Page 28 of The Book of Wrath

“Tomorrow afternoon, as long as you can hold food down and you’re not in a mass amount of pain,” Dr. Silverman replies to her. A sigh of relief washes over me. “Do you have anyone who can stay with you?”

Before she could answer, I chime in. “She will be staying with me at my place for a little while. We all agree that she needs to be out of that house. Nothing good has happened there recently.”

Dr. Silverman looked at Megan who nods in reply. Thank fucking god she agrees. She might give me shit later, but PTSD is a thing for more than just the military. We all have that place we can’t physically go to because of past trauma.

“If that’s the plan then I will get you paperwork ready to go. You’ll be discharged by noon.” She stood up from her chair, shook Megan’s hand then mine, and left.

“If I puke after I eat you better keep it to yourself. I am not staying here another damn night!” she threatens me, it’s the cutest thing ever.

“You’re cute, but if you puke, you stay,” I say firmly. She will have to deal with it. I’m not letting her put her life at risk.

I grab my phone out and tell Ally that she could go home by noon tomorrow, filling in the details and sending it over. Her response came a little while later, I hope I didn’t wake her up.

Megan rested her head back down on her pillow and closed her eyes. She needed the rest, and now that I know she is safe and leaving soon, I was able to finally fall asleep in my chair. I couldn’t be more thankful that she woke up. Not only did she wake up, but she woke up saying my name.

A sharp pain cuts through my chest, and I was hoping it wasn’t anything serious. But hey, if it is, at least I’m at the hospital already. I couldn’t think of a world without her smile in it. I can’t imagine how hard this whole thing is going to be for her when she goes back to work.

I closed my eyes and let sleep claim me. In ten hours, I should be able to take her home. Soon, she will be safe, in my arms. I’m never letting her out of my sight again.

Chapter 23

Megan

It was still early in the morning; Max was softly snoring in the chair next to the bed. I had only been awake for a few minutes when the door softly opened and in came a middle aged, blonde woman in a pair of teal scrubs, humming softly to herself. She looks over at Max asleep in the chair and smiles at him. A twinge of jealousy ticks in my chest. The woman doesn’t advance near him, which is good for her.

She makes her way into the bathroom, cleaning the toilet and the sink, grabbing the trash from there and making her way back into the room. She takes off her gloves and tosses them into the bag in her hand. I stir just a bit, hoping she won’t see, but I wasn’t that subtle.

“Oh, good morning hun, don’t mine me I am just cleaning up the room,” she says as she mills about grabbing the trash from the cans in the room before turning to me. “They should be bringing you breakfast shortly. Max has been choosing your orders every evening, so you had food for the next day. You have a good man there Miss.”

“That’s sweet of him,” I say lowly, she looks back at him and it’s starting to irritate me how frequently her eyes drink him in. Don’t be psycho Megan. She looks like she could be his older sister. Chill. “How do you know Max?”

“Oh, I don’t dear. I only know him the same way I know all the visitors here. I come in to clean, we chat idly for a little while and I leave. He’s been here day and night since you got here. Refusing to leave to even take a shower. I think his one buddy had to man handle him into the shower here just so he wouldn’t stink when you woke up,” she chuckles as she talks about the last few days. “That man admires you and looks at you like you are a goddess. I wish my husband looked at me the way he looks at you.”

“Oh, how long have you been married?” I ask, I didn’t see a ring on her finger so I wouldn’t have expected her to be married.

“Fifteen wonderful years with two baby girls,” she beams as she finishes up with the cleaning. She places a fresh blanket on the bed for me and must realize what I saw. “I don’t wear my ring on my finger while I’m at work. I don’t want it getting lost or damaged, but—” she reaches into her scrub top and pulls out a silver chain with a beautiful diamond ring set on it, “I keep it close to my heart.”

I smile at her, maybe I shouldn’t have assumed the worst. “Thank you for the blanket, it’s a little cold in here. Also, thank you for telling me about Max. We just started dating, and I guess I thought that this might be the breaking point for him. Seeing me constantly in the hospital.”

“Honey, if I may be so bold. Nothing is going to scare this man off. Honestly, he might scare off everyone around you if they even look at you the wrong way. He’s threatened every male nurse that’s come within five feet of you,” a deep chuckle comes from beside me grabbing both of our attention.

Max smiles at me, “There is no reason for another male to touch you unless the want their hands removed.” The nurse tsked him and he laughed. “What? I’m serious Millie. I can move her myself; they don’t need to.”

“I know, you act like I wasn’t standing in the doorway watching you grip Danny up by the throat and thrashing him against a wall,” she put her hands up in the air and sighs. “I’m glad you are awake, maybe now you can talk some sense into this man, so he doesn’t end up killing someone in your honor.”

“What if I say I don’t want to talk him out of that?” I ask, staring into Max’s eyes. I heard her make a very disapproving sound as she heads for the door.

“Your food should be here shortly; I probably won’t see you again since you’re getting out of here today. If I don’t, good luck out there and stay safe. Enjoy each other,” she smiles once more and leaves out of the room.

“How are you feeling?” he asks the moment the door shuts behind her. He gets up and inspects the room. I have no idea what he could be looking for.

“I’m sore, still tired and my brain is trying to come to terms with everything that’s happened to me,” I say honestly. What is there left for me to say? I got assaulted by a gun and by a doctor who last time I was in here I was making drooling eyes at. “Are they dead?

He stops his inspection and looks at me, “Yes.” A quick and clean answer, no bullshit and no fluff. I can only imagine how he must be doing. I don’t know who shot Sandra, but I know it must be effecting him.

“Are you okay?” I ask, expecting him to be sad or show some type of emotion, but instead he just looks at me and smiles, taking a seat on the bed next to me.

“Are you asking because you want to know what happened or because you genuinely want to know if I’m okay?” He asks me, his eyes dancing in the morning light. I sit up in the bed, slightly wincing as the pain shoots through my body.

---