Aaron’s eyes closed from fatigue and I stroked his thick hair and relaxed until a car pulled up to take us home.
Chapter 14.
Brad.
I opened my eyes to the sounds and bright lights of the hospital. Why was I in a hospital?
“He’s awake.”
Nevaeh was beside the bed, holding my hand and staring at me like she’d never seen me before.
“Hey, beautiful… what happened?”
I couldn’t pull my mind together long enough to put the pieces together.
“You got shot.”
I glanced down to my white sheet-covered body and although I couldn’t see the injury, I could feel it.
The ache in my leg.
“Oh… great. How long have I been out?”
“Only a few hours,” Grayson said from the other side of the bed.
“What happened?” I grabbed Nevaeh’s hand and squeezed, hard.
One of her eyes was swollen shut and I could see she was in a lot of pain.
“Trevor’s dad shot you with an old shotgun. There was shot from the shells lodged inside your quadriceps muscle, but one of the general surgeons managed to pull them out.” She lowered her voice. “We told them it was a hunting accident.”
I wanted to laugh, but instead my heart ached at how loving our mate was.
“No, beautiful. I meant you. What happened to you?”
“Oh…” She drew back her hand and pulled her fingers through her hair, glancing down as though she were embarrassed. “Ah…”
“He beat her.” Grayson growled out. “And for that, we’re going to kill him.”
“No, please, don’t,” Nevaeh said. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. None of this matters, as long as you’re okay.”
Grayson stared at her. “You care about us now, do you?”
“Of course. You know I do.”
Aaron laughed. “How would we know that?”
Nevaeh sighed. “I… I… can we do this later? When Brad and I are better?”
Aaron and Grayson nodded.
I sighed. They knew we all belonged together.
“How long do I have to stay here?” I asked her, grabbing Nevaeh’s hand and squeezing.
“Well, usually it would be a few days to a week. But Grayson said that you guys heal very quickly, so I don’t know.”
I flexed my foot and bent my knee. It hurt, but nothing I hadn’t dealt with before.