in my pocket when it rang again, jangling my nerves. This time, I disconnected the call a bit quicker, but I knew I needed a better solution. I had no idea why Tony was trying to reach Gage, but if he was going to keep calling over and over again, I’d end up screaming.
Trying to remember details from the last time I’d owned a phone, I found the little phone icon and went to recent calls. Tony was at the top, and it didn’t take much hunting around to find the ‘block number’ menu option.
