“Rose, I need to go home. Where is my mama? How is she? Have you seen her?” she questioned, watching his head sink.
“You know Mila. She’s standing ten toes down. She’s in the field, making sure everything is running straight. Jonah is on his way in with his people,” he mentioned, referring to her father’s younger brother that lived on the west coast.
“You need to be out there with her, Rose,” Minx chimed in.
“Finn is there right now. I got her. She knows that, but she the one told me to be here with you. She said I had to be the one sitting here with you when you woke up, and I’m glad I was. We got a few people guarding you, but I wasn’t about to leave it to chance.”
“I wanna go home.” She pouted once again.
Rose nodded, leaned forward, and pecked her lips gently. “I’ll go talk to the doctor,” he said, standing tall beside her. “Stay put, a’ight?”
Fighting more tears as she watched him go to the door, Minx bobbed her head. While he was gone, she noticed his phone on the table beside her bed. It kept going off like someone was trying to get his attention. Frowning, Minx sighed heavily and reached for the device beside her. Seeing Nadia’s name flash across the screen instantly spiked her blood pressure. She let it ring once more before rejecting the call and sending her to voicemail. She wasn’t about to go there with the bitch today. The sound of her voice alone was sure to make her spaz. A text came through next. Blowing out a harsh breath, Minx read what showed up.
Nadia: So now you can’t talk?
Minx started to talk some shit back to her, pretending it was Rose. But since she held his phone, she was curious about the conversations between them. It was clear from what she’d been reading that Nadia had been talking to her damn self for days. Rose hadn’t replied once. When she got to a particular message, she paused. Tears mounted in her eyes as the door swung open to her hospital room and Rose let himself back inside. He froze when he saw her with his phone in her hands, and she brought her saddened gaze to his. She tossed it to the foot of the bed for him.
“It kept going off. Seems like Nadia has some things to say.” Veering her attention away from him, she shook her head and bit into her bottom lip.
“Minx— “ He inched closer to her bed, regret searing his eyes as he paused at her side.
“Maybe you should go deal with that. I have a lot to take in myself,” she whispered.
Reaching for her chin, he forced her to turn back to him. When she looked into his eyes, she saw how much he loved her. For the first few months of their friendship they were non verbal, at least she was. He was known to ramble occasionally, and she’dlet him. Rose’s eyes always said exactly how he felt, especially for her. She never doubted her place in his heart.
“I ain’t leaving you, ever. So don’t try pushing me away. I was going to tell you about this shit. As you can see, I just found out myself. Yes, eventually, I need to talk to her. Now ain’t the time for that. You need me. And you come before everything.”
“Even your potential child?” she asked, tilting her head while choking on her words.
She didn’t want to be that way or break down like that. It was a little too much for one person to take in.
“Minx… you number one, baby. That’s on everything,” he vowed, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.
He pulled her into his arms and held her, but Minx was nonreactive. She didn’t even hold him back when the doctor stepped into the room. Nothing felt right at the moment. Her father was gone, and she didn’t know how to deal with that.
A couple of hours later,Minx’s doctor agreed to release her and gave her a prescription to help her sleep if needed. He also referred her to see a therapist so that she could work through her grief. She sat there stoic, barely reactive, and waiting to go home. As if she was going to crack, Rose studied her. They’d been through the thick of it before. The last thing he wanted was to watch Minx slip again. She’d been to dark places before, and if she ever returned, he feared she might not ever come back. After gathering most of her things and getting them packed in a duffel bag for her, Rose took a minute and watched her.
Head down, removed. She barely spoke when the doctor talked to her. Rose laid her clothes that had been packed on thebed once he left. Minx was still out of it with her legs dangling over the side. She brought her eyes up to meet his.
“You wanna go ahead and get dressed and I’ll bring the car around?” Rose suggested.
Silence. She nodded, and he slid in front of her. She lifted her lost, glossy eyes to his. Rose grabbed her face in both hands, thumbs caressing her cheeks.
“You’re going to pull through this, Minx. I got your back through it all, shorty. A’ight?” he queried, lifting a brow.
Reaching up, she held on to him before nodding. Rose knelt over her, kissing her forehead gently.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” she whispered, watching him go.
Minx got dressed, and somehow felt slightly normal. After checking her reflection, she limped from the bathroom and found Gannon letting himself into her room. Dressed down in jeans, a t-shirt, and a Pelle Pelle jacket over his large shoulders, their eyes met. She noticed the bouquet of flowers in his hand as guilt plagued his face.
“What are you doing here?” Minx questioned, going over to stuff her toiletries into her bag.
“I wanted to check on you. I called up here, and they said that you were awake.” He offered her the flowers, setting them on the bed.
“I’m awake,” she muttered, zipping her bag shut.
