“I’ll be there in ten minutes. Thanks.” Tossing the phone down on my dresser, I didn’t bother having a shower before I left.
I grabbed a fresh pair of jeans and a shirt, pulled them on while also gathering the shit I’d need, and was out the door as fast as I’d ever been before. I burned rubber all the way to the base, only slowing down when I got close and realized I was drawing attention to myself.
Jackson manned the security gate again. When he saw me running, he huffed out a breath and stepped aside. “Make it a fast one, man. There’s a lot of movement today.”
“Got it. Thank you.” I made a mental note to send him something to show my gratitude. That was what people did, right? Send a fruit basket or flowers?
Snorting at myself while jogging toward the entrance of the hospital, I decided to simply buy him a shot of tequila next time I saw him at a bar. Maybe even a beer. Definitely a beer, too.
I owed him and the doc. Before I could wonder what I’d get the doc to thank him for calling, I was pushing into Eden’s room.
Dizzying relief crashed into me when I saw with my own two eyes that he really was awake. The ventilator and most of the other equipment had been moved out of the room, and only an IV remained.
As I burst into his room, his head swung to the side and his eyes met mine. “Linc, you came?”
“Of course. I came as soon as the doc called.” I shut the door decisively behind me. “How are you feeling?”
Eden grinned, but it wasn’t as bright as it usually was. His light green eyes were rimmed with red and his skin was still pale. “I’m just happy to be alive, man. I can deal with feeling like I’m near dead as long as I’m not actually dead.”
“But seriously.” I frowned, my gaze tracking up and down the length of his body. Most of it was covered by his sheet, and I knew he’d had injuries to multiple parts of his legs and abdomen. “Are you feeling okay?”
He shrugged, pointing to his head. “Other than a splitting headache and feeling like I got hit by a train, not too bad.”
“How are your legs?” Worry ran through me. “Can you move them?”
He nodded but winced as he demonstrated. “I’m going to have to get some physical therapy, but the doctors seem positive that I’ll be walking again before the end of the month.”
One of my eyebrows rose as I whistled between my teeth. “Really? After the kind of knock you took, they think you’ll be on the mend that soon?”
“I believe their exact words were that I was ‘fit and healthy.’” He smirked, a glimmer of my friend’s personality finally showing. “One of the nurses might have mentioned that a ‘strong young man’ such as myself would make a fast recovery from these injuries.”
“Did they tell you what injuries you actually had? No one would tell me anything concrete, but you were in a fucking coma.”
“A medically induced coma,” he corrected, his smirk morphing into a knowing grin. “It drove you crazy not being able to do anything for me, didn’t it?”
“Sure did.” I wasn’t even in the mood to fuck with him today. I was too happy to see him breathing on his own and smiling, even if he did flinch and wince whenever he moved. “How long are they going to keep you here?”
“Probably about a week or so.” He turned his hands palms up but only managed to lift them a few inches off the bed. “Apparently, I need time to rest and recuperate.”
“I’d say. You were in a coma until this morning, dude. I wouldn’t start making plans about rushing your recovery.”
“I won’t, but again, it was a medically induced coma. They were worried about my head wound. There was swelling on my brain and a few other indicators they wanted to watch, hence the coma. All that has cleared up now, which is why they yanked me out.”
“Thank God for that.” I dropped into my chair beside his bed, bringing my forehead down on the cool metal rail again. “I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to hear your whiny voice again.”
“My whiny voice is here to stay.” When I looked up, he gave me another weak smile. But as his eyes met mine, his expression turned serious. “You only have yourself to thank for having to put up with me and my whiny voice. If you hadn’t been there…”
“I was there, though,” I said firmly, keeping my gaze unwavering on his. “I always will be, so you never have to wonder about what would happen if I wasn’t.”
He nodded before reaching out toward me, curling his hand into a fist to bump against mine. It looked like it took a lot more effort than it should have, which worried me, but at least he was speaking and moving.
“I wouldn’t have been alive—”
“Don’t even say it,” I warned him but gave him the fist bump. Sighing as I sat back in my chair, I scrubbed my hands over my face. “We’re in big fucking trouble, bro. I hate to tell you when you’ve just woken up, but the doc told me they’d be calling the powers that be to let them know sleeping beauty has opened his eyes.”
Eden’s blond eyebrows pulled together, and he dipped his head to the side. “How are we in trouble? We did exactly what they asked for once, and we successfully achieved the objectives for the mission.”
“I know.” I shook my head, releasing a heavy breath. “I don’t know what the hell happened after we left here, but it’s not good. I’m on indefinite suspension.”
“What the
