“Can I at least get some pain meds?” I asked, lifting the hand without the IV stuck in it to rub gently at my chest, as if that would soothe the ache.
“Of course, of course,” Doc said. “You were actually due for another dose a few hours ago, so I’m going to see what happened with that.”
“Thanks,” I rasped as he left.
“We’ll get out of your hair,” Finn said. “Let you get some rest.”
“Finn?”
“Yeah, brother?”
“A word? Alone?”
He glanced at Reagan and Lainey, bending to kiss Reagan on the cheek before the twins disappeared.
“What’s going on, Lane?”
“I need a favor.”
“Anything.”
“I need…can you maybe convince Sutton to stop by? Or have Crew do it?”
After all, Crew had worked closely with her for years. Maybe he’d be able to get through to her.
My cheeks burned with the request, my voice barely above a whisper, but I couldn’t shake the desire to see her. After that dream, or whatever you wanted to call it, I was all out of sorts. Maybe laying eyes on her would set the world right again.
Finn nodded. “I’ll see what I can do,” he said, “but I can’t make any promises. She was…pretty fucked up after the accident.”
My heart squeezed. The last thing I ever wanted was to cause her distress.
“Just…try.”
“I will,” he assured me. With a final squeeze of my shoulder, he left.
Shortly after, a nurse appeared with a vial of what I hoped were good, strong drugs, which she extracted with a needle and stuck into a port on my IV.
In minutes, my pain eased considerably, and darkness descended once again.
The next time I awoke,I knew even without opening my eyes that I wasn’t alone. Feet softly shuffled against the linoleum floor, and a feminine scent lingered in the air, vaguely familiar but one I couldn’t quite place.
“Sutton?”
“Why wouldshebe here?”
My eyes flew open and locked on Addie.
“Shit, sorry. I just thought?—”
“Never mind that,” Addie said, railroading right over what I’d been about to say.
Probably for the best. I had no idea how to explain my desperate desire to see Sutton and, truthfully, the explanation would’ve been wasted on Addie anyway.
But why wasshehere?
“How are you feeling?” she asked, surprising me by coming to my side, brushing my sweaty, limp hair off my forehead, and bending to press a kiss to the clammy skin she revealed.
With Mama, the contact made me feel warm and loved, whereas with Addie, I found myself wanting to pull back.
