My heart tightened at the thought of letting Ryder out of my sight. I shook my head. "No, I can do it."
Kyle nodded and pulled me in for a big hug. "You did good today, rookie."
I gave a lame attempt at a smile as he pulled away and met my eyes. "Get some sleep," I told him.
He nodded and yawned. "I'll check on Markus. I have to report to the Quorum before I can sleep."
Damn. No rest for the enforcers. I guess I should get used to it.
I sat in the wheelchair and held Ryder's limp hand. It took me about thirty minutes, but eventually that jacked-up feeling started to lessen. Some of the stress and exhaustion pressed in on me and I lowered my head to rest on the side of the bed. I knew Ryder could wake at any moment, and I really didn't want to drift off. Trying to stay awake, I started a slow, slurring murmur: don't fall asleep, don't fall asleep …
The sound of Ryder groaning jarred me awake. It took me a few seconds to orient myself, then the last twenty-four hours came slamming back. Ryder! Heart pounding, I fumbled for the clear syringe which had fallen into my lap. I was probably lucky I hadn't accidentally stabbed myself with it while I slept.
By the time I got my shit together, my gaze crashed into his wide silver and black eyes. They were filled with a tumult of emotions.
"Charlie … "
The rasp of his voice almost had me in tears. The way he'd just said my name, so much emotion in his tone-a tenderness rarely seen from the strong enforcer, except in vulnerable moments like these. His hand snaked out and touched my hair and I found myself sinking into his touch.
"Ryder … "
For once in my life I didn't know what to say. Was it too soon to blurt out Don't ever do that again, I'm totally falling in love with you, and you scared the shit out of me? Yeah, probably.
He looked down, noticing the gauze across his stomach, the blood dripping into his IV. His face scrunched in pain, and I was just about to freak out that something had gone wrong when his face shot back up to me. Clarity entered those eyes, along with some worry.
"Markus?" Ryder struggled to sit up.
I would guess he'd just remembered how he'd been a big hero and jumped in front of a bunch of bullets. We really needed to talk about that sometime.
"He's fine," I said, giving him my most reassuring face. Of course, I didn't know for sure he was fine, having not seen him since we got here, but surely if there had been an issue with his injuries, someone would have found Kyle and me and told us.
I palmed the clear syringe. "They gave me something for your pain, and it means I get to stab you in the leg."
A deep chuckle came from him before he winced. Laughter was not good for belly wounds; even the tough guy here was struggling. I waved the syringe a little closer and he gave me a glare.
"I don't like meds and I don't need any. Take me home. I hate hospitals."
Fair enough. Dropping the syringe on the side table, the first thing we had to do was remove the IV. The blood bag was almost empty now anyway. I might have closed my eyes just for a second as I gently pulled it out. It released easily, and apparently relatively pain free, as Ryder's expression did not shift.
Moving closer then, I put an arm under each of Ryder's armpits. Seemed like the safest place with all of his injuries.
"One, two, three," I said, and with a lot of help from him, we got him sitting with his legs dropped off the side of the bed.
I was both relieved and slightly disappointed to see he was in a low slung pair of sweats. One of the vamps must have slipped those on after the surgery. Of course, my female appreciation of his beautiful body was definitely diminished by the sight of his bandages, red seeping through some of the white.
As I swayed a little at the sight, I took a second to be grateful that his wounds were not on show. My mom might be a nurse, but I always knew medical stuff was not for me. I'd definitely have puked to see his body torn to shreds like that.
He noticed my inspection. "I'll heal in a few hours. As long as they stitched me up okay, it won't even leave a scar."
He was trying to reassure me, but we both knew the truth. He could have died today. Even ash can only lose so much blood and suffer so much damage before their genetics cannot save them. Forcing myself to focus on anything other than his almost death, I nodded at the wheelchair.
"Okay, let's do this."
It took some effort, but together we shifted him into the wheelchair. I was pretty sure I pulled my back doing it too. I'd thankfully healed all my injuries from dragging him under the car, so this was just a new one to deal with.
Ryder groaned, sinking into the chair. He looked as pale as a sheet and his eyes were on the syringe I had set down.
I smiled. "Want me to bring it just in case?"
After the briefest of hesitations, he nodded. Well, damn. If my big hardcore enforcer was needing pain meds, this was serious. I wheeled Ryder out of the medical ward, nodding to a nurse as we passed. After wheeling him into the elevator and down the hall, I stopped at my door and fumbled for my keycard.
Once we were inside, I noticed Jayden's door was closed. He was probably at his job. I wheeled Ryder around our couch and right into my bedroom. Careful not to bump the chair, I walked the long way around to face him. He wore a wan grin.
"What?" I asked.
"Not exactly how I imagined being invited to your bed."
Well hot damn. Ryder had thought about being invited into my bed. Nice.
"Want the pain meds yet?" I had the syringe safely stashed in the side of the wheelchair.
He shook his head. "Nah, I'm still doing okay."
Dude was a total liar; his normally bronzed skin was as pale as mine right now.
I sighed. Tough guys, they never asked for help. I reached out and plucked the painkiller free. I was betting whatever was in this thing was strong, especially if it would subdue an ash's pain. If Ryder didn't start looking better in a few minutes, I was totally using it on him.
Just as I had that thought, I noticed how much sweat had broken out on his forehead. Time to roll. I raised the syringe up high and he groaned.
"What's your obsession with wanting to hurt me?"
I shrugged, stepping even closer into his personal space. "Guess it's been harder than expected to get over the electrocution thing."
His attempted chuckle turned into another grunt.
"Ready?"
He nodded, and before I could think about what I was going to do, in a single smooth motion I drove the syringe into his leg, pushing down to disperse the clear fluid inside. He didn't even wince at the needle being jammed into his thigh. That pain probably paled in comparison to his stomach wound.
The mysterious clear liquid worked almost instantly. The tension which had racked his face lessened. His sigh of relief was music to my ears. Before he completely lost consciousness, I helped him out of the chair and tucked him into my bed. As his eyes fluttered, I went to step away, planning on running to the feeding station and grabbing some extra blood. But before I could he reached out and captured my hand, pulling me hard, using far more strength than an injured ash should have at their disposal. I fell onto the bed next to him.
"Lie with me," he whispered in a slur.
I kicked off my shoes and tucked myself into his side, careful not to lie against his injuries. I felt his head tilt down to rest against my hair, and as he nestled closer into me he breathed in and out deeply.
"This is all … all I want."
His last words were almost incoherent, but I heard them. Then he was fast asleep in a nice, drug induced state. As I was drifting off to sleep myself, I realized that this was what I wanted too. Unlimited spooning with Ryder was totes on my more to do list.
Chapter 4
I awoke to the smell of bacon and immediately began to salivate. As I rolled over, I froze as I remembered the last twenty-four hours. I realized, with more than a little disappointment, that Ryder was already gone. My eyes alighted on a note propped up on the pillow. I reached across and snagged it.
Thanks for taking care of me. You snore in your sleep. Ryder
My mouth dropped open. I totally did not snore! Right? Shit.
"Hey, Jayden!" I was a lazy bitch. Shouting from bed was one of my favorite things to do.
Come to me peasants, come to me.
I knew my roomie wouldn't have left yet; the smell of bacon was the first giveaway. The second was that the clock on the wall said it was 6 a.m. Damn, that meant Ryder and I had been asleep for half the day and all night. I was starting to get a little too comfortable with that enforcer. There was a time a year ago when I could never have imagined trusting a dude enough to actually fall asleep with him. And look at me now.
Ryder was different. He made me feel safe, and that was a rare find.
"You hollered, bitch? You think I'm your dog now or something?" Jayden popped his fine ass in through my door, bounding across and slamming himself onto the end of my bed.
"Do I snore?"