Page 82 of Unspoken Confessions
Reed and Austin were outside the door and I knew we were somewhat safe. And also, I didn’t fucking care if we were or not. He needed me and I wasn’t going to keep my distance just to hide what we had, not right now.
“Everything hurts,” he said, closing his eyes again. “I can’t even lay down. They said I have a concussion and I’m banged up pretty badly, but I’m lucky, I guess.” He breathed deeply for a few breaths. “Can you just hold my hand, please? I really want you to wrap me up in those big arms of yours, but I ache too much. I just really need you to touch me.”
I slipped my hand into his and lightly held on. His body swayed and then he was practically falling to the side and into my chest.
“I haven’t heard anything about Jen,” he said. “I’m so scared, Jameson. I can’t fucking lose him. This is all my fault. No one will tell me anything. Just that he’s in surgery. It can’t be good if he’s in surgery, right?”
“I’m sure he’s okay. It doesn’t mean anything. You can’t think negatively, Nicky. He’s going to be alright.”
Fuck, I felt sick saying those words. What if I was wrong? I really hoped I wasn’t.
A knock hit the door and I turned to see Austin’s face peeking in the small window. With one look, I knew that he was giving me a heads up. So, even though I didn’t want to, I stepped away from Nick.
“How are you feeling Mr. Sterling?” the doctor asked after Austin let him in.
The man was older, looking like he should be sitting at home doing a crossword puzzle rather than working long shifts and tending to people. But he had a kind smile and wielded the tablet in his hands with ease, looking like he knew what he was doing.
“I’m fine,” Nick answered even though we all knew he wasn’t.
“I’m going to keep you a few more hours. Just as a precaution.”
Nick nodded.
“How bad is the concussion?” I asked.
The doctor eyed me for a second.
“I’m his head bodyguard,” I said in a firm, professional tone. “I’m with him twenty-four hours. If there’s something I need to look out for, then it’s imperative that I know.”
“Just tell him everything, please,” Nick said softly. I imagined loud noises weren’t on the list of things his head could handle right now.
The doctor nodded then began to show me the scans that had been done of Nick’s head as he explained everything to me. I’d seen worse, but it was still bad enough that I felt like I might be sick.
Again, the guilt pressed down on me.
“Thank you,” I told him when he was done.
Then Nick and I were alone again.
But before I could say anything— not that I knew what to say— Austin popped his head into the room.
“Jen’s out of surgery. He’s fine.” Austin paused and slightly rolled his eyes. “He’s not fine and he’ll probably complain about it constantly and throw it in your face, but he will be alright.”
I exhaled with relief as Nick reached for my hand.
Austin saw the move and I would have sworn there was a small smile that flicked at the corners of his mouth. But it was so quick I couldn’t have been sure. So quick that it was easy for me to deny that I’d even seen anything.
“He took one to the upper chest. Nothing vital was hit, but the bullet shattered and it took a while to get the the pieces out. He’ll probably be in pain for a few days and might not be able to do much for a bit. Reed’s going down to be with him.”
I nodded at Austin and he slid back outside.
The moment the door closed, I turned back to Nick.
“Fuck,” he hissed. He was shaking and I wrapped my arm around him. I was a little scared he was about to breakdown. He’d been through a lot recently and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the moment it all came crashing down. “He’s going to be okay.”
“Yeah. He’s going to be fine.”
“Fuck, I was so scared. But I didn’t know what to do with that. If I let it out then it would be like admitting that he could die. And I couldn’t do that. He can’t…”
