Page 16 of The Entire Team

RED

Ashe slowly came awake, trying to sensor everything at one time. Ambient lighting, bandaging around her torso, she knew there would be stitches but she couldn’t feel them yet, her head was beating a tympani drum at an unnatural rate, the buzzing in her ears was likely gone. She reached up to feel the right side of her head,at least there wasn’t a brain bleed.Red cleared his throat to announce his presence; she froze, her fingers over the knot on her head. “Your hearing seems better,” Red stated lamely.

He watched her visibly swallow, “Can you come closer? It’s hard to see in the dark.” He watched her carefully as he rose, her eyes followed his silhouette as he unfolded to his 6’5” height. As he stepped into the light she inhaled sharply.Auburn hair, emerald eyes, massive giant.

“I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he finished, not covering his accent, stepping up to the right side of the bed. “My name’s Sean. My friends call me Red.”

Barely loud enough to be for anyone but herself, Ashe repeated Red’s nickname, “Red, like the color.” Louder, clearly involving him, she continued. “Was I teleported somewhere? What’s the date? How long have I been unconscious? You area gorgeous specimen. Are you a doctor? Nurse? Why are you here? My head is killing me. Where is my filter? What am I on?” Overwhelmed Ashe emitted a sharp sigh, letting her head fall back against the pillows, which immediately she regretted as her stomach flexed against the stitches. She flinched toward Red in automatic response to the pain.

“I don’t think ‘red’ has another meaning. You haven’t missed that much time, you’re at a local hospital. I’m not a medical professional. I’m here because I want to be. I need to know you’re ok. I don’t know what they have going through your IV, but we can call someone in to get you meds for your headache if you want.” Ashe barely nodded, Red hit the call button. “Do you remember what happened today?” Red watched her eyes dart around as her brain started searching for memory to answer the question. The nurse came in and Red sent her to get pain meds. Ashe looked up at Red, anguish across her face and he cursed under his breath, that was not what he wanted her to remember.

He fought with the railing as Ashe muttered, “They all died.” As if possessed, Ashe ripped the IV out of her left hand, flinging her feet over the right side of the bed and bolted into the small bathroom. For a second time, Red settled behind her, wrapped a supportive arm around her as she vomited. He could feel her shaking, knowing she was dry heaving at the end, she wouldn’t be strong enough to get back to bed. “Just leave me here. I can’t make that distance again.”

“I don’t think so, Acushla,” Red picked her up like he had earlier. Carefully lowering her legs in front of the sink so she could wash her mouth out, brush her teeth, whatever she wanted. His hand rested on her left hip; he pressed down lightly on the bandage to make sure she wasn’t bleeding. He picked her back up when she was finished, as he pulled her in tight against him, she dropped her head into his chest, exhausted. As he got through the doorframe her grip tightened around his neck andher right hand palmed his beard, pocketing her nose against his neck on his right side. Her fingers were ice cubes, he was in a frozen heaven; he would never stop her from touching him.

“You took me out of the bank,” Ashe stated pulling away from him enough to look him in the eye. They stood next to the bed, him holding her, staring at each other.

The nurse came in snapping them out of their reverie, “What happened in here? Why are you out of bed? I need to get this cleaned up.” Red had to walk around to the nurse’s side of the bed to set Ashe down, then he took the wrecked IV line and IV pole and pushed it into the hallway. He held a gauze pad against Ashe’s hand and started with alcohol wipes to clean off the blood that had run all over her hand.

Ashe watched Red cleaning up her hand, “I’ve bled on you twice today.”

“That’s twice too many for my liking, Acushla.”

“My name is Ashe.”

“I know. Tomorrow we can talk, go to sleep,” Red answered leaning down and kissing her forehead. It gave her the opportunity to drink in his scent.

Once the nurse was done with the meds, she notified the cleaning crew that the bathroom needed to be cleaned up as well and was on her way to get new orders to get a new IV started and antibiotics running. “You’re not allowed to share the bed. The chair you were on, Mr. O’Sullivan, pulls out so you can sleep there.”

“I’ve got like 30 minutes I figure before the meds kick in,” Ashe started when the room was empty. “So why don’t you spill.”

Dutifully, Red pulled the chair he’d been given up to the bed and sat down. “I bet it works faster, you’re already tired.”

“You could leave,” Ashe’s hand ran into Red’s as they both reached for the call button. “Do you always get your way?” He’d beat her to it.

“For now, I’ve gotten what I can. Make no mistake, Acushla, I haven’t gotten what I wanted yet.”

“You’re lucky I feel like dog crap. I will wake up tomorrow,” she motioned to Red, “this will all be gone. You’re gonna be the best dream I get to go back to. But I still see what he did…I can’t act on anything, because I still have stitches and this headache.”

Red did his best to hide his smile. She was hilarious on whatever med they kept giving her.

“And those people died.”

He sobered quickly. “Ashe, there wasn’t anything else you could’ve done.”

“You weren’t there, how do you know? What if that mother had orphaned another three kids?” Red walked around to the far side of the bed and slid in while Ashe kept spiraling. “That couple had been married for 40 years and she never got to say good-bye.” Red adjusted them, preventing her from flexing against the stitches. He had his arm wrapped hard around her waist to keep pressure against the wound there. The knot at her right temple was up, away from anything. He slid his right arm under her and around her back, pulling her in tight with both arms. His height allowed his chin to easily rest above her head and he was able to pull his knees up under her shins, just enough to support his weight.

“I was there,” he whispered. “Now go to sleep, it’s over, no gun to your head, you’ve done everything you can.”

“Why don’t you use your accent? Super hot.” Ashe mumbled.

“Tomorrow,” Red answered back.

20

ASHE

Before opening her eyes, Ashe reached toward the scent in front of her. Her fingers closed onto Red’s shirt, and she sighed contently as she snuggled into the warmth and smell. Red’s grip tightened, pressing her from knee to shoulder hard against him. She knew it would be another day on meds, her head was still killing her; or killing her again. She also realized the wall she was pressed against was Red and therefore not a figment of her drugged imagination. She needed to find a way to get rid of him before she said any additional mortifyingly embarrassing comment. But damn it he felt good. Without moving, or opening his eyes, Red interrupted her internal debate. “Acushla, you’re thinking so hard I can smell it.”

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