Page 91 of Caged

I nodded again.

“Can you lift your arm for me?” she asked.

Gritting my teeth, I lifted my right arm. Sweat broke out on my brow. My arm only made it about six inches before falling back to the bed.

“More than last time,” she said. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“That’s my cue to leave,” Dad said as he stood. “I’ll be right outside if you need me.”

I nodded.

I was beat up, had three cracked ribs, and was dehydrated—nothing that couldn’t be cured with an IV and some downtime. When I used that as my argument against being admitted, the doctor ignored me. Turns out three days without food and very little water gives civilian doctors cause for concern. My father sided with the doctor, so I resigned myself to my fate.

At least I’m close to Cate.

A half an hour later, they brought me to a room. Thankfully, no one occupied the second bed.

When my father noticed me squinting, he turned down the lights. When I shivered, he added an extra blanket. Sensing I wasn’t in the mood to talk, he offered quiet support.

I need to see Cate. The thought was on repeat in my head, and would be until I knew she’d be okay.

Before long, even the steady pain wasn’t enough to keep me from dozing off.

I awoke to my brothers whispering with my dad.

“Cate?” My tongue was nearly back to normal, and even though talking was still tough, I at least sounded mostly human.

“She’s still in surgery,” Jamie said. He looked me up and down, a pained expression on his face.

I waited until he finished looking me over before answering. “Thanks.”

He cleared his throat and nodded.

“You scared the fuck out of us,” Jack said, sounding like he was choking back tears.

Not knowing what else to say, I defaulted to, “Sorry.”

“You okay?” Jamie asked.

When I said yes, he was the first one to hug me. “We thought we’d lost you,” Jamie said as he crushed me in a bear hug. When I grunted, he released his hold. I went through the same thing with Jack.

“I’m still here.” Wanting to sit up, I reached for the bed’s control. My muscles still lacked coordination, so Dad helped me. When I reached for the cup, he helped me with that, too. The water soothed my strained throat but the fact that he had to hold the cup for me bruised my ego.

Forcing the embarrassment from my mind, I thanked him after pushing the straw away.

“You sound better,” Dad said. He looked at the door before asking, “Do you want to fill us in on what happened before your mother gets here?”

When I paused, he said, “You don’t have to.” He searched my face for clues. “And if you want to talk about anything else, I’m here. No judgment.”

“Thanks,” I answered. I figured I could fill in a few details. “You obviously know about Wendy.” He nodded. Usingbrief, broken sentences I explained how we got caught, what happened to my truck, and then apologized for fucking up.

“Did he… did you just apologize for getting kidnapped?” Jack asked.

“Shoulda seen it coming,” I mumbled.

“No, Son, you shouldn’t have,” Dad said.

“I saw the basement,” Jamie said, his voice thick with emotion.

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