Page 80 of Maverick

When she stepped aside, I sat up and smiled. Joker was standing behind her with my old teddy bear in his hands. “Hey there,Carino. How you feelin’?”

He walked in and bent down to hug me. “I’m doing better now. Where did you find Beary bear?”

“I kept him safe all these years for you.” Joker sat down in the armchair and scooted it closer to the bed. He turned to Maverick, “Are you ready to hear this all again?”

Maverick nodded and took my hands in his. “Ready as I’ll ever be. But she needs to know. We can’t leave her in the dark and have the memories come up randomly.”

They both turned to me and Joker spoke first. “They tortured you, Willow. Ice baths, ice room, whipped with a belt. I stepped in before one of the guys could do any more. Do you remember jumping out the window?”

I shook my head. “It’s all a blur. I remember being in the woods. But it’s more like a weird, trippy dream.”

“You jumped and broke your leg in the process. You also hit your head pretty hard but told me you were fine. You have quite a few broken ribs, a broken femur, and were suffering from hypothermia when Maverick found you.”

Maverick cleared his throat and gently played with my hand. “You were out cold when we found you. Orion brought us to you. Lilah can tell you more about the surgery.”

She nodded and took out her clipboard. “I’ve got it all right here for you to take with you. You’ll be in the hospital a few more days then transferred to rehab. We had to perform a surgery called intramedullary nailing. We inserted a rod into your femur bone. There are screws above and below to hold it in place. It was a pretty bad break. Rehab will help it heal and gain your strength back.”

I nodded but felt very overwhelmed with it all. Maverick nodded toward everybody. Joker nodded back in agreement and got up and moved the chair back. He came over to the other side of the bed and leaned down.

He sweetly kissed me on the head. “Get some rest, Willow. I’ll come back around dinner time to check on you.”

Lilah smiled at me as she headed toward the door. “Holler if you need anything. The both of you.”

Maverick grabbed the armchair and brought it close to the bed. I laughed and gazed down at him. “This bed is plenty big enough for the both of us.”

He smiled and carefully climbed up with me. Maverick wrapped his big arms around me, careful not to knock any IV’s or monitors off. “Fuck, Willow. Baby, I am so sorry this happened to you. I should have just said I love you and not be a dick. I am never letting you out of my sight.”

“Maverick. It all happened for a reason. Now Joker is back in my life and my family is complete again.”

He smiled down at me and nuzzled his head in the crook of my neck. “I fucking love you, Willow.”

“I love you, Maverick.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Maverick

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