Page 66 of Invincible
CHAPTER22
The next timeKnox woke up, he pried open one eye to find Dex’s head floating above him.With a grunt, he closed his eyes, drifting back off again.He was positive that sometime that night he’d had an MRI taken, but he never opened his eyes to check.
When his head finally cleared enough to wake him up, he found Thayer sitting in a chair next to the bed they had transferred him onto.He studied her for a moment as she sat with her feet curled under her, reading a book.
Knox could still remember the first time he saw Thayer.He had been walking past her father’s office, where she was curled up in the corner with a book shoved in her face.She had been a shy, lanky middle school girl when he had begun giving her extra help in math.What started as a simple tutoring job had morphed into a security job tending to her.
When Thayer had been abducted by a madman, he knew he had been willing to burn the world down until he found her.It’s why he had agreed to help Dex hunt for his niece, though he didn’t know that they were related at the time.
It wouldn’t have mattered, no one should have someone they loved taken from them.Somewhere in his and Thayer’s relationship, he had come to view her as a little sister.Now he could happily say he had two since Tyler had officially come into his life.
“Hey, Mama.How’d you get here?”he rasped.
He couldn’t decide what was worse, the scratchy throat in need of water or the fact that they had obviously pumped so much saline into him that he was desperate for a trip to the bathroom.If he had to guess, he would say the restroom trumped water.With a grunt, he pushed himself into a sitting position as the room swirled around him.
“Whoa, buddy.They said you might still be dizzy.Wait for me to help you,” he heard Memphis say from the door.Rushing to his side, Memphis sat a bag down before grabbing a hold of Knox’s arm.“Thayer, can you raise the head of the bed?”Jumping up, she ran the bed up while Memphis held Knox in place until his vision steadied.
Standing up, he swayed next to Memphis until he got his bearings.Ready or not, he either made it to the bathroom or someone was going to have some mopping to do.
“I’m good,” Knox said, holding on to the edge of the bed as he grabbed for the door.Emerging from the tiny room after, he already felt better.
He was met by Thayer throwing her arms around his chest in a hug.When he felt his hospital gown growing wet, he took her arms, pushing her away so he could look into her face.
“Hey, no crying.”
“You were almost killed.I’m entitled to a good cry.”
“Psst.It’s just a flesh wound,” he answered in his best Monty Python voice.Hearing her laugh, he gave her a kiss on the forehead.“Now tell me what you’re doing here.”Memphis stepped forward, steering Thayer back to the chair she had been sitting in before helping Knox get back in bed.
“Do you really think she would stay home knowing you’re lying here hurt?And at this point, I just do as I’m told,” Memphis said with a smirk.
“Watch it, I’m not afraid to smother you in your sleep,” Thayer answered.
“So you keep saying,” Memphis retorted.Knox would have laughed loudly had his headache not begun to return.He did manage a smile, however, when Memphis pulled Thayer into a kiss as she half-heartedly fought him off.
“Hey, hey,” Knox said, closing his eyes.“That’s how you got knocked up in the first place.”Usually he would work harder at giving his brother hell just to remind him who was older, but the raging headache was now moving to his stomach.
“Fuck, I think I’m going to barf.”Memphis grabbed the bucket that had been left on the table next to the hospital bed while Thayer quickly called a nurse.Within minutes, he was being settled back in bed while someone shoved a needle into the port on his IV line.
He felt himself relax, impressed that he had managed not to barf all over Memphis.It wasn’t that he minded nailing his brother, but he didn’t want to make some poor soul mop up the room.He felt a warm hand on his shoulder as someone mumbled words at him.As the pain ebbed, he dropped into a dreamless sleep.
The soft, sweet smell of vanilla was the first thing he noticed when he woke up again.It had an intoxicating sweetness to it that would always remind him of her.Maybe it was the reason he called her sugar, she always smelled a little like his mother’s sugar cookies.Most likely it was simply because he was from Kentucky and the South liked nicknames.
It wasn’t just the smell that told him she was there.He could just feel her presence when she was around, like there was a psychic line tethering them together.
“I must have died and wound up in hell,” he growled without opening his eyes.
“You wish your demons were as sexy as this.”Knox couldn’t stop from grinning as he opened his eyes.The room was dark except for a small glow over the sink in the corner.
“How are you feeling?”Greer asked, walking over to the side of the bed.
“I’d feel better if I could just get rid of the headache.”With a nod, she took his hand, giving it a quick squeeze.
“Are you hungry?”He had to think about it.Obviously he wasn’t firing on all eight cylinders yet.
“Yeah, I could eat something.”
“Okay, I’ll go see what I can find.”
