The angel has a melodic voice. It’s lilting on syllables that should be harsh, and the soft, gruff tone wraps around me like a spell. I still don’t want to be awake, but that voice. Man, there’s nowhere I won’t go to hear it speak, even if opening my eyes feels like death.
A snort comes from the first voice. “See? Told you it wasn’t me he wanted to wake up to.”
I don’t want to wake up at all, but the answering chuckle shifts the weight a whole other fucker has parked on my eyelids.
Bracing myself, I force my eyes open. Two things hit me at once. First, that Jax looks like he’s been dragged through a Shipley orchard backwards. Second, everything hurts and spins so much I’m gonna puke.
Hard.
There’s no stopping it.
I lurch sideways and get sick over the side of the bed. It’s vicious, and painful, and the groan that escapes me sounds like a dying animal.
It’s a while before my surroundings catch up with me. I’m breathing as though I’ve run a marathon. There’s something on my face and a warm palm is rubbing my chest.
Jax.The other voice was Gabi. I don’t know when that manifested in my brain, but it has, along with the fact that wherever I am, he’s no longer here. It’s just me and Jax.
My eyes find their way open again. I’m in a hospital bed and Jax is leaning so far forward he’s practically horizontal. He’s watching me with eyes that haven’t slept and he’s still rubbing my chest. It feels nice—so fucking nice—but I can’t work out why he’s doing it. “Are you okay?”
The words are hoarse. Scratchy, like I haven’t spoken for days and days and days, and they’re hampered by the mask on my face. I make a clumsy swipe for it with the arm that doesn’t feel like it’s on fire.
I miss.
Jax has my back. He lifts the mask free and cups my face with his magic palm. “I’m okay, and so is your brother, and Eve, and Jerry, and anyone else you haven’t asked about yet. I promise. You don’t have to worry about anything except feeling better, all right?”
I believe him. Jax is a part of me I can’t let go. He’s truth and trust and honesty, but for the fucking life of me I can’t remember already having this conversation. All I remember is puking. A lot. On boots that aren’t his or mine.
Gabriel.
Oops.
I fade out again. The next time I’m conscious, Jax is gone, but Gabi is there before I can panic. His hands aren’t magic like Jax’s, but they calm me enough to figure I can stay right here in this bed.
“He finally went home to take a shower,” Gabi says before I can ask. “That dude has only left your side to take a piss for three days straight, so if you were fretting over whether he really loves you, stop.”
“I’m not fretting.”
Gabriel’s eyes widen and grow wet. I think my words have surprised him, then he shakes his head. “That’s the first coherent sentence you’ve said to me. Damn. Are you really back, or are you fucking with me?”
“The fuck are you talking about?”
A heavy whoosh of air escapes my brother. He sinks heavily into a nearby chair and shakes his head. “You’re back. Jesus-fucking-Christ.”
That’s a lot of fucks for such a short conversation. I let Gabi recover from whatever meltdown he’s having and make a shaky attempt to anchor myself. Without Jax, it’s a marathon, but I try. I don’t want to be in whatever state I’m in right now when he comes back. I don’t want him to look at me the way my brother is.
My head pulsates with bone-deep pain. There’s a bruise on my temple, I can feel it, and my limbs ache with more scrapes and wounds, and the strain of inactivity. Nausea rattles my belly, but it’s distant now, not a gathering storm. I ignore it and focus on the one thing I don’t understand—the searing pain in my arm. “What happened?”
Gabriel leans over me. “You don’t remember anything?”
“I remember the landslide. What did it do to me?”
“Threw you a quarter mile down Black Claw. You banged your head pretty good and impaled your arm on a tree. It got your artery. You’re lucky Jax strapped it so well when he found you, or you’d have bled out right there.”
It’s everything I need to know, but it takes me a moment to collect it into coherent thoughts. I take a breath to ask about Jerry, but my brain buzzes. I already know he’s okay. “How did Jax find me? We were looking for him…I think, right?”
“You’re right,” Gabi says. “He took those conservationists up to the new point on the trails. It was an overnight, but the rain came in harder than forecast, so he took a longer route back. No contact, so Jerry freaked and went looking for him. He found you at the cabin on the way and you went up with him. Quite the way to break your self-imposed city quarantine, huh?”
It’s too much. I pick out the information I need right now and let the rest go. “But Jax is okay?”
