“I’ll text John and ask if she’s awake.”
“Unconscious?” Talking took far more effort when your throat was scorched.
“No, like you, she was sleeping with the help of morphine.”
“Are you in any pain?” Ashley asked.
Surprisingly, I wasn’t.
“If that changes, the nurse can adjust your morphine drip.”
I nodded.
“I’m fine.” My voice was deeper than James Earl Jones. Grittier too.
“You say that now.” Nathan nodded towards my arm.
From the elbow down, my arm was wrapped in thick bandages. I could barely wiggle my fingers inside the gauze mitten.
“Why fingers?”
“Don’t know.”
“How bad?” Abbreviated sentences were easier, especially if I sipped water between them.
“Second and third-degree burns, and you broke your radius and ulna.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“What? I listened to the doctor when he explained the damage to the bones in your forearm.”
“Heal time?”
“Dude, you’re down for a while. The doctor has to remove the dead skin from your arm, and he suspects you’ll need a skin graft. And your bones will need six to eight weeks to heal.”
I let my head fall back as I moaned. Madi would need my help but I’d be helpless.
No. I could use my right arm.
And Madi has a big, loving family.
“The doctor said you’ll heal a lot faster after the graft, as long as nothing goes wrong,” Ashley tried to cheer me up.
“I don’t think that’s what he’s worried about, Slick.”
“Then what?” I watched as she figured it out. “Oh. Right. He’s like you.” She tried rolling her eyes, but she was too in love with Nathan to actually be annoyed at him.
I laughed, which resulted in a coughing fit.
“Exactly,” Nathan said, smiling back at his wife. “I felt helpless to protect you while I healed.”
He’d been shot twice rescuing Ashley from a domestic terrorist. The brother of the terrorist who’d given him his scar.
“Men.” She shook her head and turned to me. “You do realize that her father and brothers will be hovering over her like flies on shit.”
“Not bees on honey?” Nathan asked.
“Hell no, they’ll be obnoxious as fuck. As I was saying before I was interrupted.” She shot a look at Nathan. “Madi’ll have more protection than she wants or needs now that the psycho bitch is behind bars.”
