Chapter Forty-Two
AYDA
Iwas rambling as I worked Drew’s legs in a slow stretch to warm his muscles up. It had been a week since we’d arrived in the hospital, and we were finally in a room rather than intensive care, which meant we were dealing with more and more visitors. I had a nifty chair that now unfolded into a bed, so I could lay out and wasn’t waking up stiff. That didn’t mean the nurses weren’t tripping over me during their night checks. Every night, Deeks helped me drag that heavy thing next to Drew’s bed before he left to sit in the waiting room all night. My hand would be in Drew’s while I slept, just in case he decided that was the moment he wanted to wake up.
The longer we were confined within these walls, the longer Drew stayed motionless in that bed. With that, more hope began to bleed from me. I managed to keep those emotions contained inside. I covered that wound inside my soul with duct tape again and again as they widened into a canyon that began to consume my soul. Those moments we had alone together, I would talk about the future I saw for us. I warned him of my grand plans for building a home for us because we couldn’t raise a baby in The Hut. Not really.
Day after day.
Hour after hour.
Minute after minute.
Drew stayed still, stuck in his repose.
Stretching out his leg to its full length, once again, I released an exaggerated put-upon sigh that would have had him rolling his eyes at any other time.
“You realize that I miss admiring your butt, right? Most mornings, when we’re at home together, I fake being asleep just so I can watch you walking naked to the bathroom.” I rubbed my palms up and down his leg with a quiet chuckle. “My favorite mornings were the ones when you caught me out. It was probably one ofthosemornings that you knocked me up.”
I bent his leg again, pushing his limb gently toward his chest before pulling it straight and easing it to the bed, where I trailed the sheet over it. I headed back to the top of the bed where it was angled up, the wires still hanging from him. Glancing down at his face, I sucked in another long breath and released it slowly, leaning in so my lips were only inches from his. The whistle from the air tube under his nostrils was louder when this close to him, but it didn’t deter me. I moved slowly around him, my hand sliding to its normal place under his palm as I studied his face.
“I miss you.”
Something moved over my hand, and I shot back, thinking there was someone else in the room. After glancing around, I realized we were still alone. The door remained closed, the usual hospital murmur relegated to the other side of it. My eyes drifted down to his hand and studied every inch of his flesh, but it was as it had been every day for the past week; sitting steadily, palm down at his side.
“Drew?”
Looking back up at him, I stared at his face for so damn long I thought I imagined the twitch in his jaw, but after asecond of holding my breath, I saw it again, an elated cry falling from my lips, making his foot twitch in reaction.
I wasn’t imagining it.
Was I?
Raising my trembling hands, I placed one against his cheek and leaned in again, my lips brushing over his and watching as his eyes moved under the thin membrane of skin too quickly to be just a twitch.
My heart pounded in my chest so loudly I was surprised it hadn’t alerted those walking past.
Drew was moving.
He was moving, and it was becoming more and more apparent with every twitch he made.
“Hold on, baby. Just hold on.”
I raced to the door, throwing it out of my way and barely flinching when it slammed against the wall. I checked on Drew, and then I stuck my head out into the hall. There was no way in hell I was going to leave him now, and I didn’t care who the fuck I woke up in the process.
“Nurse!” I screamed, my eyes flashing back to Drew and noticing his fingers twitching. “Nurse!”
I saw the bustle at the station, all of them heading in my direction, so I let the door swing shut and rushed back to the bed, my breathing erratic and heaving as my hand found his. I’d barely squeezed it when his eyes flashed open and those beautiful colors I’d missed so damn much searched the room frantically before finally settling on my face.
“There you are,” I whispered.
