Page 79 of Edge

“Nope, and I’m not going to until you do.”

“Do we know when that will be?”

“They haven’t said, but I’d guess at least a few more days.”

“What about the diner?” It sounded like none of us would be able to return to work anytime soon.

“It’s just going to have to stay closed for a few weeks. I’m going to have some overdue repairs done while we’re closed.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“Nope. We’ll have none of that.”

“Okay, okay,” I acquiesced. “So, how are we going to do this?”

“Do what?”

“Take care of each other.” From what they had told me, it sounded like we were all going to need help for a while.

“Phoenix took care of that. There’s a vacant house on their farm that’s big enough for all of us and a few people to help out,” Irene explained.

The nurse came in with my pain medicine before I could ask anything else. She asked me a bunch of questions that I thought were absurd but answered anyway. Then she checked my incisions and all the tubes and wires connected to me. By the time she finished, I was exhausted, uncomfortable, and drowsy.

“Tell Edge I love him,” I mumbled before I drifted off to sleep.

Two days later,Edge and I were discharged from the hospital. They were going to let him go the day before, but Phoenix told his doctors he wouldn’t leave until I did, so they kept him an extra day.

As soon as they said I could leave, I was ready to go. Despite him being in the room next door, I hadn’t seen Edge since the shooting and was anxious to see how he was for myself.

“When are we leaving?” I asked Carbon as he packed up my room. Even though I didn’t bring anything to the hospital, there was plenty to take home.

“Later tonight. I’m not sure of the exact time.”

“What? Why?” I asked and grimaced from the pain caused by my body tensing.

Carbon whirled around with a look of concern on his face. “You okay?”

I took a few slow breaths before I answered him. “I’m good. I just…I’m ready to go home, and I want to see Edge.”

“We’re leaving at night as a safety precaution. We have no reason to think that anyone has been watching the hospital, but just in case someone is, we’re leaving after dark and through a different exit.”

Something about the way his voice changed at the end made me ask, “What kind of exit?”

He sighed. “It’s the one the morgue uses when they come to pick up a body.”

“Oh, well, okay then,” I stammered.

“I know it sounds weird, but it’s well concealed, for obvious reasons, and the chances of anyone monitoring that exit are very slim.”

“I get it.”

“And like I said, Phoenix is being extremely cautious. Our club has never been attacked like this before.”

“That does not make me feel better,” I said dryly.

“Don’t get me wrong. We’ve had our fair share of incidents, but we’ve never had this many with critical injuries before. None of us like it when our people get hurt, so we’re going to do whatever we can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“I appreciate everything you guys are doing, and I’m truly sorry for my part in all of this.”

---