Ruby sits with me a bit, but soon Kooper’s demanding she go home and rest. Something she’s completely against, but she leaves when he says they can get wings. Even Fairy and Mad Max head home after a bit.
We’ve got a man on the door just in case. We already figured out everything that went down, that this had nothing to do with us. Doesn’t mean a Hound is going to go throughanything alone. Even waiting in the hospital for his girl to wake up.
If General hadn’t reassured Casper and the rest of the damn club, they’d still all be camped out in the waiting room, rules be damned. But our resident doc gave them the all clear. Diana is going to be fine. He’s only keeping her under for so long for her mind to really accept everything. She knew Ashley, and they were close. Seeing her friend die, then watching that fucking husband of hers shoot himself is one thing. Having the building half explode around her is another.
The guy knew what he was doing, I’ll give him that. He rigged the place to blow, but kept it contained. He was crazy, but not enough to take everyone out. Just him and his girl, apparently.
Flint already told me that the cops raided his place and found a girl strangled in the bathroom. Intel Flint could find from security cameras was that it was the same girl he was sneaking out to see at a motel across town. People always think that a seedy motel is the way to go, but they’ve got cameras just like everywhere else. Only way not to get caught is to not do the shit—or have someone like the Hounds work the comms to make it look like you were never there.
“What do you say? Should we wake Sleeping Beauty?” General says as a greeting as he opens the door and comes in, followed by Nurse Vicky. For once, she doesn’t seem like a complete bitch. Mean as hell still, but there’s a small, tiny, itty-bitty softness around her eyes when she sees my girl in the bed.
Then her eyes find mine, and they turn hard. “You aren’t family.”
“He’s family enough, Vicky. Diana’s grandmother gave him permission to stay while she went home to rest. I’m sure you can imagine what a strain it is on a woman of that age to witness her granddaughter go through all of this,” General says smoothly as he pulls something from his coat.
Vicky snorts, and I barely hold mine own back. Nana ain’t old or frail like General is making her out to be. I know this. He knows this. Hell, even Nurse Vicky knows this. The only reason I’m here and not Nana is because she doesn’t like hospitals. Says she spent too much time in this one watching her daughter die that she ain’t doing it again, so she went home. She’s been texting me every five minutes, though. I told her just to come back, but she declined. Still getting the texts, and I’ve got no problem with every one that comes in.
“All right. This will be better than any prince could do,” General mutters as he squeezes a liquid out of a syringe into part of Diana’s IV. It takes a moment, but then her lashes flutter and her eyes open.
“Hey, Babygirl.” I get close, not enough to block out the rest in the room, but enough that she knows I’m here and not just a random voice in the room. I squeeze her fingers and rub my thumb around her knuckles constantly.
She blinks a few times and then squeezes back, and I take my first solid breath since getting the call from Nana.
“Hey, Diana. How you feeling?” General goes into doctor mode, and I move back—barely an inch—to give him access to look her over fully now that her eyes are open.
“Okay.” She clears her throat twice before Vicky offers her a straw to sip some water.
“Slowly,” Vicky chides.
Diana nods after another sip before releasing it and resting her head back on the bed.
“What happened?” she asks.
General looks at me for a beat before he answers.
“There was an explosion. You got thrown back. We checked you over. Other than a few bumps and bruises, nothing too bad. I expect a full recovery.”
“What about…?” She looks at me and then General, eyes briefly passing by Vicky as she pleads for more answers.
“Nurse, why don’t you give us the room for a bit?”
Vicky’s head jerks back as if she’s surprised, but instead of arguing, she nods. Then she squeezes Diana’s leg in comfort and walks out.
“Ashley didn’t make it. Neither did her kids,” General says before Babygirl can explain what she wants to know. “After the gunshot, none of them were going to make it. There was nothing you could have done.”
Tears flow down her face, and she nods in understanding. I expect she knows this, but still, hearing it? God, I wish I could take away this pain from her. I wish so much that I could, but I can only promise myself, and her, that I’ll be there for her when she needs it. When the load is too heavy to carry this memory, I’ll be there. I would like to think she’d be able to move on and not let this day affect her, but I know my girl. She cares. Almost to a fault. She’ll hold this longer than she should, but she’ll do it with a smile to not burden anyone else. And that’s where I’ll come in and hold her up. Support her when it’s all too much and she needs the help.
“And the baby?” She looks at General, who looks at me. Then she looks at me too.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” She grabs my hand with both of hers, and her strength is clear in them despite her laying in a hospital bed. “I know this isn’t what you want. I didn’t expect it. I didn’t plan for it. And I’m not going to ask you to do anything you don’t want to do. You have too much going on right now. And I know I should have told you before this, but with you and Ruby, I just…. I’m sorry. I should have told you, but I didn’t. And I want… I want to keep it. Even if you don’t want to be part of our lives, I get that. It’s a lot, and you have so much going on. It’s just that I… I—”
“Diana,” General cuts in softly, nothing like the blade her words just drove through me. The thought of her doing this alone stabs me straight through the heart and leaves a trail of blood in its wake.
She looks at him, and I just look at her, already knowing what he’s going to say. Already knowing the truth.
“You’re not pregnant.”
“Wha… what?”
