Page 18 of Denial

“She is. Three of you may go in to see her now,” the girl states as everyone turns to look at one another.

“Come on, Jinx,” Killer says as he helps Gwen out of her chair and they start to leave the waiting room.

“As bad as I want to see Hope, right now isn’t the time for me to go in. Faith, go see your sister,” I say, turning to face Hope’s twin whose head pops up to stare at me.

“No. You can go in, Jinx,” she says, fear filling her eyes as her voice wavers.

“No. The first people to go in there with her should be the three of you. You’re her twin and deserve to be there with her. When you’re done, I’ll get my chance to see her,” I say, walking over and holding out my hand for her to take so I can help her from the chair.

Faith hesitates a few seconds before nodding and taking my hand in hers. I lead Faith over to her parents and watch as Killer wraps his girls in his arms. Over their head he gives me a nod and assures me silently that I’ll be in there soon. Moving away from them, the trio follows the young nurse out of the waiting room as King, my dad, and my brother surround me and give me the support I need while my heart breaks because I want nothing more than to be in that room with the woman I love. I can’t be selfish when her family is here and they need to be with her more than I do. I’ll have plenty of time to be with her since I’m not leaving the hospital at all.

Chapter Twelve

Hope

WAKING UP, I immediately know I’m in the hospital. The sterile smell is a dead giveaway and it’s one that I loathe with every fiber of my being. I’ve been in the hospital so many times over the years as family members were hurt, babies born, and friends of the family lost for one reason or another. On top of the smell, the steady beeping of the heart monitor tells me I’m in the hospital before I even open my eyes. At first they feel stuck and don’t want to open no matter how hard I try. It takes me what feels like an eternity to pry them apart before I wait for my blurry vision to clear enough that I can look around the room and determine who’s at my side. Someone is holding my hand and I know it’s a guy based on the size of his hand alone. I can’t say the rough skin would be a giveaway because the ol’ ladies of the Phantom Bastards aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty and don’t always have baby soft skin.

When the haze finally clears and I can see properly, I look down at my hand to find Jinx laying with his head on my bed, our fingers laced together, as he keeps his face turned my way so he can look at me when he wakes up. My heart starts beating faster, making the machine beep faster and faster with every beat of my heart. I try to control my breathing and bring my heart rate back down as Jinx begins to stir. His eyes pop open and immediately find mine open.

“You’re awake,” he whispers, his voice full of sleep as he tries to sit up but groans from the stiff muscles in his body.

“Y-Yeah,” I stammer, my throat killing me as he quickly releases my hand to grab a glass of water.

I take a few sips when he angles the straw to my mouth, already knowing that I can’t gulp it down no matter how dry and sore my throat feels. Especially when I have no clue how long I’ve been out of it. It could be hours, days, or weeks at this point and I’d have no idea.

“How are you feelin’, Sweet Girl?” Jinx asks me, his voice barely above a whisper as he sets the cup down on the tray while keeping his attention on me.

“Like shit,” I respond as the door opens to reveal my parents walking in talking quietly together.

“Baby Girl!” my dad gasps as my mom places a hand on her chest while they rush to my side. “You’re awake. How long have you been awake?”

“She just woke up. I gave her a few sips of water and just asked how she was feelin’,” Jinx says as my dad looks at him for a second before turning back to face me.

“I’m sore. My stomach and side hurt and I have a headache,” I tell them honestly as my mom presses a button on my bed and I know she’s letting the staff know that I’m awake now. “How long have I been here?”

“It’s been three weeks, Sweetheart,” my mom answers as Dad helps her in a chair and rests his hand on her shoulder. “They had you in a medically induced coma until a few days ago. Your body needed to heal and they wanted the swelling around your spine to go down before they started to wake you up.”

“What?” I gasp, shock filling me because that’s the last thing I expected to hear from my mom.

“It’s been a rough three weeks, Baby Girl. Jinx hasn’t left your side at all. Guys are linin’ the hallway to make sure no one gets close to your room or the staff takin’ care of you. We still aren’t sure about some things, but now that you’re awake, the doctors will do more testin’ to see if you’ll be able to walk again and how much the swellin’ has gone down since the last images that were taken,” my dad informs me, his voice wavering with emotion as tears fill his eyes.

“You didn’t leave me?” I ask, turning to face Jinx and getting a better look at the man before me.

Jinx’ clothing is wrinkled and a mess. His hair looks as if he’s run his fingers through it repeatedly with it sticking up all over the place. There’s more than a five o’clock shadow covering his face and his eyes show how exhausted he is. He can barely keep them open as he looks at me from the chair at my bedside. Jinx isn’t wearing his cut right now, but I see it draped over the back of his chair. Before I can finish looking him over, the door opens allowing a doctor and nurse to enter.

“Miss Long, I’m Dr. Smythe and I’ve been taking care of you since you were brought in by ambulance a few weeks ago. I’m so glad to see you awake finally. We stopped your medicine a few days ago and were wondering how long it would take for you to wake up again. How are you feeling?” the doctor questions me as he steps at the end of my bed with the nurse at his side.

“I’m sore. Mainly my stomach and side. I’ve got a headache as well. I remember everything so you don’t need to ask me that. My parents told me I’ve been here for three weeks?” I question the doctor as he offers me a small smile.

“Yes. There was no damage from the bullet entering and then exiting your body. None of your organs, veins, or arteries were hit at all. Because of the way the bullet left your body, there was some swelling around your spine that’s been a concern for us. That’s why I chose to put you in a medically induced coma. I didn’t want you to injure yourself even more before we were able to determine if you would be paralyzed or not. If you’re up for it, I’d like to do a few tests right now to see how much feeling you have in your legs and feet,” Dr. Smythe informs me as I look at my parents and Jinx before turning back to the doctor.

“As long as my family doesn’t have to leave my side, you can do whatever you want. Has the swelling gone down at all? My dad said it did, but I’d like to hear your response,” I ask him, needing to know what he’s seen on the images as the nurse moves around my bed and lowers the covers covering my body so they can get to my legs and feet.

“The swelling has gone down more than we thought it would have at this point in your recovery. We haven’t done imaging in the last few days since we stopped the medicine so we didn’t risk you waking up in the MRI machine or during a CT scan. I’d like to get more images done today so we can see what’s happened over the last few days while we’ve left you alone. For now, let’s see how much feeling you have,” Dr. Smythe responds as he lays the tablet in his hand on the bed next to me and reaches out, explaining everything he’s doing as he does it.

He runs a finger up the bottom of each foot and I squeal while pulling my feet away from him. Next he runs his pen up my leg, one at a time, to see if there’s any point that I can’t feel it running along my skin. There isn’t a point where I don’t feel it. Dr. Smythe asks me to grab his finger in mine and squeeze as hard as I can. I complete every single test he gives me. On top of the ones I’ve said, Dr. Smythe does a lot to make sure every limb has feeling in it and that I’m not experiencing any numbness. Honestly, I feel really good with the exception of my stomach, head, and side. Those are the only areas my body hurts and I have felt everything that’s been done to me.

“I’m really impressed with what I’ve seen so far today. You are an extremely lucky woman, Miss Long. I want you on a soft food diet for now. Your stomach is still healing where we opened you up. I would rather you not have any issues digesting your food or getting sick at this point. You’ve got twenty stitches on your side where we found a large gash. There’s a gash on your head as well. We didn’t need to stitch that one at all. It bled horribly, but all head wounds do. The gash has healed and you only have a bump left where the wound was. That would be the reason you have a headache. We can give you something for it so it doesn’t get worse. I’d also like to stay on top of your pain. I don’t want you to suffer for longer than necessary. So, like clockwork, a nurse will be in to give you pain medicine. If you have any questions, just press your call button. I’ll come back to see you after your imaging has been done,” Dr. Smythe informs me as the nurse checks my vitals and makes a note of them so they can both leave the room.

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