Page 32

CHAPTER 32

AJ

She was so small-looking, lying in this stupid hospital bed. She was hooked up to a million machines, and I didn’t know what a single number on any of the monitors meant, except the heart rate. But it was staying the same, so I was guessing if the doctors weren’t worried about it, I shouldn’t be. I looked back at her, but then Jayden pulled my attention for a moment.

I glanced over at him. His hands gripped the side of the bed so tight that they were trembling, his shoulders shaking as he cried. I turned my body so I wasn’t facing him. Letting him do what he needed to do without someone watching him. I reached out, but then stopped when I was about to touch her hand. I realized my clothes and body were still filthy, covered in dirt and blood.

I looked around the room and saw a sink on a counter. I stomped over to it and scrubbed my arms and hands until every trace of dirt and her dried blood was gone. Then, I walked back over to her. It looked like Jayden had gotten himself together while I stepped away, and he walked over and grabbed a chair, pulling it beside her bed, and sat down. I was tired of standing, but I didn’t want to move away from her side anymore.

I grabbed her hand gently. Careful to not disturb her, I just watched her face. She looked peaceful, like she wasn’t in pain. I just hoped she really wasn’t.

“My parents are almost here.”

It was jarring to hear a voice instead of the steady beeping and hum of the machines that surrounded us. I looked over at him. He watched his sister sleep, his face strained and tired. He reached up and rubbed his eyes, then dropped his hand to text something back to his parents. Or at least, that was my guess.

“All right.”

I didn’t need to say much else. I already knew what I needed to know. That Kordell was dead and Rosalie wasn’t. That was all that mattered to me.

The minutes passed, and we could hear her parents before we saw them. Then, Kayden and Rose Wells opened the door and pushed the curtain aside, revealing themselves, standing slightly out of breath in the hallway's light. They rushed in, closing the door behind them, and walked over next to Jayden, their attention on Rosalie. Kayden gently grabbed her other hand and rubbed the top of it.

“She’s so cold. Can’t we give her some more blankets?” Kayden said quietly as he looked over at Rose.

Rose always struck me as a woman that let nothing get to her, but she wasn’t acting like that now. The last time I had seen her in a hospital, she’d practically knocked my ass out with the glare she gave me. This time, she walked over to me, and to my surprise, she hugged me.

“Thank you for getting her here fast enough for them to save her,” she whispered next to my ear.

I stood there awkwardly as she pulled away and walked back next to her husband.

“I’m going to go find the doctor and get as many details as I can. Do you guys need anything?” she quietly asked us as she rubbed Kayden’s back.

Kayden shook his head. Jayden stood up, and I just stood there, unsure of what to say.

“I’ll go with you,” Jayden said, and he and his mom walked back out the door.

Kayden took his son’s chair beside Rosalie and just looked at her, glancing up at the monitors.

“I never know what all these numbers mean,” he said as he nodded toward the screens.

“Me neither,” I said.

“Kinda wish I’d learned now, so I knew how she was really doing,” Kayden said. He softly chuckled with a quivering smile before swallowing hard and looking back down at Rosalie’s hand.

You and me both. Fuck, I wish it were me there instead of her right now.

I was lost in my thoughts when Rose came back into the room. In her hands, she had a carrier of coffees and a large bag. She set the coffees down before walking over to me and holding the bag out. I lifted my eyebrow, confused, as I looked at her.

“It’s some clothes. They should fit. I had them delivered here once I saw the state you were in. Change and go get that cut looked at,” she said as she pointed to my chest.

I’d almost forgotten about the cut across my pecs. I reached out and grabbed the bag from her. If there was some stupid stuffy designer shit in here, she could forget about me changing. But when I looked inside, there wasn’t anything besides a new pair of underwear, socks, joggers, tank top, and a hoodie, but this one had sleeves.

“Thanks,” I said as I walked over to where there was usually a second bed.

I closed the curtain and changed, but before I could get the hoodie on, Rose opened the curtain.

“I meant it. Go outside and have a nurse clean that up before you put on the shirt. The last thing Rosalie or any of us needs is for you to get a nasty infection from a knife wound.” She gave me a stern look and turned to walk back out the door.

“I’ll be fine,” I grumbled as I slid an arm into the hoodie.

But she flung the curtain open, causing me to pause, and a nurse with a cart of wound care items was standing next to her. The nurse flashed me a smile and blushed at the sight of me.

“I figured you would say that, so I stepped outside and asked her to come in while you were changing. Now, just sit down and let her do her job, AJ.”

She smirked at me in triumph at her preemptive planning.

Well played, Rose.

I thought about pulling my hoodie on and just telling them to fuck off, but who the fuck knew where that bastard had last used his knife?

I sat down in a chair as the nurse moved in and started assessing the cut.

“Let’s get this over with,” I said.

I flexed my pecs to prove the point that it didn’t hurt as bad as it looked as the nurse ran her fingers along the edges of the cut. She raised her eyes up at me, but bit her lower lip to stop from saying what was obviously on her mind. I smirked at her and raised my eyebrow, which caused her to speak and work slower.

“Well, it looks like you were pretty lucky. It doesn’t look like this will need stitching, just some cleaning and a little ointment, and we can get it wrapped up. Think you can handle that?” she whispered as she cleaned it.

Twenty minutes later, I was wearing the hoodie and getting ready to walk back over to sit back by Rosalie’s side. When the elevator opened, I saw three police officers step onto the floor. My body tensed, and Rose noticed, her attention following the direction I was looking. She stood up as a nurse from the nurses’ station pointed at Rosalie’s room, and the officers nodded and began walking this way.

Shit, how are we going to fucking explain this?

Her brother wasn’t back yet.

Did they already get ahold of him?

“I’ll handle it. You guys just relax and stay with Rosalie. I’ll be back shortly.”

With that, Rose walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. She met with the officers. Kayden and I watched as she led them over to a waiting area and sat down with them.

“Sure she can handle the cops on her own?” I asked Kayden as I walked back over to Rosalie’s bedside and sat down.

“Oh, don’t worry about Rose. I would be surprised if it took her longer than a few minutes and a quick phone call before she’s back in here.”

Kayden took a sip of the coffee Rose had brought in earlier and reached over to grab a second cup. But instead of drinking it, he handed it to me.

“Here, you look like you could use it. I know what it’s like to be running off adrenaline and worry. It’ll help a bit.”

I paused for a moment before reaching over and taking it from him. I set it down on the windowsill next to me without drinking it, and then I refocused my attention back on Rosalie. Her hand felt so small, but it was soft and warm. I watched her chest slowly rise and fall, the monitors beeps fading into white noise.

She almost died, and you couldn’t protect her because you were too weak. She’s lying in a hospital bed again because of you.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect her.”

I didn’t even realize the words had come out of my own mouth at first, and Kayden glanced up, surprised.

“This wasn’t your fault. No one knew that Kordell would do something like this. If you hadn’t been there, who knows what would have happened? She might not have made it back at all. If anything, I should be thanking you for bringing my little girl home—alive.” Kayden’s eyes were glossy as he spoke.

“But if I hadn’t shown up, maybe she would have gotten him to take her home. She wouldn’t have jumped in front of the gun to stop him from shooting me.”

Kayden held up a hand. “Stop. Rosalie did what she chose to do because she loves you. She’s no different from the rest of her family. We put the people we love above ourselves. All we ask in return is for you not to throw that love away.”

He didn’t need to say anything else. I understood. It was clear by their actions with me that none of them blamed me for what had happened. Even if I might blame myself for not stopping him faster, before she had gotten hurt.

You can work that out of your system later. Right now, just focus on doing what needs to be done to get Rosalie outta here.

Rose came in shortly after our conversation.

“The cops always have to interview people with gunshot wounds. I was able to convince them that Rosalie was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and was a victim of a random drive-by. They are now going to be searching for a bright orange muscle car that doesn’t exist. Meanwhile, I asked them to not question you, Jayden, or Rosalie, and they will deal directly with me and my lawyer if they have any questions. Now, with that out of the way, how is she? Any change?” Rose came and pulled up another chair to sit by Kayden’s side.

“No. Nothing’s different. She’s just sleeping,” Kayden said as he wrapped his other arm around Rose’s shoulders and tugged her in closer.

She rested her head against his cheek and relaxed as she watched over her daughter with him.

Doctors and nurses came to check on her every hour or so, and Jayden came back, wearing clean clothes before he crashed in the other hospital bed for the night. As tired as I was getting, I didn’t want to take my eyes off her. She was still fighting for her life, and I wasn’t about to leave her here alone to do it.

And I didn’t. Besides going into the bathroom, I never left her side until she woke up for the first time—two days after she had come here. Rose called the doctors in as soon as her eyes fluttered open, and they all but shoved us out of the room to do some tests on her. I hated that shit, but I got that there were things they had to do when she was awake, and they didn’t know how long that would be for.

Her family and I waited outside the room for them to be finished going over the things they needed to do, and fucking finally, a doctor came out and talked to us.

“Rosalie was conscious for a while. We were able to do some simple cognitive tests, and it appears everything is functioning as it should. She was rather out of it, but that could be because of the high dose of pain meds she is on. Her waking up was a great sign. The worst should be behind her at this point. Now, it’s just keeping her rested and giving her body time to recover fully.” The doctor smiled reassuringly at us all, and even I’d admit that I felt the tension leave the room.

“Can we discuss her treatment plan and when she will be able to be transferred to a facility near Beverly Hills?” Rose spoke up, and the doctor gestured over toward the nurses’ station, where she followed him.

Their voices faded as I watched most of the rest of the medical staff walk out of Rosalie’s room.

“You go ahead. I’m going to give Jayden a call and let him know she woke up,” Kayden said as he pulled out his cell phone.

I walked back into the cold white hospital room and over to her bed. Her eyes were half closed, but when they glanced over and saw me, the smallest smile pulled at the corners of her lips.

“H-hey…” she whispered, and I grabbed her hand gently.

“Nah, baby girl, don’t speak. You gotta rest up. My and the doc’s orders. I’m right here, and I’m not leaving, no matter what.”

I stroked the side of her cheek with my fingers, and she tilted her head into it and smiled.

She peered up at me with her blue eyes and I sat down in the chair, leaning on the bed’s railing to be closer to her. She let out a sigh before her eyes slowly closed, and she fell asleep again, her cheek still resting against my palm. I just watched her sleep, afraid to move my hand for the longest time. But I didn’t have to worry about her waking up. She slept for another solid 14 hours before she woke up again.

But it wasn’t until the third time Rosalie woke up that I really got to talk to her.

And that was when I finally felt relief fully wash over me. My girl was going to go home soon, and I would be right there to take care of her when that time came.