“No. Just gave her more pain meds,” he says. I nod my head and watch him walk away before I check to make sure no one is looking. I get it, she doesn’t want to see me, but that doesn’t mean I stopped caring. I need to make sure she’s okay.
So I push the door open slowly and peek in at her. She lies there curled on her side on the bed, her back to me. Her hair is shiny now, not dull and dirty. It lies flat against the pillow behind her. I want to go to her. I want to take her in my arms and hold her,but I know I can’t. Instead, I just watch her. She shifts under the blanket and rolls to her back, her head turning toward me. Her eyes are closed, her lips parted slightly. I see the creases around her eyes. She must be dreaming.
I think about going to her, holding her, when someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn my head and look over my shoulder to see Jimmy with his eyebrow raised.
“What?” I whisper.
“You ain’t supposed to be in here.”
“Fuck you.” He chuckles as I step back and close the door quietly. Then I turn on my heel and walk to my room with him closely behind me.
When I get into my room, he follows.
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Clearly you do. You stalkin’ that girl in her sleep?” he asks.
“I just needed to make sure she’s okay,” I admit to him.
“She doesn’t wanna see you, brother.”
“And I don’t get why. We went through that hell together. I get it, her end was worse, but she asked me to stay with her, Jimmy.”
“She’ll come around.”
“What if she doesn’t?”
“She will. She just needs time to process this shit. It was a lot to deal with,” he says.
“I’ll kill them. Whoever the fuck they are, I’m gonna kill every one of them.”
“They sent a video.”
“They what?”
“They sent a video. Storm tried to pinpoint the area, but the signal bounced. They killed the phone right after sendin’ it.”
“What video?” I ask as I sit on the edge of the bed. It could have been anything.
“You and her.”
“Fuck. Are you kiddin’ me?”
“No. You were fuckin’ her.”
“They stabbed her when I didn’t. Fuck, Jimmy.”
“I know. We saw that too. You didn’t have a choice.”
“Does that make it any better?” I ask him.
“You didn’t have a choice,” he repeats.
“It doesn’t matter. I did what I did.”
“Don’t blame yourself for that shit. Do you think for a second that they wouldn’t have killed her? Cut her up more?” he asks, his tone turning cold. He’s pissed, and I get it.
“They hurt her, Jimmy.”
