Page 94 of At Her Will

“Yes.”

“I’ll take care of it with Skye. She has access to all your forms and HR procedures. Focus on this.” Cyn met her gaze. “Go let him know his Mistress is here for him.”

Vera nodded and hugged Mavis once more. “I’m here if you need me,” she told the principal. “We all are.”

“Same goes,” Mavis said, despite her own hollow-eyed state. “He’s tough, Vera. He’ll be all right.”

She ignored Witford and Tisha and headed down the hallway. When she reached recovery, she was directed toward a curtained area.

Vera stopped, feeling lightheaded. If she passed out and they had to tend to her before she could see Rev…well, that was unacceptable.

Steadying herself, she looked through a crack in the curtain and saw him. His eyes were open, and he was looking for her. As soon as he found her, his hand was out, reaching. He sat up, his feet swinging to the floor. The crazy man was getting up.

She needed to stop him from doing that, but she also wanted to be in his arms before another breath was drawn, but she couldn’t seem to increase her pace. She was swimming through quicksand, like one of those dreams where she couldn’t get to someone in trouble, no matter how hard she tried, or how much she called out.

She wasn’t that kind of person. She kept it together in the worst circumstances. Especially when someone needed her.

He’d pulled off the things they’d stuck to him and was moving toward her, his gait stiff but steady, his back straight. The machines monitoring him were beeping angrily, but he was indifferent to them. Then he had his arms around her.

She pressed her face against his throat, that wonderful pulse beating against her. He was holding her up, she’d realize later, holding her with those strong hands as she held onto him. The fabric of the hospital gown was an annoying barrier, but she could feel his body, vibrant andalive.

The roaring in her head faded as she put her hand on his chest and found his heartbeat, the energy coursing through that chakra an unstoppable current. He stroked her back.

“I’m all right, Veracity. God and I, we get along good, but if he has plans for me, I done told him I need some time with you, that you need me, too. We need that time.”

When she finally eased back, her hand ended up resting on the bandaged part of him beneath the gown. Just above his waist, close to the outside, as Mavis said. They’d put a bandage on his neck, too. She noticed a cut on his arm that they’d dressed with a topical ointment.

“Let’s get you back to your bed before the nurses throw me out.”

“They not going to do that.”

But a moment later, a nurse pulled back the curtain. The blond fortyish woman had a hawk’s hooked nose, broad hips and an insistent look on her face. “I’m going to lie down now,” Rev told her, heading off her protest, “but this woman, she gonna stay with me.”

“Is she family?”

“Yes,” he said.

Veracity saw he wasn’t making up something to keep her there. It was how he felt. What that made her feel weakened her knees again. “You moving me into a room anyway. She can go with me there.”

“But our policy?—”

“The choice is she stay with me, or I sign one of them forms and leave,” he said steadily. “I not trying to be hard to get alongwith, Nurse Amy. But this is the way it’s gonna be. She won’t get in the way. She’s efficient and smart, like you.”

Nurse Amy fisted her hands on her hips. “You think a handsome man giving me compliments will make me overlook proper care for one of my patients?”

“No ma’am, not at all. I’m telling you she’s the best thing for me right now.”

Nurse Amy fastened a pale blue gaze on Vera. “If you being here means I don’t have to tie him to that bed, you can stay.”

When another nurse called to Amy, asking for help, Vera muttered, “I can take care of that part myself, I promise.”

Rev’s chest hitched with a half-chuckle. But she noticed he flinched at whatever that chuckle made his body do, and when they moved toward the bed, he did have to lean on her some. She was fully on board with Nurse Amy on getting his ass back into the bed.

The nurse returned seconds later to replace the monitoring lines. “They’ll move you to a room in about a half hour,” she said. “Try not to cause me any more trouble. I’ve got plenty of patients worse off than you.”

“Yes’m. I got everything I need now.”

Once he was assured Vera was going to stay, a weariness had grabbed hold of Rev that made him seem to sink even further into the bed. His eyes closed, though his hand remained wrapped around hers. Filled with worry, reminding herself that he was fine, Vera held onto it.

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