Page 60 of Ride or Die
"Hi! You must be Cali and Shade," the girl says to us. "I'm Jenna. Sammi told me everything when I came in this morning."
"Nice to meet you. How's he doing today," I ask her.
"He seems to be doing well. It's kind of a waiting game at this point," she tells me. "The doctor believes he could wake any moment. I recommend you talk to Buster a lot. He may not respond, but we believe he can hear us when we speak to him. Having loved ones talk to him could help encourage him to wake up."
She smiles at us and moves aside so we can walk in.
"Please let me know if you need anything or have any questions. I'll be here all day," she adds.
"Thank you, Jenna." I walk into his room and sit in the same spot I sat last night. I hold his hand. Shade stands next to me.
"Hey brother, we're back." A small smile forms on his face. "You'll have quite a few visitors throughout the day today, so get to waking yourself up."
I turn on the TV for some background noise, making sure the volume is pretty low.
"Look, babe. Avengers is on." I laugh. We both loved Marvel comics as kids. When the movies came out, we would always go watch them together.
"I'll be right back," Shade says. He leaves the room for a few minutes.
"Rascal and Buzz are on their way. I talked to Jenna and she's going to let us have four people in the room at once," he tells me when he comes back in. "That way, you and I don't have to leave, but everyone else can still come in and visit."
"That's great!" Shade wasn't joking when he said there were going to be some visitors today. It seems like everyone from the clubhouse came to visit, making for a bit of an exhausting day.
* * *
Three,close to four, weeks later, Ryan still hasn't woken up. Today is Christmas Eve and Minx and Raze are the only ones at the hospital with us. Minx and I are sitting on either side of Ryan's bed while Raze and Shade are sitting off to the side talking about club stuff. I'm holding Ryan's hand like I do every day when he squeezes my hand, making me gasp.
"What is it," Minx asks. I'm staring at our hands. "What happened?"
"He squeezed my hand," I tell her. His eyes are fluttering open. He stares right at me. "Shade, go get Jenna."
"Sólnyshka." His voice is hoarse. Tears are running down my cheeks.
"Hi," I squeak out. The corner of his mouth turns up, giving me his sexy half-smirk. Jenna quickly enters the room.
"Well, look who's awake," she says with a smile. Minx moves out of her way so she can check his vitals. The only time he takes his eyes off of me is when she needs to check his eyes. "Everything checks out well. I'll go get the doctor."
"Come here." He pats the spot on the bed next to him.
"I don't think that's allowed." I laugh.
"I don't care," he says. I climb onto the bed next to him and he wraps his arm around me, pulling me close to his side.
"Do you remember what happened," Shade asks him. He nods his head.
"I remember everything," Ryan responds.
37
Buster
When the doctor came in,everyone but Cali left the room. The doctor asked some questions and talked to us for a few minutes. He told me it was a miracle how well I was already recovering. As for eating solid foods and walking, we will be taking baby steps but he estimates I'll be here for, at most, another two weeks. After he leaves, Shade comes back in and Cali moves to get off the bed.
"Where do you think you're going," I ask her.
"I have to pee. Is that okay?"
I smile at her sass. "Don't take too long," I tease. She sticks her tongue out at me right before she closes the bathroom door.
