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“Five days.”
“Today. You can have today, but no more after that.” I reached for him, so he leaned in to help me out. He pressed our foreheads together, and I inhaled the stench of him. “I just wanna go home with you,babe.”
He finally laughed. A real one. “Drugged you likes that word.”
“Mhm.”
“Thank you for saving me, Madd.”
Thenurseblockingmyexit from this shithole kept trying to tell me about the forms I was signing; some hospital forms, some cop forms. I scribbled my signature on everything they put in front of me, ready to get the hell out of here. I didn’t care what they were, but they were the ticket to my freedom.
It’d been eight days of shitty food, restless nights, Devon mothering me, and lame ass flowers. So done with this place. I craved my shitty porch so badly. I wanted to sit there with Devon without a bunch of nurses and doctors watching us.
“Sit in it,” Xavi demanded.
“Not a fucking chance.” I held my ground.
“It’s hospital policy,” Xavi said, glaring at me. “You have to get wheeled out.”
“I’m not sitting in that thing. I can walk just fine.”
“Fine. Then stay here and I’ll go stay with Devon.” He turned the wheelchair away from me.
Fucking prick. I grabbed the back of it and growled. “I hate you.” I sat in the damn thing, hating that they wanted me to sit down on my way out. Did they not realize how long I’d been craving actual movement? I was sick of sitting.
“Selfie!” Xavi screeched, his head appearing right beside mine as a flash blinded me. “Got it! That’s a good one.” He held his phone for me to see. I scowled. He smiled, so wide I could see all the way down his throat. Jesus. He was so lame. There was a nurse in the background, watching us with a smirk on her face.
“Take it easy, Maddox,” she said from behind me. “I gave Devon all the instructions for your meds and care routine. Listen to him. Got it?”
“Not likely, but thanks for everything.” I smiled at her. She’d been a good nurse, and helped keep me from going insane with boredom. I wasn’t going to miss her, though. Or anyone else in this godforsaken place where they saved my life. Xavi madevroomingnoises as we squealed outta there.
As soon as we hit the threshold, I got out of the chair and punched him for being ridiculous. He made me lean on him the rest of the way to the truck, but it felt good to get outside and move around. My muscles were weak, but I felt fine otherwise. I sat in the front seat and felt a little guilty about lying to my mom. She’d been coddling me worse than Devon, bringing all her work friends in to see me like it was social hour, and I needed to take a beat from her. Loved her, but fuck off for a bit. She wanted to be there when I got out, but I lied and told her it was later tonight. I’d make my brother tell her the truth later.
“How you feeling?” he asked.
“Fine. Just want to get home.”
Xavi nodded and awkward silence set in. We didn’t have awkward silences, so my hackles rose.
“What?”
“I gotta admit something to you, Madd.” He looked nervous. “I, uh, I got pretty… I was a fucking dick to Devon the day it happened. I told him it was all his fault, and I put all the blame on him. Really lashed out. I was stressed and scared, and I’m sorry.”
“Fuck, Xavi. Why?” Poor Devon didn’t need any help feeling guilty. “Blame Jim. Not Devon.”
“I know! I just needed to take it out on someone and he was there. We made up, but yeah, I definitely made his guilt worse.”
Devon had not stuck to my ‘one-day-of-guilt’ rule. He tried to hide it from me, but I’d always been good at reading him. If I was up to it, I’d knock some literal sense into him to make sure he knew I didn’t hold anything against him. I just wanted to get on with life with him by my side.
“He’ll be fine. I’ll make sure of it.” I rolled the window down, desperate for fresh air.
Devon really wasn’t to blame. He did something stupid after all of us told him not to, but like I’d said before, I loved when he tried. And all he’d been doing was trying to protect us. No one had ever tried for me like Devon did. Our hand in life just happened to be shitty, and if it weren’t for Jim, none of this would have happened, so that’s where I put the blame.
We pulled into Garron Park and eventually Lot 62, and Xavi shut the truck off. His grin was wicked when he faced me. “I gotta warn ya about one more thing.”
“Uh oh.”
“Devon wentcompletelyoverboard. He can’t cook worth a shit, so the entire park made meals and shit for you guys. Devon cleaned, sanitized, and became Martha fucking Stewart to make your place sparkle. He wanted it to be clean for you because he’s also been googling infections,” Xav laughed. “Just a fair warning, he’s in full-blown overprotective boyfriend mode.”
