“Cal? What’s wrong?” he demanded anxiously.
“It’s me,” I rasped. My throat felt like it was filled with shards of glass. It sounded like that too, and I had to fight for every word between gasps for breath.
“Rafe? What the…”
“I’m awake. Get over here. I need to know what’s going on.”
“Jesus, brother. You have no idea how relieved I am to hear you growling at me. You almost fucking died on us.”
“They’ll have to try harder than that to get rid of me,” I told him in a gentler tone.
I could hear the stress in his voice, and knew he had to have had a hell of a time trying to keep everything going on his own, especially when our enemies would have been testing their bounds with me out of action.
“Yeah,” he laughed. “That’s what I thought. Rest up. I’m on my way.”
He ended the call and I handed Cal his phone back. I had no choice but to lay my head on the pillow for a moment, closing my eyes and hoping the room would stop fucking spinning. I didn’t have time for this shit. I needed to get back to my position and show we were as strong then, as we ever were.
We needed to retaliate for what happened, end the situation with Cara, and get revenge for Gia, all while maintaining the peace enough for me to hand the docks off and get the fuck out of this life once and for all. Piece of fucking cake.
I opened my eyes at the sound of heavy footfalls entering the room, then groaned when a doctor in blue scrubs walked in. Cara was right behind him, and she looked to me with her red, glassy eyes, making me feel even more like shit for scaring her so badly when I woke up.
“I’m okay, sweetheart. Please don’t cry,” I told her.
“Just let the doctor check you over and decide that, alright?” she said shakily.
I begrudgingly cooperated with the doctor as he poked and prodded me, but only for Cara’s sake. I didn’t want her worrying more about me.
“Well, I’d say you’re doing remarkably well for a man who almost died a fortnight ago,” he surmised when he was finally finished. “Your wound is healing nicely and your breathing sounds improved. Your oxygen levels aren’t ideal, but that’s to be expected. You may have some shortness of breath and difficulty breathing while your lung continues to heal.”
“I’m fine,” I snapped. “I want to go home. Start the paperwork.” Even just that amount of talking had my chest feeling tight and my breaths becoming short though.
“It’s going to be a while before you can go home, Mr. De Santis. We want to keep you under observation for several days at least. You were in a coma for twelve days. Physically you are going to be very weak. Your muscles will have debilitated in the time you were under, and you may need physiotherapy to become active again. You’ll find breathing hard because your diaphragm and chest muscles will have been weakened significantly. You’re looking at an eight week recovery at least, possibly much longer than that,” the doctor droned on.
“But he will recover? There won’t be lasting damage, right?” Cara asked.
“Of course…” I was talked over, which only pissed me off further.
“There are several possibilities that could cause lasting breathing issues for your brother, but full recovery is possible.”
“Enough!” I roared. My temper was the shortest it had ever been and this asshole was pissing me the fuck off! “I’m fine. I can breathe fine. And I already stood. I’ll consult a private physio if Ihave need of one. Just get me whatever I need to sign to get out of here.”
“Rafe…” Cal tried.
“You’re not leaving, Rafe!” Cara snapped, cutting Cal off. “You were shot! I’ve been sat beside your bed for days, terrified I’d lose you. Now I’ve got you back, I won’t risk losing you because you’re a stubborn idiot!”
“I have to agree. I couldn’t, in good conscience…”
“Get out!” I barked at the doctor, cutting off whatever else he was about to blurt out.
“Mr. De Santis….”
“I said leave! Believe me, you do not want to push the limits of my patience right now,” I threatened.
“Maybe just give him some space for now,” Cal interceded, obviously hearing the death in my tone. “I’ll ask for one of the nurses to let you know when we’re ready.”
I watched on impatiently as he ushered the doctor out of the room I was in, then closed the door behind him, coming back to face me.
“You can’t kill the man who saved your life, Rafe,” he reminded me.
