7
ASPEN
I hated sitting hereand not being able to do a damned thing. I fucking despised it. Fallon looked so innocent, eyes closed, with the clear tube wedged into his mouth making his chest rise and fall at a slow, even pace. They’d put a feeding tube in his nose, too, and I hadn’t seen anyone look this vulnerable, not since... Dad.
Fear clogged my throat and I cleared it, rubbing my neck and continuing to stare at Fallon’s slightly bruised and scratched face. He was beautiful in a way a lot of Company men weren’t. He had a softness and naïveté that brought out a protective instinct in me only Vail ever touched. I’d never noticed Fallon like this, not until now, when he needed me the most.
“Aspen?” Vail’s gentle voice roused me from my inner ramblings, and I glanced at him over my shoulder. He had a cardboard cup of coffee clutched in his hands, from the same place Nick had bought one two nights ago. We were on the second day of Fallon’s induced coma, and they’d already done the surgery to fix his ribs. It had barely taken an hour. I hadn’t left the hospital once. Vail or one of the boys brought in food for me. The nurses had told me more than once that I was violating hospital policy by staying in the room overnight, but they hadn’t called security on me yet.
Sloan had visited yesterday and told me he’d be back again when Fallon was awake to talk about finances. If I had to guess, the topic at hand would be that Sloan was going to pay the hospital bills and give Fallon an extra bonus for being hurt on the job, because that’s the type of thing he did. Some guys had extorted money from the boss that way before, intentionally getting injured, and they hadn’t lasted long in the Company. Sloan was many things, but an easy mark wasn’t one. I had no idea if they were shipped off or killed, and I didn’t care.
“Don’t you think it’s time to go home?” Vail whispered, bringing me back to reality again. I stared up at his sweet face and the sad way his mouth twisted. “You’ve been here for days without a shower, you stink.”
I laughed when he gave me a small smile. “You don’t pull punches, little doc.”
“I care about you and Fallon. He wouldn’t want you stinking to high heaven.”
I stared at Fallon’s peaceful face again, then focused on the machine that blipped away beside him. With every breath he took it beeped and showed his heart rate and oxygen level and other numbers I didn’t understand. “He’d tell me my sweat smells hot so he could get into my pants.”
Vail chuckled and sank onto the seat beside mine. A maximum of two people were allowed to stay in the ICU, and at 8:00 p.m. they’d try to kick us out. I’d already pushed my luck. We’d been given a lot of leeway here and there, but mostly we were attempting to keep to the rules.
“Yeah, he would.” Vail smiled in Fallon’s direction. “He’s such a big flirt. Has he always been this way?”
I nodded, words caught in my throat. When he’d first been put under our watch I had almost no hope for him, hadn’t bothered to say a word to him, and most of the months he’d stayed with us before Vail showed up, I’d barely said a sentence to him.
Now I regretted it.
“Aspen, you must go home. You’re exhausted, and you need a shower and food—real food.” He touched his hand to the back of mine and leaned over to kiss my shoulder. “Please. For me? It’s nearly eight. They’ll be tossing us out anyway. Come home with me, I miss you. I can’t stand being there without all of you, and I know I can’t help Fallon not being there, but you can come home. We can drive back early and be here first thing.”
I didn’t want to leave, but Vail was right—the nurses would be around to tell me to leave soon, and it could possibly become an issue when I didn’t listen. I’d promised him I would stay, though.
“Please come home.” Vail leaned up and kissed my cheek. I tried to look away from him, but he moved, and all I could see was his big brown eyes begging me to be reasonable. “We’ll be back and step through that door the first second they’ll let us.”
He tugged on my arm lightly, and I sighed, finally allowing him to pull me out of my chair. I gave Fallon another glance, reached out to touch his hand that lay above the blankets, and finally let Vail tug me again. Vail stopped to walk over to Fallon and kiss his cheek, then whispered something I couldn’t hear before he was back at my side and smiling.
“He’ll be fine. That’s why they put him in the coma, to help heal him.”
Yeah, I knew that, but I didn’t have to like it.
Vail and I walked out of the ICU and navigated the long hallways. We went down an elevator and even more corridors before we were near the ER and found Cillian and Rowen. They were talking in hushed whispers, but it sounded like they were arguing again, which was confirmed when Cillian cussed Rowen out.
“Stop it,” Vail snapped lightly, glaring at them. “No fights tonight. We’re here for Fallon.”
Cillian and Rowen both straightened and sent an apologetic smile toward him.
“Sorry,” Rowen said, but Cillian nodded because he wasn’t the type to apologize.
Vail harrumphed and threw his empty cup in the trash can near us. “We’re going to take Aspen home for the night, and then we’re coming back early. Am I clear?”
I didn’t know how Vail had taken charge of the four of us, but it happened when I wasn’t looking, and now we followed his orders as though he was another Sloan Killough. I’d never seen Cillian react to anyone the way he did Vail, and it was impressive. Vail hooked his arm around my elbow and did the same for Cillian, dragging us to the front doors. Rowen laughed and followed.
We got to the SUV in the parking lot and, like always, Cillian drove. I sat in the back with Vail, while Rowen took the front passenger seat, and they spoke quietly between themselves as I stared out the window, jaw tense. I shouldn’t have left because I’d promised Fallon someone would always be with him, but I hadn’t expected the visitor time limits.
At one point, Vail tapped his window and said, “Oh look, it’s one of those street performers, the ones that paint themselves silver and pretend to be statues. When I was a kid, one of them got me good. Dad had to calm me down for at least half an hour.”
After that, I tuned them out completely and closed my eyes. I hadn’t realized I’d fallen asleep until a hand on my shoulder startled me awake and Vail’s beautiful smile came into my line of sight.
“We’re home,” he whispered. “Come shower and then we’ll get you into bed.”
