Page 130 of Never Stop

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Brooke

Ispent ten days in the hospital, but those days rushed by, probably due to the fact that I slept for most of them. Tonia and Lucy both came to visit me this time. It was nice to know they cared. Easton tried to get me to eat the meals the hospital provided three times a day, but I didn’t have an appetite. Not even for grapes. Dr. Simon assessed my hand a few times. Once was me trying to hold a pen to write. I was able to. Another time was my trying to snap my fingers. I couldn’t. It felt weird that I couldn’t do the simple task of rubbing my thumb and middle finger together that caused a snapping noise. Dr. Simon gave me a stress ball to use frequently to build my strength back up.

I also wasn’t entirely sure if the “good drugs” were out of my system but I did know that I hurt. I hurt so fucking bad. Every turn Easton took on the drive home, every bump he went over, every stop he came to, caused pain to radiate from my shoulder blade and down my arm. Shooting stabbing pain that I’d never felt in my entire life.

“You got my pain pills?” I asked as Easton helped me into the house.

“Yeah, baby. Let’s get you in bed, and I’ll get you one.”

“I want to go to the couch.” I’d been laying in a bed for ten days and the thought of doing it some more made me sick to my stomach. Easton helped me down onto the couch and put a blanket on me. I closed my eyes, willing the pain to go away. I knew it wouldn’t work, this was what sleep was for.

When you slept, you couldn’t feel pain.

“Here,” Easton said. I looked up to see he had his hand out and the other with a glass of water. I didn’t know what I was taking, didn’t care. I only wanted the pain to go away. “Sit up a little and take this.”

I did as he asked and then laid back down. “I’m gonna take a nap.”

“Good idea. I’m going to go call my folks and let them know we’re home. They’ll keep Cheyenne for the night so you can rest.”

I nodded, not saying anything because sleep was all I was after.

“Easton!” I shouted from the couch.

“I’m right here, baby.”

I opened my eyes to see he was sitting on the sectional couch next to me. “I need more.”

“More what?”

“Pain meds.”

He reached down and grabbed the bottle from the table. “It says to take one every four hours, and it’s only been three.”

“I don’t care. I need more.”

I truly didn’t care. The pain was intense and it would go from a dull throbbing pain to a shooting pain that made me want to jump out of my skin.

“Dr. Simon said you’d be in pain, and that you just need to push through it.”

My eyes cut to him. “Push through it? You have no idea how much I hurt right now.” It was as though the medication wasn’t working at all.

“It says—”

“I don’t care what it says. I need another one!”

He was silent for a few moments as he read the bottle. “Well, it was only five milligrams.”

My eyebrows shot up. “The dosage is only five milligrams? I was taking ten of the Norco before.”

“I’m sure this is stronger. It’s oxycodone.”

“Just please give me another one. I think I need to double it.”

“Fine,” he agreed. “Let’s try ten and see how that works. If it doesn’t, I’ll call Dr. Simon.”

I held out my hand for the pills.