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Adrik leaned down and kissed my forehead again, laughing softly. “He didn’t know, love. He’s still on the good list. For now.”
“Put your demon eyes away, Seph. Armando wouldn’t tell Keith and Chris why he needed to go to that building. Keith said Armando was acting funny and that he had a bad feeling about it all, so he gave us the address. At that time, he didn’t know you and Ivan had even been taken,” Stephen said, smiling at me.
“I do not have demon eyes,” I said matter-of-factly. Andrei threw another protein bar onto the bed beside me, his broad smile across his face. “I hate you,” I said as I opened the wrapper and took a bite. I got halfway through the protein bar and then added, “I’m sorry for what I said when I was hungry. I didn’t mean it.”
Just to prove there were no hard feelings, Andrei stood up and got me a cup of water. “You’re my favorite, spider monkey. Especially when you’re cranky from hunger.”
“When did you fill Keith and Chris in on the fact that Ivan and I were in that building?” I asked, finishing my middle of the night snack.
“He gave us the address after the first time Armando was there. Keith said he was scheduled to return the following morning, which is when we planned to get you out. We wanted to catch Armando there. We were hoping to catch Sal there too. We watched Keith and Chris drive up with Armando, but he told them to wait in the vehicle. Once Armando was inside, I made a call to Keith and told them to get out of there. I also told them not to answer their phones should Armando call them. They knew something was up, but they still don’t have all the details. They just know Armando is in deep shit and is in a room,” Stephen said.
“That’s who Armando called, I bet. He was livid when they didn’t answer. He smashed his phone.”
“Is that when you told them to jump off the roof? I have to admit that was my favorite part,” Stephen said.
“I think it was everyone’s favorite part. That was hilarious,” Andrei said.
“I’m going to remind Armando that you warned him. People just don’t listen to us, gazelle,” Misha said, faking being indignant.
“I really want to laugh right now, but it’s going to hurt so much,” I said, trying to hold back my laughter.
After my midnight walk and snack, I ended up falling asleep for a few hours again. I was woken up by one the nurses coming in yet again to check on me. The guys were still asleep, Adrik was only pretending to be asleep next to me. I could feel his thumb tracing circles on my back under his sweatshirt. He was growing impatient with the constant interruptions to his sleep. I couldn’t blame him. We all were.
The nurse noticed I was awake. “How are you feeling?” she asked.
“I’m okay,” I said quietly.
“You’re still able to breathe normally?” I nodded my head. She glanced around at the guys, checking to see if they were still sleeping. “Can I ask you a question?” she asked quietly. I nodded my head again, curious as to what she wanted to know. “Are you the girl that kept that guy from killing the doctor and the nurses in the ER a few months ago?”
I smiled, once again trying not to laugh. I nodded my head again. “You heard about that?” I asked.
Her eyes went wide. “The entire hospital has heard about that,” she said. “You’re a legend. None of us know how you did it. I worked a shift with one of the nurses who was in the ER when they were trying to sedate him. She said she’s never seen anything like it in her life. Nothing worked. They gave him enough to kill a horse and he just kept getting up. They thought he was on some new kind of drug nobody had seen yet. She was scared for her life, then you showed up. She said you just whispered something to him and he laid there, perfectly still. There are plenty of theories about what happened, but nobody can come up with a viable answer.”
I took as deep of a breath as I could. “He wasn’t on drugs. And he’s not a monster. He’s one of my favorite people.” I sighed. “I don’t have any special powers either. I simply accept him for who he is. Everyone has demons. He has more than most people, and for good reason. He’s been through things no human should have to endure. But I love him for it. I love all his broken parts and pieces because they still make the man that would readily give his life to save mine. Sometimes people who’ve been through serious trauma need an anchor in the storms of their psyche. I’m that for him. And it’s not something that you’re going to be able to scientifically explain either. Science is the death of magic and certain things are only explained by magic.”
She looked somewhat perplexed by my explanation, like her brain couldn’t comprehend my words. I held her gaze until she got frustrated and left. When he heard the door click, Adrik said quietly, “She 100 percent thinks you’re a witch now.” It caught me so off guard that I laughed, which quickly turned to me cursing as softly as I could so as not to wake the guys. He opened his eyes, looking at his watch. “It’s close enough for your next superprofen that I think it’s okay if you take it now. You clearly need it, witch,” he said, grinning at me.
“Stop making me laugh. It fucking hurts,” I said, holding my ribs with my good arm. I smiled at him, still grinning at me, then said, “Okay, don’t stop. I love it. And I love you, witch lover.”
Adrik moved slowly, so as not to hurt me. He pulled his arm that was around me back to him and propped himself up on his elbow. He was still smiling at me as he leaned closer to me and kissed me gently. His lips lingered on mine and I found myself wanting more. I parted my lips, taking his top lip between mine softly. His palm rested against my face, his thumb tracing lightly against my bruised cheek. I leaned into his hand, wanting desperately to not be in pain so I could kiss him the way I wanted to. I felt him smile against my lips. “Me too, solnishko. Me too,” he said as he got up to get my next dose of superprofen and some water. “Are you hungry again?” he asked as he walked back to me.
“No, I’m okay. It works faster if I don’t eat anyway,” I said. Adrik clicked his tongue at me. “Do you have more pain than usual?” he asked, climbing back into the tiny hospital bed with me.
“It’s nothing specific. My everything hurts. This bed sucks. I’m cold. I want to shower, but I still haven’t figured out how that’s going to work with this thing keeping my arm strapped down. And I want real food. And I want to leave. Okay, so that was more specific than originally thought,” I said, smiling at him.
Adrik glanced at his watch. “I think you’ll be able to leave in a few hours. I wanted to make sure your lung was okay before I took you home. That’s not something we can fix or help with. But it seems like you’re doing well without the chest tube, so I think the doctor will release you. If not, I think he can be persuaded. I’m very persuasive when I need to be,” he said, sliding his arm around me gently. I laughed softly at him. “Incredibly persuasive,” I said as I laid my head as far onto his shoulder and chest as I could manage.
The doctor was back early that morning, which I was happy for. “How are you feeling this morning?” he asked.
“Like I want to go home,” I said. I might’ve been grumpy, so it came across a little harsher than I meant for it to.
Dr. Williams laughed. “How has your breathing been? Still no wheezing? No sharp pains?”
“Only when I laugh, but otherwise I can breathe as well as anybody with five broken ribs can, so I should be able to leave,” I said. The guys laughed at me, but I knew they were just as ready to leave as I was.
“I want to take a few x-rays before you leave, just to make sure,” Dr. Williams said. “I’ll schedule them for later today and you’ll be able to go home tonight.”
“Or, hear me out here, here’s an alternate plan. You do them now and I leave after. I like my plan better.”
