Outlaw: Chapter 11
It had been two weeks since the accident. Tarin was still in a coma. She’d ruptured her spleen, broke some ribs and her left leg, and had a traumatic head injury. They were worried that she might never wake up. Bear and I hadn’t left the hospital. I couldn’t. If she died and I wasn’t here, I don’t know what I’d do.
Bull had at least a couple of guys at the hospital with us at all times. I think it was more to keep us from destroying it if she died, than to help us. Maybe that wasn’t fair. They did fetch food and stuff for us. They brought us clean clothes. Everyone else took turns coming to visit. Ilara had even brought Hope a few times, so she could see her daddy. She was crying for him at night.
Zara spent as much time as she could, but she had shifts at the hospital and she needed to rest. The baby was due in five weeks. Bear had Ilara going forward with their wedding plans. He was adamant Tarin would wake up and there would be a wedding. I was fast losing that hope. The longer she remained in a coma, the less of a chance she had of waking up and the greater chance that if she did, she’d have permanent brain damage.
The doctors said her brain was healing according to the PET scan. That was our one tiny ray of hope. A hand in front of my face, holding a sandwich, had me blinking. I looked up to see Bull standing there. Bear had gone to the waiting room to see Hope and Ilara. “Eat,” he demanded.
I shook my head. “I’m not hungry. Thanks anyway.”
“I didn’t ask you if you’re hungry, I said, eat. She comes out of this, you’re no good if you’re down on your ass because you didn’t eat or sleep. Fucking eat,” he growled. I opened it and took a bite. It tasted like cardboard. He sat down beside me. “Bear told me what happened. You fucked up, but she’ll forgive you.”
“No, she won’t. You didn’t see her face. She ran her car into a goddamn steel gate trying to get away from us. She hates us and who can blame her? Instead of waiting for her to tell me about her past, I had to dig. It’s what I do. Did Bear tell you what she said about her stepdad?”
“Yeah, he told me. If the bastard was alive, we’d all kill him.”
“Why do people have kids and then abuse them, Bull? My dad beat me and my mom. Her stepdad touched her and God knows what else. All these people in the world have kids who don’t want them or hurt them, then there are others who desperately want kids and can’t have them. I wanted her to have my kids. I wanted her to marry me. I have the damn ring. She doesn’t know about the house I’m building. Nothing. If she dies, Bull, I’m done.”
“What do you mean, you’re done? Are you planning to leave the club or something?” He frowned.
“I plan to eat a fucking bullet.”
He bound to his feet. “Like hell you are! I’ll lock your ass down! She’s not going to die. She’s going to forgive you and you'll have those kids with her. She’ll be your goddamn wife!”
“Bullshit. You know it’s not going to happen! She should have woken up by now. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t want to kill yourself if you killed the woman you love,” I shouted at him. We were glaring at each other when the loud beeping of a machine finally got our attention. I raced over to her side. Her heart rate and pulse were climbing. I could see her eyes rolling behind her eyelids. Her hands were twitching. Suddenly, her eyes opened. She looked at me in confusion and alarm. She tried to talk then realized she had a tube in her nose. She grabbed at it. Thank God I was fast enough to stop her from yanking out her feeding tube. She was then trying to yank out her IV.
“Tarin, stop, baby. You need those. You’re going to hurt yourself. That’s your IV and a feeding tube. Look at me. Do you know who I am?” I asked to make sure, but also to distract her from the tubes. I could hear footsteps hurrying toward her door. She slowly nodded her head. I breathed a sigh of relief. Bull had hurried out of her room. I bet he went to get Bear. I held onto her hands.
A nurse and one of the doctors who’d been caring for her came rushing into her room. I stepped back to let them check her out. I hungrily ate her up with my eyes. She was pale and looked weak, but she was awake. I waited to hear what they thought. Bear came running into the room. The doctor no longer tried to get us to leave when he came to examine her. He knew better. I waited impatiently.
“Ms. Mercer, do you know where you are?” the doctor asked. She shook her head. “You’re in Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga. Do you remember what happened?” Again, she shook her head no. Did she have amnesia? “Can you tell me your name?”
She opened her mouth and croaked, “Tarin Jade Mercer. How long have I been here? What’s wrong with me?” She looked down at her leg in a cast. She tried to move and flinched.
“You were in a serious car accident. You broke your leg, some ribs, hit your head, and ruptured your spleen. We had to do surgery and remove it. You’ve been here for two weeks in a coma.” Her eyes widened. “We need you to leave this feeding tube down your nose and the IV in your arms until we assess you and you start eating and drinking. We're going to take you down to have more tests done. We’ll give you a couple minutes to talk to your father and husband.” He waved for the nurse to follow him.
I saw her mouth drop open when the doctor referred to me as her husband. That’s what we told them. It was easier than explaining every five minutes she was my old lady.
Bear leaned down to smile at her. “Hey, honey, it’s so damn good to see you awake. You scared the hell out of us.”
“Dad, how did I wreck the car?” He looked at me. I didn’t want to talk to her about it, not yet. She’d just woken up.
“Jewel, we’ll talk about that after you get your tests done. Your dad is right. You scared us to death. I love you, Tarin.” I gave her a kiss. This could be my only chance to say it before she remembered what I did, and that she hated me.
“I love you too. Why am I in Chattanooga?”
Hearing her say she loved me, made my heart race.
“You were too seriously injured. This is the closest level-one trauma center. Ilara and Hope are in the waiting room. She’s so happy to hear that you’re awake.”
“Can I see her?”
“Sure, let me go get her.” Before he could go, an orderly came in. He told us he was taking her to get another PET scan. We reluctantly let him take her, but only after we’d both kissed her and told her we loved her. When she was gone, I looked at Bear.
“Do you think she’ll remember why she hit the gate?”
“I don’t know, Outlaw.”