Page 29 of The Book of Wrath

“I want to know that you are okay. I want to know where you mind is. I’m worried that you are going to spiral down because she was your fiancé at one time. You can’t just shut off all the love you ever had for her,” I start listing off multiple reasons I am asking, but he stops me with a kiss to my lips.

The door opens a few seconds later and in waltz in Alice and Ally. Our lips are still locked, but I can feel the questioning eyes land on me, I guess no one told Alice we are a thing now. However, the male voices that abruptly stop at the doorway have me pulling back from our kiss.

“You guys are buzz kills you know that” Max groans to the guys as my sister and Ally take up seats by the wall, quietly chatting like they didn’t just witness an intimate moment.

“We wouldn’t be buzzkills if you told us she woke up,” Tony replies as he walks over to Ally and sits next to her, his arm wrapping around her shoulders. I stare at her wide eyed, she smirks and mouths the word later to me. Hell, yes you will explain later!

Roark and Andy followed him to the room. Roark taking up residence at the door, Andy stalking over to the window as if he was on watch. “What the hell are they doing?” I whisper to Max, watching what felt like the changing of the royal guard.

“They’re making sure the room is safe and secure. I’ll be right back, now that they’re here, I’m going to use the bathroom. Unless you need to go first,” he looks at me with a questioning look.

“I can wait. Go,” I wave him off the bed. He laughs, kissing my head before fast walking to the bathroom.

Ally and Alice took this moment to climb onto either side of the bed and smother me in hugs. My sister hugging me tighter than normal. “Stop getting hurt,” she demands. I can only imagine the pain I’ve been causing her.

“I promise, this isn’t something I plan on continuing. Hospitals are expensive and I’m not a fan,” I say as I hug her back. Ally props herself on her hand as she looks me up and down.

“You are very lucky to have Max, if it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t be here right now,” she blurts out. I give her a shocked look as she nods, confirming that he was the one who shot her.

“I didn’t know you two were together. When the hell were you going to tell me?!” Alice shrieks from beside me.

“The next morning. He dropped me off at home and I was a little drunk, so I decided to go to sleep and call you in the morning. We didn’t come to terms with dating until earlier that night. What was I supposed to do? Call you at like two in the morning. I don’t think Mike would’ve taken that call to well.” I gripe. Her boyfriend Mike is a great guy, but he works construction and if I called at two when he had to be up at five just to tell her I was dating Cop McHottie. I can only imagine how upset he would be with me.

“I could’ve told him that you were drunk and happy. He would be happy for you, and you know it. Mike hated he who shall not be named and is glad you’re interested in someone who could protect you,” she says, a smile all over her face. I really need to see my sister more often than just when something big happens. We live close to each other and now that dicks McGee is gone, I can see her more.

“Is Mike doing okay?” I ask, she nods as the bathroom door opens and Max comes back out. Both Ally and Alice go to move off the bed, but he just puts up his hand.

“Stay there, you don’t need to move just because I’m back in the room,” Max takes Ally’s former seat next to Tony and they start chatting.

“Okay, I already like him,” Alice whispered in my ear. I chuckle at her. The few times I was able to get Ryan to go with me to family functions, he was like a shadow, never giving me a moment alone with my sister, my mother or even my father. My brother had threatened him, which only made us going to family functions a no go after that.

“Think everyone else will?” I asked, they both look at me with a very odd look on their faces. “What?”

“Mom met him already; they didn’t like each other. Mom came in and started her normal, this is my daughter, I know what’s best for her. Max just laughed and told mom to get out,” I glance over at him as he smiles at me. “To be fair, mom deserved it. She tried to tell him to get lost. Dad honestly respected his wishes and said he will be back when you allow it. Dad told Mike and Jason about Max standing off with mom. Jason about spit his beer across the room while Mike said about damn time.” Alice laughed. Jason has told mom plenty of times to fuck off, but she never listened to him. The fact that she listened to Max kind of worried me.

“You’ll probably be happy to know that officer stone face over there escorted your mother to her car and put her in her vehicle,” she pointed at Roark, and he chuckled from where he stood.

“I am not stone faced; I just have a good judge of character, and I knew your mother wasn’t going to leave without causing a scene. I wasn’t about to have that,” he shrugged his shoulders and went back to standing guard.

“So, you’re breaking out today huh. Any plans?” Ally asks, Max looks at us and smiles.

“She’s going to make herself at home at my place. She’s not going back to her house until I install a security system, better locks and better cameras. She will stay in my sight pretty much all day every day until I know she’s safe,” Max said, normally I would argue, fight back on the assumption that I’ll just submit. But he wants me safe. That means a lot to me to have someone who cares about me.

“Sounds good to me,” Alice chimed in. “That just means mom can’t invade your house and force herself on you. Dad can only do so much for you.”

“Yeah, I know. Please tell me either of you brought me clothes,” I plead with them both to move past the subject.

“Jeans and your favorite band tee are in the bag by Max’s feet. You black high-top vans are in there too. Not going to lie, but Melissa is starting to think you’re getting hospitalized to avoid coming back to work,” Ally laughed. I wouldn’t put it past Melissa to think that of me. The woman always acts like us younger librarians don’t take the job seriously.

We chatted for a little longer, before breakfast was brought in. The girls left me to eat with Max. He sat next to me, making sure I ate and left nothing on the plate. He threatened to feed me if I didn’t feed myself.

Everyone seems to be getting along, it’s odd that me being in the hospital has been a good thing for a few of us. I look over at Ally and Tony as they talk to my sister. Tony watches Ally, following her every move with his eyes. It was endearing, but I’m going to have to do the best friend threatening for good measure.

The hours ticked by when Doctor Silverman finally walked in. I honestly cannot wait to be away from this woman. She gives off this weird energy and I am not living for it. “Good afternoon, how are you feeling?”

“With my fingers,” I replied, my sister snorts in her chair. I crack a wide grin at her, while the rest of the room tries to stifle their laughs. “Sorry, inside joke. I’m in pain, but nothing that I can’t manage. I just want to go home and get on with my life.”

She was not laughing at my comment and seems to find me utterly annoying. Good. Maybe now she’ll get me out of here faster. She walks over to the bed giving Max a wide berth as she comes around and does a quick check up on my vitals. She lightly pressed on my ribs, and I knew better than to suck in a tight breath. She would try to keep me here longer. Not fucking happening.

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