The doctor lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t think so. I’m not losing out on my change soon because I let the five of you ignore his order to return home. She’ll be okay. I get that she’s important. I’ll take care of her, and you’ll probably be able to take her home tomorrow. I’ll let you know.”
“No.” I grabbed the doctor’s arm. “I can’t afford you. I can’t ever go to the hospital. Please, I can’t stay here.”
The doctor frowned. “There won’t be a bill for any of this. This is a special hospital, only used for the people under the vampires’ care. You won’t owe us anything. My name is Doctor Lamar. We’re very informal here, so most people call me Archie. You can call me whatever you want.” He rose. “Time to go, boys. I promise to take care of her.”
Understanding was slow, but it finally caught up to me. The doctor knew about vampires, and he wanted to be one of them.
Would that make him a servant? I didn’t know if that was something I could ask, so I didn’t. Besides, the less I had to talk, the better. I closed my eyes.
* * *
Hours later,my head still throbbed, but I was awake and in better shape than I was earlier. My room was white, clean, and the bed was bigger than the average hospital bed. I’d only been in one once, years ago, when I’d broken my ankle. Even then, my mother had insisted we leave early because of the bill.
In the mirror hanging across the room, I could see a huge bandage covered my forehead. That must have been where I’d gotten struck by the rock. Where was my cell phone? I guessed it didn’t matter. Archie didn’t want me looking at it for a few days.
The tiniest noise had me looking at my windows a second before it swung open. Tanner stuck his head in and stared at me. “Good. You’re up.”
He hopped in, and I sat up, glad that doing so no longer made me want to puke. “Tanner? Isn’t this floor high up?” It looked like it, based on the view out the window from my bed.
With a shrug, he closed the window. “Heights don’t bother me, and I’m a good climber.” He swung his backpack off and set it down. “I couldn’t leave you here alone. Archie’s home for the night. I saw him arrive. The nurses won’t send me home or rat me out. They’re too anxious for the change. Not only are you hurt, but it’s almost not your birthday anymore. I can’t let you do that alone. So, yeah, I’m staying.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “Do the others know you came? That you were going to scale a wall?”
“No. They’re sleeping…badly. Caesar is prowling around the hallways. Can’t sleep at all. The others are trying. If they noticed I left the room, they probably figure I’m with Caesar. I don’t care what they think right now. Love those guys, but I want to be with you, so I’m going to be.”
He opened his bag and pulled out a plastic container. Seconds later, he removed a cupcake. “We baked earlier, before we started to sense something was wrong. We all knew. Ace found you, but we were all looking. I’m just relieved it didn’t take too long once we came looking. I wish we’d trusted the feeling and left earlier. I’m sorry, Maci. This is all really new to us.”
I understood the feeling. “Why is it happening?”
“I don’t know. None of us do, not even Griff, and he thinks he knows everything. I don’t really care. I like it.” Another dig into the bag came out with a candle, which he quickly lit with a lighter. “Happy birthday, sweetheart.”
Tanner sat on the edge of the bed. I gripped on to his arm. “Tanner.” I could hardly speak, emotion clogging my throat. “This is incredible. One of the nicest things ever done for me. I mean…” A tear leaked out of my eye. “I’m sorry. I can’t adequately express.”
He leaned over and kissed me. “Blow out your candle. You need to make a wish.”
I did as he asked, wishing beyond anything in the universe that they didn’t have to go through their pain, that they didn’t have to be vampires. That they could stay these guys.
I raised my eyes to meet his gaze. “Thank you.”
“You’re my girl. All of ours. But right this second, you’re mine, because we’re alone. I have so little time to spoil you.” He lifted the cupcake. “Want to eat it?”
“No.” I smiled. “My stomach isn’t great yet.” It might be whatever they were pumping in my IV, but I had no intention of eating just yet.
He set it down. “Let me know if you get hungry. Tell me your injuries. You look better, but it would be hard for you to look too much worse. I don’t ever want to see anything like that again on you. I thought… Never mind. Just so glad you’re sitting up looking like this.”
“They thought I had a lot of things broken, but nothing was. It was weird. Like as the hours passed, I seemed to get better in ways they didn’t anticipate. I guess I was just really lucky. Anyway, my head is really concussed, but otherwise, I’m strangely sound.”
He nodded. “Such a relief. Would it hurt you if I scooted in next to you, just to hold you? Make my heart rate slow down, feeling you in my arms, I think.”
I scooted over. “Yes, come on, but I think I smell bad. They cleaned me up, but I need to shower, and I’m not allowed yet.”
“You don’t smell bad, and even if you did, I promise you I wouldn’t care.” He smiled, sitting down before he stretched out next to me. The nurses had turned the lights down for me so I could sleep. It wasn’t totally dark, but it was better than nothing. My arm ached from the IV, but it was hydrating me, and maybe they had some sort of magic feel-good things in it. I really didn’t know.
Tanner smelled fantastic. He must have showered, because his soap, which had a hint of sandalwood in it, was right on the surface. I nestled down against him and only winced for a second at my head pounding. It eased just a little bit and then cooled. Yes, Tanner was exactly what I needed right then.
“I thought I might read to you. How does that sound? I know you can’t watch anything, but I could read to you.” He shifted a little, so I was on top of his chest. “How does that sound?”
I loved the idea. “Please.”