Page 117 of Elusion

I sit down in the chair next to her bed, keeping her hand in mine, and continue my examination of every inch of her face. Even unconscious, she soothes me on a level no one else reaches, and I just need to be near her.

For the next few hours, each time someone walks by in the hallway, I think they’ll try to kick me out. A battle I will fight. But no one disturbs us until around five in the morning. Trey knocks on his way in with the nurse behind him. I straighten up in the chair, staring him down just in case.

He puts his hands up. “Easy, killer. You can stay.”

My newly acquired nemesis—the nurse—purses her lips. Trey must not have cleared this with her. Rather than argue, though, she checks Callie’s vitals and hits a few buttons controlling the IV. “The doctor will be in shortly.”

I relax in the chair as she leaves. “What’s going on?”

“Just rounds. He’ll give us an update.” Trey stands at the end of the bed, his hands on Callie’s feet through the blanket. “Pete’s going crazy in the waiting room. Be prepared ’cause the minute visiting hours start, he’ll be in here.”

“Great,” I say, the sarcasm dripping.

“It’s Cal’s fault. He had an accident when we were kids, and she spent three entire days in his hospital room. She refused to leave. They even let her sleep in there.”

I half-smile, unsurprised. “Sounds exactly like her.”

The doctor walks in, whistling and much too chipper for my liking. “Good morning.”

If not for the jet-black hair with the deep side part, I wouldn’t know him. Honestly, I could have met Jesus last night and not remembered his face.

“I see everyone adhered to myone at a time and ten minutes eachrule.” He takes a flashlight from his pocket and clicks it on. Carefully lifting Callie’s swollen eyelid, he shines the light in her eye. He switches to her other side and chuckles. “She’s trying to shut her eye on me.”

Trey and I exchange glances, cautiously optimistic.

“Callista—”

“Callie,” we say in unison.

“My apologies.” He clicks off his light. “Callie doesn’t seem to like me shining a bright light in her eye.”

“So, she’s…” Not normally one for being superstitious, I’m terrified I’ll jinx myself if I say the rest out loud before a medical professional offers his opinion.

“She should open her eyes on her own anytime now.”

A collective sigh escapes both of us, and the doubt tucked away in a deep, dark corner of my mind about her not waking up evaporates.

“Everything appears normal on her scans,” the doctor continues. “But with oxygen cut off long enough for a loss of consciousness and a concussion, we never want to guess.” He taps away at a tablet. “The pain medications could also be making it harder for her to wake up. With her ribs and neck, though, I want to keep the meds where they are for now.”

Trey lets out another sigh. A deep one, loud enough to gain the doctor’s attention. He pats a hand on Trey’s shoulder on his way out.

“Get your ass up.” Trey closes in on me. “We’re hugging.”

I shake my head, releasing Callie’s hand as I stand up. “I can’t wait for you to be out of that uniform, so I don’t feel like I have to listen to you.”

He wraps me in his, by now, familiar arms. “Shut up and hold me.”

And, unfortunately, I do.

The police-ordered affection lasts an uncomfortable amount of time before he switches into update mode and runs out into the hall. I return to my residency in the chair, taking Callie’s hand back in mine because I’m not going tonothold her hand. I yawn, and my eyes grow heavy. I don’t even try to fight it, letting them close.

The flutter against my palm registers since I never completely fell asleep. I consider my state more of a groggy twilight—awareness not quite lost. Another twitch goes without a proper response because, well, groggy twilight.

Callie’s hand jerks from mine, and my eyes fly open.

She frantically grabs at her neck. She scans the room, her chest heaving as she gasps for air.

“You’re safe, Callie.” I secure her hand. “You’re okay.”

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