Page 11 of Protective Love

"Okay, that's good. Well, I think that's good," she says, frowning down at me. "Maybe I should go and get your nurse because I'm really not qualified for this."

I squeeze my eyes shut tightly before opening them again, exaggerating the one blink.

She watches me for a few seconds and then she begins to laugh as she slides off of my bed.

"You want me to get the nurse, don't you?"

I blink again.

"You think she's pretty?"

Again, I close my tired eyes for a split moment, indicating that I do in fact find Rory stunningly beautiful.

"I knew you would!" she exclaims, clapping her hands and jumping excitedly. "Okay, hang tight, I'll go and get her!"

Hang tight?

Is she kidding me?

I can't fucking move.

Chapter Six

Rory

When I see Sophia rushing down the hallway towards me, her eyes pinging from side to side as she searches each room she's jogging past, panic, fear and nausea overtakes me.

I jump up from the chair I've been seated in for the past hour and walk towards her.

"What's wrong? Is everything okay?" I ask hurriedly, hoping that everything's fine and I haven't somehow done something wrong.

"Yes, but come, quickly!"

She takes my hand, spins around and drags me through the corridor towards Jaylen's room.

My heart thumps inside of my chest as my mind races through everything I did earlier whilst I was checking up on Jaylen.

There was no way I did anything wrong. Markus checked him over after his eyes opened. He's been for scans as well since I was last with him.

Oh God.

Did they detect something in one of his scans?

We burst into his room and my frantic eyes scan over the machines beside his bed, looking for anything glaringly alarming and when I seethat they're all fine, my eyes land on Jaylen, seeing his drooping eyes planted firmly on me.

"What's going on?" I ask, looking between Sophia and Jaylen as my brows furrow in confusion.

"Well, I was trying to communicate with Jay by getting him to blink in answer to my questions and when I asked him if he's in pain, he blinked twice, meaning no. I wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing, so I came to get you."

My shoulders slump and I breathe a sigh of relief as I realise that nothing's wrong.

"You scared me when I saw you rushing around like that. I thought something might've been wrong."

"So the fact that he's not in pain isn't a bad thing?"

"No," I tell her, walking over to Jaylen's bedside and pointing at the IV in his hand. "Painkillers are being pumped into him, so it's likely he won't be feeling much pain."

I glance down at Jaylen to find him watching me. "You'll probably be in some discomfort, and you may be experiencing a small amount of pain, but nothing severe. Although we will be reducing the amount of morphine we're giving you each day."