He picked a book out of his bag. I didn’t know what it was, and he didn’t tell me. It took me a second to realize what it was. If my head weren’t pounding, I’d probably start quoting as he read. I loved that book. Tanner was a music loving, voice of an angel, Gatsby reading guy, and all he wanted to do right then was to hold me.
I closed my eyes and let his voice lull me off to sleep, where my head wouldn’t hurt anymore.
* * *
“I told you he was here.”Griffin’s voice filled the room. “I told you this was where he was. Tanner, brother, when did you get here? How early did you get up?”
Next to me, Tanner shifted. I opened my eyes. We hadn’t moved since he’d started reading. Maybe the nurses had come in? I had a new IV bag, but I hadn’t even woken when they’d changed that out. The book was on the table next to him, and otherwise, Tanner had held me all night.
“I got here about eleven o’clock, right before her birthday was over. What are you all doing here before eight?” His voice was scratchy. He’d just woken up too. “And why come in like you’re pounding on things with noise?”
I pointed at the window. “He came through the window.”
“Ooh.” Ace laughed. “He’s back to climbing. I haven’t seen you scale a building in years.”
“Well…” Tanner put his head on top of mine. “The motivation was good.”
They all took seats around the room, Griffin abruptly stopping at the bedside table. “You brought her a cupcake.”
Some mildly funny bickering took place, but I sort of zoned out. My head was clear, but I still wasn’t right. This wasn’t a new feeling, though. Every so often, I felt this way, like I was just a little bit out of it for a day. Then it would pass. This time, I could call it part of the concussion symptoms, or I could acknowledge it was just that kind of day.
It didn’t seem to come around my period or anything I could chart.Just so strange.
Rowan touched my leg. “You okay?”
“I’m doing much better now, thanks for asking.”
“Good, Archie said we can bring you home, but you can’t go to school for a while. You need to rest, so they’re going to excuse you from your finals. It’s all taken care of. One of the benefits of being my father’s ward. Anyway, you’ll be home with us. We’ll be learning things so that they will be fresh on our minds when we wake up as vampires. The things we learn right before stay with us, so you can watch us do that.”
I smirked at him. “What if I fucked with it? Like I told you a lot of dirty jokes right before or something?”
“Rowan, can I see you in the hallway?” Archie came to the door. “I need to talk to you for a second.”
Tanner groaned after Rowan followed the doctor out. “I hate that man.”
“You do?”
“I do. He’s the one who is going to dose us right before we get in the coffins. Drug us so we’re less scared. I’ve dreaded the sight of him my whole life. He’d show up to give us shots, and I’d want to have a fit, even before I really understood. He’s Doctor Death.”
The door slammed back open, and Rowan stalked back into the room. “Come on. We’re getting her out of here.”
I sat up.Well, that’s abrupt. “Everything okay?”
“No, it’s absolutelynotokay.” He shook his head. “Griff, give her the clothes we brought. Out of here, now.”
Ace put his hand on Rowan’s arm. “Talk to me. What’s going on?”
“He just asked me if I wanted him to kill Maci. To do her a kindness and put her down gently, since my father is going to kill her so badly. He just asked if I wanted her to die right this second. Obviously, I said no. We have to get out of here.”
Caesar jumped up. “Immediately out of here. How do we get the IV out of her arm?”
Tanner leaned over and ripped it out. The pain was jarring, and I cried out, blood going everywhere. “We don’t know what’s in that thing.”
“Fuck.” I grabbed on to the wound as Griffin pressed a towel down on my sore hand. I tried to swallow my fear to ask the obvious question. “So, it’s a given then, he’s killing me?”
“No,” Griff answered. “He’s absolutely not, trust me on that.”
I wanted to, but my doctor had just asked Rowan if he should euthanize me. I wasn’t filled with a lot of confidence.