Page 133 of Wild Side
“Gentle, hon.” The woman’s warning has me drawing up. “We need to keep him still. Doctor will be right in.”
Rhys avoids making eye contact with me as the nurse heads out. His lips are pressed together tightly.
I take the last couple of steps slowly and wrap both my shaky hands around his large one. “Hi, baby.” I turn the term of endearment back on him, his eyes flitting to the side to see me. “I got here as fast as I could.”
I fold at the waist and press a kiss to his upturned wrist. “God, it’s so good to see you.” I look him over. Jaw clenched, throat working.
“How—” He sounds choked up and covers the emotion with a cough. “How did you get here so fast?”
I lift a shoulder in a casual shrug. “Ford and his toys.”
His lips twitch, but I’d never call his expression a smile.
With that, the door opens, and the doctor breezes in, nose to the clipboard in her hands as she announces, “Well, Mr. Dupris, we’ve got good news, and we’ve got bad news.”
CHAPTER 45
RHYS
Good news and bad news.
That’s the thing with me. They always go hand in hand.
When the doctor finally looks up, her eyes land on Tabitha, who is holding my hand. She rubs her thumb in soothing circles like that might magically make me feel my feet again.
The silver lining is that I’m pretty sure I feel blood rush to my dick.
“You must be Mrs. Dupris.”
The name stings. I’d never put this name on Tabitha, not now that I know the pride that comes with being a Garrison. She deservesthatkind of legacy.
But she doesn’t correct the doctor. She smiles and replies with a soft, “Hi.”
“I’m Doctor Osei, a neurosurgeon here at the hospital. Rhys, hello again. So I’m just going to cut straight to the chase. The good news is that with imaging, I can see clearly that there was an impact to your T10.” She fires up a computer in the corner and turns it to face us, pointing at the spot.
“There are a couple of small floating bone chips, but aside from that, the spinal cord has not been directly injured. I believe what you’re experiencing is spinal shock, which is your body’sway of forcing you to stay still while it puts energy into healing. Feeling should come back in anywhere from a couple days to a few weeks. Recovery will require rehab.”
I watch Tabitha let out a deep sigh, her shoulders dropping with relief. Me? I still feel sick.
“What’s the bad news?” I grumble, drawing a raised eyebrow from the woman.
She spins on the small stool to face us. “You have a concussion, and I am not a fan of leaving those chips in there to wreak havoc on your spinal cord. You are young and fit and a good candidate for surgery to remove them.”
Tabitha bites at her lip, her thumb still swirling. “And the risks associated with that are?”
I can’t tear my eyes from my wife as she listens intently, soaking up every word the doctor gives her. All I can hear is that voice in my head telling me I don’t deserve her. This loyalty and dedication feels… uncomfortable somehow. Intensely personal.
No one was with me when I had surgery for my ACL. Somehow, I didn’t expect her to actually come here. Not for me. Not with everything she has going on at home. A business, a child, alife.
Eventually, I cut in, “And if this isn’t spinal shock? Then what?”
The doctor looks borderline offended that I’d question her diagnosis.
“Like if my ability to move my legs doesn’t come back, then what?” I’m being snippy, but I’ve barely slept, and underneath my stoic exterior, I am fucking crumbling.
All I can think is that I might never wrestle again. Might never chase Milo at the park again. Might never stand up tall while my wife climbs me like a tree.
All I see is everything I’ve been gifted these last few months slipping away.
