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"Okay, you're all set. Try not to get them wet for a few days. Sponge baths instead of a bath or shower," I said. "You'll need monitoring for a concussion."
"I'm fine," Jett grumbled.
His moodiness helped me get back on track.
"Well, if it's just the same to you, I'll be back to check on you in an hour or so. I assume I can expect your cheery attitude to continue throughout the evening when I wake you up every hour on the hour to make sure you do in fact wake up?"
"Go to hell," Jett responded.
Yeah, we were definitely back on track. Thank God because if he had touched me one more time, I'd have begged him to let me crawl into his bed and wake him up every hour in the most pleasant of ways.
"Who would have thought that I'd finally end up with a patient who's even more of a pain in my ass than Jerry?" I remarked as I cleaned up my things. I shoved my supplies into my bag and headed for the door.
"Sounds like this Jerry guy might just be my new best friend," Jett groused.
I found myself inadvertently chuckling as I opened the door.
"I think you're right," I said as I left the room. As I made my way down the stairs so I could brief Maddox on Jett's medical state, I found myself wondering if the man and the formerly abused zebra had more in common than anyone would have guessed. At least Jerry had little Newt to put his trust into.
I had a feeling the same couldn't be said for Jett. My gut was telling me that if anyone needed someone in their corner, it was the mysterious and so very angry former soldier who seemed to have lost so much more than just his legs. I could only hope that Maddox and his family would be up for the task because despite the strange pull I felt toward Jett, I was the last person anyone should be leaning on.
CHAPTER FOUR
JETT
The bed checks—well, wheelchair checks in my case since I hadn’t actually gone to bed—came every hour on the hour as promised, but it wasn't the hot doctor who kept showing up to make sure I hadn't died of a brain bleed. It also wasn't the man I'd once considered my best friend either. I hadn't seen Maddox since he'd consigned me to this new version of hell. But I knew enough to know that the larger of the two men coming to my room was Maddox’s brother. He apparently owned whatever wildlife sanctuary Maddox had decided to drag me to in the middle of nowhere, Minnesota.
With the larger man was a slimmer one who seemed to be about the same age. I hadn’t initially remembered his name, but I had remembered that he, along with Maddox's brother, had helped me off the ground and back into my wheelchair after I'd had my literal run-in with Sawyer.
Looking back, it had been foolish to try to escape Maddox anyway. I could only blame my recklessness on the overwhelming helplessness I'd been experiencing from the moment Maddox had told me I was going home with him. He'd shown up just days before my grandmother had passed away and he hadn't pulled his punches when he’d told me I was going with him either by choice or after being stripped of my rights to make my own decisions. He’d had enough ammunition to follow through on his threat, so it really hadn't been a choice at all.
The smaller of the two men who I'd eventually remembered was named Nolan was the one who'd kept checking on me throughout the evening while his partner, Dallas, stood by the door, presumably to make sure I didn't hurt Nolan in any kind of way. Maddox had told me about his younger brother when we’d been enlisted together, but he'd always kept the details of what had happened to his family close to the vest. All I'd known was that there had been a car accident that had stolen his mother's life and that his brother had been responsible somehow. I couldn't fathom why Maddox had returned to the town he'd grown up in and the place he’d lost his parents, but I no longer cared. Or at least that's what I told myself.
"You should try to get some sleep, Jett," Nolan said softly as he stood next to my chair. He had a tray in his hand, so I could only assume he’d brought me more food.
"What's the point when I have my own personal alarm clock coming in to wake me every five minutes?" I asked snidely.
I heard movement behind me and looked up just in time to see Nolan shake his head, presumably to keep Dallas from intervening. It didn't surprise me in the least that Dallas had the same protective streak that Maddox did. On the trip to Minnesota from Oklahoma, I'd used every weapon in my arsenal of hate to get Maddox to react. My ultimate goal had been to get him to just dump me somewhere and stay the hell out of my life. But every harsh word, every vicious taunt and accusation I'd flung at him had bounced right off his thick hide. It was only when I'd turned my anger on his young lover, Isaac, that Maddox had shown any kind of reaction. Despite having found a chink in his armor, I hadn't been willing to target Isaac after I'd noticed the younger man dashing at his face following one of my cruel barbs. It was another one of those moments where I could feel my grandmother looking down upon me in horror.
