Page 5 of Brax (Voodoo Guardians #36)

“Why won’t she wake up?” he whispered to Gabi and the others on the medical team.

“Brax, she’s had a significant head injury. Fiona has reduced the swelling in the brain, but we’re bringing her out of this slowly. I need you to be patient.” Gabi curled her nose at him. “I also need for you to be clean. Go take a damn shower. Your brother brought some things for you. Head to the surgeons’ showers and get clean. She doesn’t want to wake up to that smell.”

Reluctantly, Brax left the room and caught a good whiff of himself, realizing that he did smell. He couldn’t believe no one had said anything sooner. He’d been sitting beside her for a week, praying, talking to her, reading to her and apologizing with every breath he took.

“How is she?” asked Benji, poking his head in.

“She’s getting there, although if your son doesn’t give me some room to work he might be my next patient,” said Gabi, smirking at him. “Anything from the boys on the car?”

“Tires were shot out,” he said in a low voice. “Either someone wanted her dead or thought it was someone else in that car. We’re working on that right now. Don’t tell Brax.”

“Sweetie, that boy isn’t going to leave here no matter what. If I weren’t a doctor and knew better, I’d swear they were attached at the hip.”

“I brought some more books for him to read to her.”

“Still bringing the romance and sex books from Charlie?” laughed Gabi.

“Yep. Make him so damn uncomfortable he’ll be pleading for her to wake up.”

By the time Brax returned to the room, it was already dark, and there was no change in Stephanie’s status. Taking his seat in the most uncomfortable chair ever created by man, he began reading from Charlie’s latest book.

“And the lights were everywhere, shining and twinkling as the couple walked down the aisle. Everyone knew that it would be a wedding to remember, one for the ages. They just wanted there to be a happy ending somewhere,” Brax whispered, reading from the book.

He reached for Stephanie’s hand, feeling the soft skin beneath his own rough flesh. She’d been in a drug-induced coma for eight days now. Eight days without speaking, without opening her eyes, without waking on her own.

Too critical to move, they couldn’t even take her to the pond. Now, he was resorting to reading her Charlie’s books, and it was making him more than a little uncomfortable.

“I need you to wake up, Steph. I need to tell you what an asshole I’ve been, what an idiot I am. You probably already know that, but it’d be better if I said it first. You can’t leave me. You just can’t.”

“She’ll be alright,” said Adam, walking in behind him.

“How can you say that? Nothing has changed in the last week,” frowned Brax.

“She’s in a coma, Brax. We’ve been keeping her there for the pain but are slowly reducing the medications. Fiona reduced the swelling, and it just takes time.

“She’ll wake eventually on her own. Her injuries are no longer life-threatening as of this morning. Once she wakes, we can take her to this magical pond of yours.”

“Will she really live?” he asked in a choked voice.

“Yes, son. She’ll really live.”

“Did you hear that, Steph? You’re going to be okay. Please wake up, honey. Wake up so you can tell me that I’m an asshole,” he pleaded.

He felt her fingers move beneath his, and Adam raised a brow. As her eyes fluttered open, he heard the sweetest sound ever.

“You’re an asshole.”

“Say it again,” he laughed, wiping the tears from his eyes.

“You’re an asshole,” she croaked. “What happened? Am I dead?”

“No. No, you’re definitely not,” smiled Adam. “Let me get Gabi and the others. Welcome home, honey.”

“What happened?” she asked, slowly opening her eyes.

“A wreck. The SUV flipped, and you were trapped. Flip and the others got you out. Steph. Steph, you can’t leave. You can’t, honey. I love you.”

“Wh-what?”

“Steph, I need to tell you so much,” he started.

“Save it, lover,” said Gabi. “Step outside and let me take a look at her.”

Brax let out a long sigh and nodded. He looked down at Steph, then bent down to kiss her forehead.

“I’ll be right outside.”

Brax stepped outside, and Adam closed the door behind him. He leaned against the wall and then slid down to the cold tile floor, his face in his hands as he sobbed with relief. Suddenly, he felt familiar hands on his shoulders. He knew who it was.

His father, twin brother, Saint, and Mav.

“She’s alive and awake, brother. Now it’s up to you,” said Pax. He nodded as they pulled him to his feet.

“I was so stupid. So, so stupid.”

“Yep. You were,” smirked his father.

“Thanks, Dad,” he chuckled. “I love you too.”

“Listen, just talk to her. Tell her how you feel. Tell her why you’ve been so worried about the two of you.”

“I did. I mean, I told her how I feel, but Gabi interrupted before I could say anything else. I told her I loved her, and she looked confused. I guess for good reason.” The door to her room opened again, and Gabi walked out. “Well?”

“She’s good, honey. No sudden movements, no running, no jumping, nothing. She’s alive. She’s on the road to recovery, but she will need care for the next few days.”

“I’ll take care of her,” said Brax. As the others left, Brax walked back into the room, Stephanie staring at him.

“Can we start our conversation again?” she asked. He smiled at her, nodding.

“Yes. I believe we left off with you saying I’m an asshole, and I told you that I loved you.”

“Brax, why the sudden change of heart? I’m so confused right now, and I already have a headache.” He nodded, taking his uncomfortable seat again, holding her hand.

“I should have told you a long time ago, Steph. I just didn’t know how to bring it up. It’s just such an awkward, strange thing to speak to someone about. Especially a woman that I care for. That I love.” He took a deep breath, steeling himself for the conversation. “The summer between my junior and senior years of high school, I was diagnosed with a rare form of prostate cancer.”

“Brax, I’m so sorry,” she said, reaching for his hand.

“Thank you,” he nodded. “I had to – I had to have my testicles removed. Everything works. I mean, I can still have sex, but I can’t have children.”

“That’s what was wrong? You honestly believed that I wouldn’t love you, want to marry you because of that? Brax, surely you must know that wouldn’t matter to me.”

“Steph, you deserve to have babies. Babies that look just like you. Brilliant, beautiful babies.”

“Brax, I can’t have children,” she said, looking at him. He stared at her, shaking his head in disbelief. All this wasted time because he wouldn’t talk to her. “It was the big glitch in cloning me. I don’t produce enough eggs to have children.”

“Are you kidding me?” he laughed. “All this bullshit I’ve been putting you through, and we could have been living together this whole time?”

“Sorry, buddy. As I said, you’re an asshole,” smirked Stephanie. Brax just laughed, gently pulling her toward him, holding her, hugging her, feeling her against his body.

“Steph, I love you. I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you in that damn school. Please don’t leave. Please, honey.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I don’t want to leave here. This is the only place I’ve ever felt like I was at home. The only friends I’ve ever had are here. I love my work. I love Doug.”

“And?” he said expectantly.

“And, I love you. Even if you are an asshole.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear,” he smiled. “I’m going to go get us both some food. I think you can have soft foods and liquids. Let me clear it with Adam and the others, and I’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere.” He kissed her, and she smiled up at him.

“No plans to leave ever again.”

Brax left the room as Ajei entered to check her vitals, the fluids, and other things. As he walked toward the diner to grab some food, he noticed the group of men talking.

“Hey, what’s up?” he asked his father.

“Brax, is she okay?” Brax smiled, nodding at him and the other men standing around him.

“She’s great. What’s happening? Why the pow-wow here?”

“We were at the shop,” said Pax. “We were taking a look at the car that Steph was driving.”

“Why?” Skull looked at the other men, and Benji nodded at the big man.

“Brax, someone shot out her tires. That wasn’t an accident,” said Skull. Flip nodded.

“I noticed it when I took the door off. They’d missed and hit the lower corner of the door on the first shot. Lucky it didn’t hit her. Then they got the front tire. Someone was a damn good shot, brother or the luckiest fucking shot in the world. That’s not an easy one to hit.”

“Who?” whispered Brax. “Who would want to hurt that woman?”

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” said Cam. “I take it you’ve convinced her to stay?”

“Yes. She’s not leaving, and she’s damn sure not leaving my cottage again,” frowned Brax. “This doesn’t make any sense. We ended everyone that had anything to do with the school. Who would want to kill her?”

“Maybe they didn’t want to kill her,” said Flip. “Maybe they wanted her out of it, unconscious, but alive. We got there awfully fast. Did you notice that the ambulances weren’t there, sheriffs, cops, nothing? We were the first, other than a few bystanders.”

“Damn. You’re right,” muttered Brax.

“Get your girl some food,” said Benji. “We’re going to look at ballistics and figure out what we’re dealing with. You take care of her.”

“Did you tell her?” asked Pax. Brax nodded.

“Yeah. Turns out she can’t have children either. Part of the cloning process that was faulty, I guess. Let me know if you find out anything else.” He left them standing between the hospital entrance and the diner.

“Does anyone, for one damn minute, honestly believe that her being unable to have children was a faulty part of the cloning process? That they would go to all the trouble of cloning her and not allow her to reproduce so that they could clone her again and again?” asked Cam. The response came in unison.

“Nope.”