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“Where’s the dog?” he asked.
“In the truck.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
“What do you mean? It’s Tripp’s dog. We’re gonna hold onto him until Tripp is able to take him,” Brendan said, amusement dancing in his eyes.
“Fuck no. We’re not keeping it.”
“You know Tripp is going to want the dog,” Will said with a smirk.
“Jesus Christ.” He groaned, and roughly rubbed his face.
“Listen, we’re going back to the hotel. Do you need anything? Do you want your clothes and shit?” Brendan asked.
“Yeah. That would be great. Just put our gear in the truck. Are you guys going to head home tomorrow?”
Brendan shrugged. “We’ll see. We might stick around for a little longer depending on how Tripp’s doing.”
“Thanks, Guys. I really appreciate it.”
“All right. We’ll see you in a bit.”
“Okay.”
Brendan and Will left, and Jayme went back into Tripp’s room. About fifteen minutes later, an orderly brought in a cot; and set it up under the window. Donna insisted that he lie down and get some rest. He practically collapsed on the cot and was asleep a minute later.
He was back in the water, reaching under the car to find Tripp. Tripp wasn’t there though. He searched and searched, even went under the water himself to find Tripp. He surfaced, panicked. Where the fuck is he? He had to be under the car still. The car lurched forward, and he had to jump out of the way; or get taken down river himself. He watched the car floating away. He screamed Tripp’s name over and over, until he had no voice left.
“Jayme!”
He shot up into a sitting position on the cot, his hands clutching the front of Brett’s shirt. Brett was sitting on the cot next to him, his hands on Jayme’s shoulders. He whipped his head around, to find that Tripp was still there in the hospital bed. He sagged, dropping his chin to his chest; as he tried to tamp down the panic attack that threatened to take him.
“It’s okay. You’re okay. Tripp’s okay,” Brett said softly. “Deep breaths.”
He nodded, and pulled in a deep breath through his nose; and blew it out of his mouth. He repeated until his heart rate slowed, and he didn’t feel like he was going to crawl out of his skin.
“I’m okay,” he breathed, patting Brett’s chest.
Brett gave his shoulders a squeeze, before letting him go. He didn’t get up though. He scrubbed his hands over his face and looked to see Donna and Elianna watching him; concern in their eyes. He gave them a weak smile, before scooting off the end of the cot; and made his way to the bathroom.
After emptying his bladder, he washed his hands. He made the mistake of looking in the mirror. Holy fuck, he looked like shit. Dark circles rimmed his eyes, and he just looked haggard.
He exited the bathroom and went back to sit on the cot next to Brett. “How long was I asleep?” he asked.
“Probably around three hours. Your friends dropped your stuff off,” Elianna said, and motioned to the bags against the wall.
“Oh great, thanks.” He got up, went to his bag; and pulled out some clothes. “I’m going to take a shower. I smell like that water we were in.”
“Okay, sweetie. We’ll be here.”
He nodded, and headed back into the bathroom with his things. He took a quick shower, feeling loads better when he walked back into the room in his own clothes. He did put the hospital socks back on, because they were comfy.
“Jayme, I’m going to get something to eat, want me to grab you something?” Elianna asked.
“Sure. I’m not picky, whatever you decide is fine with me.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll go with you, Babe,” Brett said as he stood.
Brett and Elianna left the room, leaving Donna and him alone with Tripp. He walked over to Tripp on the opposite side of Donna, and smoothed his hand over Tripp’s blond hair.
He kissed his temple, then whispered in his ear, “Come back to me, Baby. I know you’re in there. Don’t leave me.”
He kissed him one more time, before backing away. He stood there watching Tripp until Elianna and Brett returned with the food. They got him a ham and cheese sandwich, chips, and a soda.
He thanked them and took it over to the cot where he sat and ate. He was hungrier than he thought and had scarfed down the sandwich and chips in a matter of minutes. When he looked up, Elianna was watching him; her eyebrow cocked.
“Want me to get you something else?” she asked, knowingly.
“If you don’t mind,” he said sheepishly.
She gave him a soft smile. “I don’t mind. Do you want another sandwich, or something else, like a burger and fries?”
“Burger and fries sound good.”
“Okay. I’ll be right back.”
“I’d give you money, but my wallet got soaked.”
