Page 13 of Bliss: Part 2
I looked down, jaw tight. “Yeah,” I said quietly. “I brought it up. She said she’s okay with it.”
Holloway exhaled slowly, like she knew what that kind of decision cost a girl like Bliss.
“Good. The sooner we can do it, the better,” she said. “I’ll check back in later. Give her some time.”
I nodded again, and she left the room with a small nod. Dr. Hansen lingered just long enough to give us an update on her vitals. Then he left too, and I finally turned back to the rest of the room.
“Do you want another slice, Lissy?” Dash asked, holding a piece of bread up for her to see. “We’ve got more honey, too.”
Bliss shook her head gently. “No, thank you,” she said in a soft voice. “But I would like more cereal.”
Rhys jumped up. “Coming right up!” he said, grabbing the cereal box and tipping it into her half-empty bowl.
“Shit,” he muttered, laughing when it poured too quickly. “That’s…way too much.”
Bliss looked at the overflowing bowl, then up at him with a calm little smile. “It’s okay. I’ll eat it.”
Rhys grinned, relieved. “Good, because no one else here’s going to touch it. Seriously, who likes Cinnamon Toast Crunch?”
“I do,” Bliss replied, her nose scrunched.
He made a face. “Well, you’re weird,” he said, teasing as he leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Eat up, sweet girl.”
That made her smile again. A real one, this time.
For a moment, everything felt okay. It was almost like things had gone back to normal, even though we all knew they hadn’t. It was all still hanging there. Everything that had happened, what we didn’t know yet, what still needed to be done.
But for now, we let the silence settle. We let the laughter happen. We let her eat her cereal and smiled at her like the world hadn’t come apart just days ago.
We were all pretending that this was over.
Pretending that we weren’t still scared out of our minds.
Pretending for her. And, in some ways, for ourselves too.
A soft knock at the hospital room door made everyone in the room glance up.
“Come in,” I called out, stepping away from the bed.
The door opened slowly, and standing there in the doorway was Kenneth. In one arm, he held a bouquet of bright sunflowers that looked too cheerful for a hospital setting, and in the other, a teddy bear. It wasn’t just any teddy bear. It was dressed like him. The bear wore a tiny red bandana tied around its head, a small black leather vest with patches sewn into the front, and on its feet were miniature black boots. Someone had clearly gone through the trouble of personalizing it, and knowing Kenneth, he probably had the women in his club do it.
“Hey,” he said, his voice low and rough. He looked around at each of us carefully before his eyes landed on Bliss. “Hope it’s okay if I drop in for a minute.”
I glanced at Bliss to check in with her first. Her eyes were locked on Kenneth, wide with caution. She didn’t look scared exactly, but I could tell she was still figuring out where to properly place him in her mind. Trying to read if he was safe or not. That kind of trauma made everyone a potential threat, even the ones who’d done good.
“You okay with him coming in for a moment, sweetheart?” I asked her gently, not wanting to pressure her either way.
Bliss didn’t say anything at first, just gave a tiny shrug as her eyes stayed fixed on Kenneth. Then she nodded slightly. “Okay.”
He stepped into the room slowly, respectful of the silence and the heaviness that still hung in the air. He didn’t rush toward her or say anything else right away. He just moved with calm, deliberate steps toward the foot of her bed. He set the sunflowers down by her feet, then held the teddy bear toward her. She took it carefully.
“I, uh…got these for you,” he said after a second. “The flowers felt right. Bright and strong, you know? Figured that suits you.” He gave a small awkward shrug, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. “And the bear…well. I don’t know. Found it laying around the club and I figured I could throw a few things on it, make it a little more…me, I guess. Just a little something.”
Bliss looked at the bear, then at him. Her expression softened just a bit.
“It’s cute,” she said quietly, her voice still raspy from days without much use. “Thank you. And…thank you for saving me.”
Kenneth’s eyes flicked up to hers, and he shook his head gently.
