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“Dammit, Jez,” Phantom bites out. “We get it. You’re not his babe, and you don’t want to stay here. But you’ll do whatever the doctor tells you because he’s the expert in medicine, not you.”
She whips her head in his direction, and groans at the pain it causes. “You’re fired.”
He smirks. “No, I’m not.”
Jez shifts her eyes to mine. “Are you seriously going to let them do this?”
“Yeah, I am.” I look to Abyss. “Sedate her if you need to.”
Abyss nods and moves across the room to get the drugs out of his locked cabinet.
“You’re gonna stay here and get the rest you need,” I tell the pissed off woman in the bed. “And as soon as Abyss clears you, Phantom and I will take you home. But Jez, not a fucking second before he clears you.”
She huffs out a breath and opens her mouth to argue, but she must sense that she won’t win, so she finally settles into the mattress and nods. “Fine, sedate me because that’s the only way I’m staying.”
Phantom and I exchange grins, and I ignore the way my dick twitches.
Fucking hell.
“Thank you,” he says to her.
Abyss injects the sedative into her IV before tossing the syringe into the hazardous waste container. “Just get some rest, Jez. Everything will look better in the morning.”
As the medicine starts to work, she struggles to hold her eyes open, but the moment they slide closed, I breathe a sigh of relief.
“She’s gonna be the death of me,” I mutter.
Phantom chuckles.
“You and me both, man. You and me both.”
“Why the fuck isn’t she awake yet?”
The anger in my twin’s voice penetrates the haze. I force myself to the surface of the underwater current I feel like I’m drowning in. The more I focus on Soul, the more lucid I become. Antiseptic lingers in the air, and the steady beep of a machine keeps in time with my breaths. My eyelids refuse to open, and I fight them with everything I have. “It’s only been twenty-four hours, Prez,” Abyss placates. “Her body needs time to heal. She’s got a fucking concussion among other things. The sedative is only working this well because she needs it to. I’m monitoring her around the clock.”
“Soul,” Violet says softly. “Jez is a fighter. She’s gonna be alright. Her vitals are strong, and she’s breathing on her own. I know you hate seeing her like this, but she’s luc?—”
“Lucky… Was that what you were gonna say?” Soul snarls, his voice getting louder. “Look at her Violet, this isn’t fucking luc?—”
A meaty thump, followed by a groan of pain, echoes through the room.
“Stop it,” I mumble, finally able to find my voice. My throat is raw, so it comes out more like a gurgle.
Thankfully, the yelling ceases. It takes a moment for the room to stop spinning. I glance around and see Grim with his fist clenched in Soul’s shirt, and blood dripping from Soul’s mouth. Grim releases Soul’s shirt while they both stare at me open-mouthed.
Abyss rushes over to the side of the bed. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.” He fiddles with the IV in my arm and holds a cup with a straw up to my mouth. “Small sips.”
The cool liquid feels like heaven as it coats my sore throat. I pull back slowly, knowing it’s time to pay the piper. “Violet,” I call out hoarsely, and she rushes to my side. “I don’t have the energy to sign, can you do it for me?”
“You scared us, Jez,” she says, her voice trembling.
“I’m sorry,” I say sincerely. “But I’m okay.”
“Like fuck you’re o?—”
“With all due respect,Prez,” Violet interjects while signing for Grim’s benefit. “Shut up.”
Soul rears back as if she slapped him, obviously caught off guard by Violet’s ferocity. Grim grins at his old lady, and Abyss full-on belly laughs. A few snickers come from the corner of the room, and my head swivels in that direction, the sudden movement drawing a hiss of pain through my lips. My gazelingers on Demon for a moment before I notice Phantom standing next to him.