Page 36 of With You

“Lady garden?” I coughed a laugh.

“It was in one of those books that Lily and Benji gave me. I wasn’t a big fan of the term at first, kind of like ‘moist’ or ‘kitty’ instead of pussy. It’s just so, ugh,” she gagged and if I didn’t think Sam would kill me later, I’d start recording this conversation. “I think that lady garden is growing on me, though. It sounds very sophisticated, like a handsome duke is going to plunder your lady garden. Fancy as fuck.”

“Jesus, are we sure she didn’t hurt her head?” Kane said from the door where he was standing with Winnie, who was trying to hold her laughter in behind her hands and though he hid it well, Kane looked like he was about to join her.

“Rodriguez! And…Rodriguez!” Sam shouted at them and they walked to the opposite side of the bed from me.

“Hi, Sam, how are you feeling?” Winnie asked.

“I’m soooooo good, Win. Have you met my boyfriend?” My smile dropped as twin looks of confusion appeared on Winnie and Kane’s faces.

“Boyfriend? I didn’t know you were seeing anyone,” Kane glanced at me for confirmation and I couldn’t wipe the horror of this situation away fast enough. It was clear the moment he figured it out. His eyes bounced between the two of us and all I could do was stand there in shock as Sam outed us.

“Cornelius,” she pointed at me. “He really knows how to please my lady garden,” she stage-whispered to Winnie and now Kane was openly laughing.

“Um, yes, I’ve met Roe before. Congratulations, I’m happy for you and your, um, lady garden.” Winnie bit her lip and elbowed Kane in the stomach, only causing him to laugh more.

“Okay, that’s enough,” I stepped in before Sam said anything else that she might castrate me for later. “I think it’s time for Sam to get some rest. Thank you, guys, for coming, so nice, really, thank you, bye, bye!” I herded them out the door and didn’t feel an ounce of shame when I slammed it in Kane’s stupid, amused face.

“They’re really nice, we should invite them to the tea party.”

I dropped my head to the door with a thunk and took a deep breath. This was not good. Sam was going to wake up tomorrow, completely lucid, in a lot of pain and super pissed. Thank God Gage had all her weapons locked up and she couldn’t get to them.

Turning back toward my loose-lipped woman, I was relieved to find her open-mouthed and snoring. I made my way back to her and sat in the chair next to the bed. Then, I laced my fingers with hers on her uninjured side and watched her.

The fear that had wrapped itself around my heart when Gage announced Sam was hurt on the comms had left me raw and terrified. Even though she was safe now, there were a lot of obstacles ahead of us. Her recovery most importantly, the outing of our relationship to Kane who was not just our friend but also our boss and finally, a long discussion about what the future looked like for us.

In a way, I was excited, Sam had just forced her own hand without realizing it. My thumb stroked over the smooth skin of her wrist and I smiled at the little puddle of drool that was already forming on her pillow. I was looking forward to every curse word she threw at me when she woke up.

20

SAM

“Holy shit, that hurts.”

I groaned and bit my lip, holding my breath until the agony that was ripping through my arm became tolerable. When I got to the point where I didn’t think I was going to throw up, I opened my eyes and blinked a few times, taking in my surroundings.

It was obvious from the bed I was lying in and the tubes and monitors attached to my body that I was in a hospital room. There was a white board on the wall across from me that had my name, pain medication schedule, and my doctor and nurse listed. Then there was an array of faces ranging from happy to sad which I assumed was for me to describe how I was feeling. At this moment I’d say I was pissed and nauseous, however, there wasn’t a face that conveyed that.

When I went to lift my hand to prod my injured arm, there was a heavy weight pinning it to the bed. I turned my head as slowly as possible, so as not to anger the vomit gods and looked down at the large, male hand that was laying on top of it. Then I followed that hand up a familiar muscled forearm that was attached to the man I’d spent most of my time with over the last few weeks.

“Roe,” I whispered, intensely relieved that he was there with me but also not remembering a single moment since he joined me in the ambulance.

He jolted awake, his eyes wild for a moment until they landed on me. I tried to give him my best ‘good morning, honey, I’m not going to puke on your chest at all’ smile but the grimace he returned said I didn’t pull it off all that well.

“You’re awake. How are you feeling?” Warm lips pressed against my forehead and I breathed deep, his familiar scent helping my churning stomach.

“Pretty fucking terrible with a side of I’ll never complain about that hangover from my twenty-first birthday ever again.”

“Let me get the nurse. I’ll be right back.” He gave me another quick kiss and then went to the door, sticking his head in the hallway for a moment and calling out.

When he came back, there was an older woman in scrubs following him. She looked like she’d seen a lot of shit over the years and didn’t put up with much. I liked her.

“It’s good to see you awake. Cornelius here says you’re in pain, any nausea?” She grabbed a blood pressure cuff off the stand next to the bed and closed it around my arm before efficiently pulling a black stethoscope off her neck and settling it in her ears.

“Cornelius?” I asked Roe, who looked delighted at my confusion. I rolled my eyes, not having the energy to sort out that mystery and looked back at the nurse. “Yes, to both the pain and the nausea.”

“We can get you something for that, honey.” Her eyes had softened and she pressed a cool hand to my forearm in comfort. In that moment, she reminded me so much of my mother that I was overwhelmed with homesickness. She pulled the velcro open on the cuff and placed it back in the cart, made some quick notations on the chart and then spun on her tie-dye crocs to leave.

---