Page 36 of Swept for Forever
The nurse checked everything: my temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate. I’d already been jabbed with a tetanus shot, which felt fair considering whatever ancient bacteria had hitched a ride in with that branch. My calf was hot and swollen, the skin flushed and angry red. The wood fragment was still lodged deep, a reminder of just how close things had gotten.
“The fever’s concerning,” she said, scribbling something on her clipboard. “I’ll have the doctor come and take a look. He’ll clean it and get you stitched up.”
“Okay,” I said.
Dom sat beside me, his fingers laced with mine. When the nurse glanced between him and the curtain, the professional cue for him to step out, I didn’t let go. My hand tightened around his. I wasn’t ready for him to vanish, not even behind a plastic sheet. I needed him visible and within reach.
She hesitated, then gave a small nod and stepped out to find the doctor.
Maybe it was the fever, or the crawl through hell to get here, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that Stiff-Neck was stillcoming. Out in the wild, trees and terrain gave you clues. In here, with just curtains, fake walls, and too much furniture, my brain filled in the blanks.
I shifted, trying to find a position that didn’t feel like my body had been steamrolled. My shoulder ached, my calf throbbed, and my skin buzzed with leftover adrenaline and exhaustion. A few damp strands of hair clung to my temple, but before I could lift a hand, Dom brushed them back.
“Hey,” he said, impossibly gentle. “Why are you so restless?”
“I’m not,” I said. “I just—” I turned toward him. “Don’t leave?”
The words felt ridiculous. They went against everything I’d promised myself about standing on my own.
But he smiled and squeezed my hand. “Not going anywhere.”
I’d never been clingy and never liked needing people too much. But Dom didn’t feel like other people. He felt like the exception.
Boys got weird when you beat them at something. Boys cracked jokes instead of stepping up. Boys didn’t carry you for miles through the wilderness just to make sure you didn’t die.
Dom wasn’t a boy.
And hell, if this was what being cared for by a man felt like, it was no wonder some women were willing to risk it all for love.
I didn’t know how much time had passed before the nurse returned with the doctor.
“Sorry, sir,” she said, giving Dom a look that was half protocol, half apology. “We’ll need a little space for this next part.”
We both knew what that meant.
Dom had seen me soaked and half-naked in the woods.He’d undressed me when I couldn’t and cradled me when I was freezing. But that had been under trees and in shadows, with survival leading the way. This? This was beneath cold fluorescents, surrounded by hospital tiles. Vulnerability here felt exposed, not necessary.
My fingers slipped from his. He rose slowly, as if leaving took effort.
“I’ll be right outside,” he said.
“I’ll be fine,” I said determinedly.
“Call if you need me,” he added, and then the curtain hissed shut behind him.
The doctor rolled in on a wheeled stool, flipping through my chart. He was probably in his mid-forties, windworn and sharp-eyed. His sleeves were pushed up to his elbows, his gloves snapped on.
“Autumn, I’m Dr. Menzies,” he said. “How’re we doing?”
I gave a smile. “Fine.”
He clicked on a penlight, checking my pupils. “What happened?”
“I slipped.”
“Slipped?” he echoed.
“Trail was slick. Storm hit.” I didn’t elaborate.
