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“He’s not in a state to just walk out of here.”
“What? But I thought you said—”
“He’s mainly in one piece, but he’s black and blue. He woke with a rather violent outburst, according to his notes, and fell unconscious again. The nurse was able to rouse him just enough to administer some morphine.”
“Morphine?” I rubbed at my tripping, squeezing heart. Panic threatened to overwhelm me. “Jedda, he needs me. He’ll be going out of his mind wondering where I am. Please—”
“The best thing you can do for both of you is to stay apart for now. He’ll heal, Neri. He’s okay. But the cracked ribs and stitches will be overwhelming. Give him time to get over the initial shock of his injuries, and then—”
“He’ll be so worried about me.” I grabbed her hand. “That will be his worst wound. His concern for me. It’ll be his fear over my safety that makes him aggressive. If you just let me see him, I can—”
“No. You’re not going anywhere near him while he’s being treated here. The less anyone knows about you two, the better.”
“But Jedda.” Tears rolled again, this time full of remorse. “He’ll be frantic wondering where I am. The last thing he saw were those bastards touching me. He won’t care about himself. He’ll hurt himself trying to find me. I’m the reason he’s here. I need to fix what I broke. Please, Auntie Jedda. The best thing for him is for me to go to him, then take him out of here...while I still can.”
Jedda rubbed her eyes, her shoulders hunched. She looked frazzled and tired. I had no idea how long her shift had been or what she’d been up to in the past hour since I’d seen her, but her dark eyes were weary, and her skin stretched too tight in the harsh lights. “He’ll be asleep for hours due to the morphine. Unfortunately, thanks to his distress and uncooperativeness when he first woke, he’s been noted as someone to keep an eye on.”
My insides went cold. “What did he do?”
“He woke up trying to punch the nurse—”
“He still has nightmares from the storm. It’s not a good idea to touch him when he’s asleep.”
“Yes, well, no one knew that because there’s no file on him, and he refused to tell them his name.” She half-smiled. “Least he kept his wits to withhold that information. Not so great that he gave them your name, however.” Her eyes sharpened. “We need to get you out of here now you’ve been discharged. You can’t be here if someone starts to question—”
“I’m not going anywhere.” I tore my hand from hers and crossed my arms. “Not without him.”
“He’ll be out for the rest of the night, Neri. You can’t stay—”
“Watch me.”
“It’s dangerous.” She scowled. “Due to him refusing to give his name, he’s been logged as a suspicious individual. If he’s not cooperative when he next wakes up, he’ll be interviewed, and his phone could be subpoenaed to learn who he is. He could be detained.”
I glanced at the plastic bag between my feet holding the wreckage of Aslan’s run-over phone and his slim wallet clip holding some cash and his one and only credit card in my father’s name. “I have his phone. And his wallet.”
Her eyes lit up. “Oh, that’s the first bit of good news I’ve heard all night.” Sitting taller, she slipped back into business mode. “I’ve called your mum and dad—”
“You did what?” I reared backward. “Why would you do that? It’s freaking three in the morning.”
She scowled. “I called because you suffered an episode of shock, and your fiancé is in the hospital. The hospital that you’re refusing to leave, I might add. You’re twenty and all alone in this city. You can’t be expected to attend class while you’re worrying about Aslan. They could take him back to Port Douglas for a few weeks to rest and heal and then—”
“I’m not letting him out of my sight. I’ll look after him.” My voice cooled. “I’m not going anywhere, Auntie Jedda. I’ll tear apart this hospital brick by brick if I have to.”
Temper filled her kind face. Glancing around at the patients, she inched closer and lowered her voice. “Listen to me, Nerida. I agreed to be your godmother, not your best friend. And as your godmother, I am fully within my right to tell you what to do if it keeps you safe. I called your parents to come and get you because I knew damn well that you wouldn’t leave without Aslan, and frankly, you need to get as far away from here as possible. They’re on their way. They’ll be here in five hours. If you’re still here by the time they arrive and Aslan is still sleeping off the morphine, you are leaving.”
She pointed a finger in my face. “You have my word I’ll watch over him. As long as he keeps refusing to say his name, they won’t know who he is. By law, we have to provide treatment until such a time as he’s well enough to be taken to be interviewed. If it escalates to that point, I’ll figure out a way to smuggle him out. I promise you.” Her eyes glittered. “You just need to trust me.”
I held her stare for the longest moment.
I did my best to be wise about this. To use common sense instead of blind desperation.
But it was hard.
So, so hard to trust someone with Aslan’s life when it was all my fault he was here.
Guilt pressed so heavily as I whispered, “He’s here because of me. All of this is my fault. I always make the worst choices. I’m so stupid sometimes. If only I listened to him. If only I didn’t distract him. God, I’ll never forgive myself.” Stroking my slightly oozy, freshly inked tattoo, I choked, “If only I’d ignored those racist pricks like Aslan did, then we could be home right now and...” I couldn’t finish. Tears rolled down my cheeks. “This is all my fault.”
Jedda pulled me into an awkward hug with the armrests of the chairs digging into our bellies. “You can’t torture yourself with ‘what ifs’, Neri. And you’re not stupid. You’re young and passionate, and we all fumble sometimes. All you need to focus on is, he’s alive. He’s getting care. You’re alive, and no one knows who he is. He’s just another unfortunate man in the ER. As long as you stay quiet and let me handle this, everything will be okay...you’ll see.”
