“What do you need, dear? Are you hungry?”
He wanted them to leave. He could only shake his head. Even that small motion triggered discomfort.
After a long period of quiet, Phoenix became aware of Caleb’s low, murmured voice. He had no way of determining how much time had passed and whether he’d slept.
“No, I’m not going,” said their mom, in answer to some question Phoenix hadn’t heard.
“You look like crap, Mom.”
“Excuse me?” she said this almost as an afterthought, as if she surely hadn’t heard Caleb properly.
“You need grub, too,” Caleb admonished.
“I don’t want to leave.”
Paying their mother no mind, Caleb stood. “Something hot. Follow me,” he insisted.
“But—”
“Come on, soldier, this is an order.” Chalk it up to the unspoken power of twins, but Caleb intuited that Phoenix needed time to himself.
Caleb put his arm around their mom. “C’mon, we won’t be long.”
Phoenix opened his eyes long enough to encourage his mom. “Go eat something,” he managed, his voice cracking.
She studied him a long time, without saying anything.
Phoenix nodded towards the door. “Go.”
She fussed over placing the nurse’s call button within Phoenix’s reach before reluctantly leaving his side.
“You need a haircut,” she told her tattooed son, looking up at his overgrown mane.
“Just for that, you’re buying breakfast.” Caleb said, throwing Phoenix a smirk.
Phoenix watched them move on able legs towards the exit.
The door, half a room away, may as well have been across the continent. The distance to the floor mocked.Yeah, right.Just try to get down.He could brace himself with one leg and then what?
Now that he was alone and conscious, Phoenix needed to take a hard look at himself. He flung the sheets off with one hand. It was an alarming sight. His leg ended too early. His arm was a swollen mess of bandages. One fall had truncated his life in half. Framed by nostalgia, his old life seemed full and happy. His new life, he couldn’t picture.
This can’t be real.Fuck. I can’t do this. I need help.
Orchid.
No. Never Orchid.
The one woman who could help, he couldn’t imagine in this abyss of horror.
CHAPTER 10
A MARTYR FOR MY LOVE FOR YOU
Phoenix
Phoenix glanced down at his uncovered limbs and pulled the hospital blanket over his legs. It didn’t make the sight any better. Mom helped him straighten the bedspread and smoothed it with one hand.
“Are you cold?”
