“Your mom?”
“Yeah, it’s like she was telling me that it was okay to just…let go. She was calling me home.”
“Virago,” Slade says, grabbing the wheels of the chair and turning me to face him. “This is all just in your head, okay? You’re not going anywhere. It was just a dream. Believe me, I doubt your mom wanted you to go out like that. She’d want you to have a long, happy life.”
My eyes drop to my hands. “I know,” I whisper. “But sometimes I wonder if it’s all worth it. Every turn we take, Lucien is there waiting. Look how bad this shit escalated. What’s going to happen next time? I mean…I don’t want to give up, but he’s making it really hard not to.”
Slade pulls in closer. “I don’t care what you say or what he does, you’re not going anywhere and neither am I. Look what he did and we still managed to come out the other end. You got shot and drowned and still survived. You’re too strong, Skylah. He can’t kill you and he sure as hell can’t have you.”
“You mean that?”
“With every fucking piece of me,” he promises. “I’ll never give you up. If he wants you, he’s going to have to go through me first.”
Chapter 5
I stare up at the doctor with my best puppy-dog eyes as he checks me over. “Please tell me I can go home,” I beg. “It’s already been a week. I promise I’ll be good and stay home as long as you want me to. I’ll even get a little bell and order Shay around like a slave so I don’t have to get out of bed. Please, I swear, I’ll do anything you want if you just get me out of here.”
He presses his lips into a tight line and looks over me again before glancing over at Shay. “You really don’t want to stay here a few more days?” he questions, raising a brow. “You know we have jello.”
“Screw your jello. I want to go home.”
“Alright, alright,” he laughs. “Chill out, I’m just messing with you. You’re fine to go home just take it easy, okay. I don’t want to see you back here because you decided to go for a run and tore open all your stitches. You need to heal.”
“Trust me, the only time you’ll catch me running is if someone’s chasing me and in that case, the fucker better be fast.”
Blake and Slade chuckle as Shay gawks in horror. “Sky,” she scolds in embarrassment as she rushes in to get the doctor’s attention. “I’m so sorry about her language. She’s not usually like this.”
The doctor scoffs, not believing her for one second. After all, the two of us have spent a little too much time together over the past week. He’s the one who’s been poking and prodding at my ribs and thigh so he’s well aware of my extensive vocabulary. “It’s fine,” he tells her. “Believe it or not, I find her…creativity rather entertaining.”
“I’m glad my pain amuses you,” I grumble under my breath.
“Oh. It certainly did. Now, I don’t want to see you back here, got it? I know I might find you amusing, but some of my nurses are scarred and will probably be in therapy for the next few months.”
“Oh, no,” Shay groans in horror, putting a hand to her face as the doctor signs my discharge papers.
He passes them over to her, knowing damn well that they won’t be safe with me and looks across at me. “I want to see you in a week for a check-up, alright? No faking illnesses or overseas trips to get out of it. Next Friday in my office or there will be trouble.”
“Loud and clear,” I confirm, knowing there’s no way in hell Shay is about to let me skip out on that one. She’ll probably walk me in herself and sit on me until the doctor is through.
He nods and gives Shay a warm smile and starts heading for the door but not before the boys stand and insist on shaking his hand. I can’t help but feel pride as I watch them. This man is the one who slaved over my leg in the operating room, making sure I didn’t bleed out. My life was in his hands and he did everything he could to make sure I came out the other end and since then, he’s checked on me every single day. I don’t blame him for wanting to get rid of me.
He walks out and I’m left with two overprotective boys staring down at me. “Let me get you into your wheelchair,” Blake says, striding toward me only to get Slade’s hand slapped across his chest.
“Ah, no. Thanks, but I’ve got this one.”
“The fuck?” Blake demands.
“You heard me.”