Page 25 of Beta Team-The Saviors: Part two
I let him finish washing me before grabbing the body wash. I start doing the same to him, taking my time. “Sometimes I want to take care of you, too.”
We finish up our shower, rinse off, and Gavin grabs two towels. We wrap them around our waists, and I’m just stepping into the bedroom when my phone rings.
I dig it from my pants pocket on the floor, and my heart drops when I see Kira’s name on the screen. I slide to answer, mythumb shaking. “Hello?” I can barely hear with all the noise in the background, but I can clearly hear her crying. I look at Gavin, panicked, and switch to speakerphone. “Kira. What’s wrong?”
“It’s Ari.” Kira starts crying harder, and I collapse on the side of the bed. Gavin sits beside me, grabbing my hand, already preparing for what she will say next.He died, and we weren’t there.We were too worried about sleep and each other. Tears are already forming in my eyes, and when she talks again, my stomach bottoms out. “He woke up.”
It takes a minute for my brain to catch up, and Gavin squeezes my hand. “What?” I croak.
“He’s awake. The nurses and doctors are still in there with him, but he woke up.”
“Holy shit,” I breathe, the phone shaking in my hand. “We’ll be there soon.”
“Okay. Drive careful.”
The phone disconnects, and it’s like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I look at Gavin, and he has tears in his eyes. “He’s alive.”
“Let’s go see him.”
Two words keep replaying in my head as I get dressed.
He’s awake.
I’ve never been happier to hear two words in my life.
The driveto the hospital was surreal. All I kept thinking was that something was going to go wrong, and they’d have to put Ari back on the ventilator. Or worse, they took him off of it too soon, and now he's back on. Gavin was a rock the whole way there, driving as fast as he dared with his hand on my thigh.
Now, walking into Ari’s room and seeing him propped up and without the breathing tube, I almost lose it all over again. “Go,” Gavin urges.
Ari’s eyes are closed, and his breathing is deep, telling me that he’s asleep. He still has IV tubes running everywhere and an oxygen cannula in his nose, but he’s no longer in a coma and is breathing on his own. I sit down in the chair by his bed, and Gavin sits on the other side. Ari’s eyes slowly open when he hears the chair creak. “Hey, Pretty boy.” Ari’s voice is gruff and scratchy, but I’ve never been more glad to hear it in my life. “Hey, Gav.”
“You scared the shit out of us,” I blurt out. “Can we not do that again?”
Ari chuckles and then winces. “I’ll try not to.”
“I figured your room would be full,” Gavin says.
“They’ve been in and out while the nurses were getting me situated, and Jason had a heart test.”
Ari’s eyelashes flutter closed, and his breathing becomes deeper. I know he has to be tired, but that doesn’t stop me from making sure he’s still breathing. The door to Ari’s room squeaks and Keon walks in with Kira and Jason. Kira smiles and comes over to sit in my lap. Jason stretches out on the bed beside Ari, and Keon sits on the edge. No one says anything, and I know we're all doing the same thing - appreciating that we’re all back together. I don’t know how long we sit in silence before Ari groans and looks around the room.
“Who died?” Ari asks, making me choke on a laugh.
“That is not funny,” Jason replies with a chuckle, and the tension slowly leaves the room. Ari groans again, and Jason sits up. “What do you need?”
“I need to sit up. My ass hurts.”
“You’re going to be a horrible patient, aren’t you?” Kira asks, but gets to her feet anyway as Jason and her work together to get Ari sitting further up in bed.
“If it means you’ll be my hot as fuck nurse, then yes,” Ari replies.
“You’re awful,” Kira laughs, sitting back in my lap.
“I have so many questions. Like, why the fuck was Professor North in my room when I woke up?”
We all exchange uneasy glances. I start telling him the story, starting from the apartment ambush and finishing with when we got to them in the prison. Ari’s face is a blank mask the whole time, taking it all in. I don’t leave out anything, because he needs to know it all. Even what I don’t want to say. “We couldn’t find Abraham.”
Ari nods. “Yeah, I figured that.” His eyebrows crease. “Wait. What did you say Professor North’s real name is?”
