I tell him I love him, that I miss his voice and his arms around me. I want him to give me shit about veggies and water and driving like a dick. Sometimes, I break down and cry, begging him to wake up. When Lil ventures out of the room, I tell him I missour kisses, his tongue, his cock, him pinning me to the shower wall… I miss falling asleep on his chest and waking up with him wrapped around my body.
Every night, I listen to the beeps of the machines, the sounds of the TV, and Lil’s soft snores from the cot in the corner that Dad brought in. Even though she tries to get me to sleep there, even for short naps, I never do. I rest my head on my arm on the mattress next to my husband while holding his hand in mine and fall asleep.
Chapter 86
Ouch
Luca
Beeping wakes me up. Did Ariana set an alarm on her phone? It’s not my normal alarm tone, and my girl doesn’t set alarms unless it’s absolutely necessary. She usually just relies on me or Lil or her body deciding it needs coffee to wake her.
But something’s wrong besides the beeping. She’s not on my chest, and I’m not curled up with her, spooning her body with mine the way we both love. With more difficulty than normal, I crack my eyes open and stare at a ceiling that isn’t ours.
What the fuck? Where the fuck am I? My eyes are drawn toward the beeping, to a machine showing my heartbeat. My left hand is covered in tape, keeping some kind of IV attached to it. I’m in the hospital. I close my eyes again, trying to figure out why the hell I’m in the hospital.
I was digging my ring out of my bag after my fight. I open my eyes again, looking at my finger, and see the pink band right where it belongs, but I don’t know how it got there.
It all comes back to me in a rush. Getting hit from behind in the locker room, having my teeth pulled in the back of a van, beingbeaten and stabbed in that cabin, and my queen rescuing me like the little badass she is.
Ariana. My girl. My queen. My wife! Where is?—
She whimpers softly, and I whip my head to the right. My heart flips. It definitely does something weird because I hear the machine record it. Ariana’s asleep, hunched over in a chair, her head on her arm like it’s a pillow. She whimpers again, her lips parted slightly. Her other hand is holding mine. I squeeze it gently, rubbing it with my thumb.
I try to say her name, but it comes out as a croaked cough. She jolts awake and looks around, trying to pinpoint where the noise came from. I follow her gaze to a cot in the corner and see Lil sleeping there. I squeeze Ariana’s hand again. Her head swivels, and her eyes go wide.
“Luca,” she breathes, jumping up from the chair. “Oh my God, you’re awake!” She reaches over my shoulder to hit a button on the wall behind me.
“Shhhh, I’m sleeping,” Lil groans.
“Lilith! Luca’s awake!” She looks relieved and… tired. So tired.
“What? Holy shit!” Lil cries. I don’t look at her, though. My eyes are only on Ariana. God, my girl is exhausted in every way a person can be exhausted, down to her soul, but she’s smiling like I just handed her the deed for the fucking moon.
“Hey, baby,” I finally croak out.
And fuck. It breaks her. She cracks right open. She starts sobbing, and her body crumples. Her head lands on my shoulder, but she doesn’t put her arm around me. I realize it’s because she’s afraid she’ll hurt me. Lil appears at her side, helping to keep her from sliding to the floor. My right hand is still in hers, and when I try to lift my left, it doesn’t go far because of the tube. “Fuck,” I groan.
The door opens, and a nurse pokes her head in. “Hey ladies,what do you… Oh!” Her eyes go wide, taking in the scene. “I’ll go tell the doctor he’s awake right away!”
“Thanks, Nancy,” Lil calls out to her as the door closes.
I look at Lil and ask the question with my eyes.
“Five days. You’ve been totally out of it for five days.”
Motherfucker. My sweet girl’s been stuck here while I slept for five days.
“Ariana, put your arm around me.” I feel her shake her head in protest. “Please, baby.” My voice cracks. Her right arm slowly moves across my torso—so gently it makes me want to cry. I loosen my hand from hers and wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her as close as I can. Her head shifts until it’s against my neck. It’s not exactly the way I want to hold her, but it’ll work for now. I close my eyes and breathe her in. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she whispers. She stops crying, and my heart stops hurting. We stay like that for the few minutes it takes the doctor to arrive. I reluctantly let Ariana move when he starts asking me questions and checking my bandages, but I take her hand in mine again and don’t let her out of arm’s reach. When he pokes around my ribs, I hiss a couple of times, and Ari’s grip tightens. My bed is raised so I’m sitting up slightly, and the doctor gives us a rundown.
They need to run some scans and make sure I can eat, drink, and piss on my own now that I’m awake before they’ll release me. And I have to take it easy for at least a couple of weeks once I get home. No lifting, no working out, no strenuous activity.
Part of me wishes Ariana had just blown Fred’s kneecaps off because I’d like to get a little revenge, but I’m mostly still amazed by her.
“I’ll check back soon,” the doctor says as he leaves. Once he’s out of the room, I pull Ariana close again.
“Shit, Lil, can you let them all know?” Ari asks from beside me.
