Page 24

TWENTY-THREE

MARA

NOVEMBER

“Miss O’Connell, you have a visitor.”

My eyelids felt cemented shut from all the Benadryl, steroids, and whatever else they had me all hopped up on. I opened to Jack standing at the end of my bed with a beanie bunched in his fingers. I’d never once seen him look so unsure of himself.

The nurse bustled around the room, gathering supplies and making notes on the computer. Through a thick drug haze, the details started to set in. “Who’s with the kids?”

“Obi and his girlfriend. They love kids. Everyone on the team trusts him with their kids.”

My brow furrowed. “The magic trick guy?”

Jack cracked a smile. “Yes, our goalie. I’ll tell him you said that.” He took in my concerned look. “You think I’d leave my kids with some kind of creep?”

I didn’t answer as the nurse connected the blood pressure cuff living on my arm to the machine next to my bed.

“Is her arm supposed to look like that?” Jack asked, crowding the nurse and pointing to the lace pattern under my arm.

“I get marked easily,” I said. “I’ve been wearing this cuff since I got here.”

“Are you hurting her?” Jack demanded.

“Jack. I’m fine.”

The nurse snorted and curled her lips into a grin, not affected by Jack’s bravado. “How long have you two been together?”

“Oh, we’re not,” I said.

The nurse just lifted an eyebrow as she moved to the computer to put in the blood pressure reading. “Can I get you anything else, Miss O’Connell?”

“I’m great, thank you.”

“I’ll leave you to it,” she said breezily as she left the room.

Jack leaned on the edge of the bed, looking me over anywhere visible. “How’s your leg where I stabbed you?”

He lifted the sheet to examine my thigh. He smirked a sad little smirk, tracing his finger over my tattoo, two skeletons facing into each other like those found in volcanic ruins. “Is this a Fall Out Boy reference?”

I chuckled. “You’re good.”

“Didn’t peg you for an emo kid.”

I let my hand rest over his on my thigh. “It’s not just a phase, Mom,” I joked.

His laugh was soft. “Saw them on Warped in Toronto.”

My head lifted off my pillow. “You. Jack Leroy. You were an emo kid.”

“Guilty. Got a few tattoos myself to that effect.”

I shook my head. “You are full of surprises. I bet you were cute in eyeliner.”

“Don’t forget the black nail polish,” he said, squeezing my thigh. I almost lifted off the bed, the pain shooting up my side. “Fuck! Does that hurt?”

“Pretty bad,” I moaned.

“Shit. Shit. I’m sorry, Mara. Do you need some ice? Nurse!”

I hissed as the pain dissipated to an ache. “Shush, Jack. They’re busy. They’ll be back in like an hour.” I scratched my wrist where my hospital bracelet was giving me hives.

Jack lifted my arm, examining the rash. “Mara, are you having another reaction? Where’s your call button?”

“It’s just a side effect. I’m fine. The bracelet makes my wrist sweat, and sweat means hives right now.”

“Does it itch?” Jack was some combination of panicked and outraged.

“Well, yeah. It’s hives.”

Jack poked around me in the bed for a few seconds looking for my call button, then ran to the door and shouted down the hall. “Nurse!”

“Jack, stop it!”

He waved to someone in the hall, beckoning them our way. I put my head in my hands. My nurse ran in, looking bewildered as she checked my monitors.

“She needs ice for her EpiPen spots and she needs her hospital bracelet off.”

The nurse looked between us and sighed, putting out her hands. “I can get the ice, but I can’t take the bracelet off.”

“It’s giving her a rash,” Jack said, holding up my wrist. “She’s uncomfortable. You can’t figure out another place to put her bracelet? Look at these hives.”

“Jack, please, stop,” I argued.

“I really can’t take it off,” the nurse said.

Jack let my wrist go and stepped closer to my nurse. “You can and you will because you gave my wife a rash,” he said, his voice growing louder and more frantic. “And I don’t take well to people abusing my wife.”

My throat tightened again, a replay of yesterday’s drama. Did he call me his wife?

The nurse pulled a walkie-talkie out of her pocket. “Code gray in room 334, code gray.”

“What’s a code gray?” I asked, panic swelling inside me.

Two nurses came in the room, one a very intimidating-looking man with a shaved head and more tattoos than Jack somehow. “Is there a problem in here?”

“Yes, there’s a problem,” Jack said. “My wife is uncomfortable, and it needs to be fixed right fucking now.”

“I thought you said you weren’t together,” my nurse said, looking at me.

I rubbed my forehead. “We’re not.”

“Miss, is this man bothering you?” the wall of a man asked me.

“No, he’s fine, but he needs to calm down.”

“Calm down?” Jack yelled. “Mara, they’re hurting you. If you won’t stick up for yourself, I will.”

The second nurse waved her hands. “What’s the problem?” She pointed in Jack’s face. “No yelling.”

“Her legs are sore where she used the Epi and her wrist has a rash from the bracelet. I was just asking ?—”

“Not asking,” I sighed. “Demanding.”

“—that you remove her bracelet so her rash will go away.”

The nurses exchanged a look.

“Sir, you need to leave.”

Jack’s eyes took on a rage I’d never seen before. “I need to leave? I don’t fucking think so!”