She considered her options, which were limited to pretty much one. “Guess I might as well give it a shot since I’m officially allowed to ask questions.”
Clicking on the link to post a new topic, Cheyenne took a minute to think about how she wanted to phrase this.
If any of Ember’s halfling friends are on here and make the connection, I might be able to find them too. Then I can ask them why they didn’t have the guts to get her to a hospital instead of leaving her for dead.
Cheyenne’s fist clenched beside the keyboard. She forced herself to stay calm and not think about how she wanted to pound that Trevor guy’s head against the wall. “Friends don’t let friends bleed out in skateparks.”
Before she started typing, her phone rang. Cheyenne pushed her office chair away from the desk and scanned her apartment. “Not the burner phone. This one’s mine.”
She limped to her backpack on the floor beside the kitchen counter. A quick jerk on the zipper, and she’d snagged the phone from the front pocket. It was an 804 area code, which could have been anybody in Richmond. It couldn’t hurt to answer. She’d missed enough calls over the last five days as it was. Cheyenne accepted the call and pressed her phone to her ear. “Hello?”
“Hey, Cheyenne.” The young woman’s voice was tired, weak, and more than a little dry, but it made sense when that young woman had been unconscious for at least three days.
Cheyenne probably would have shouted if it weren’t for the lump in her throat. “Ember.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Rushing through the hallway at VCU Medical Center wasn’t easy to do with a healing bullet wound in her hip, but Cheyenne made the best of that painful situation. Ember had repeated herself twice before Cheyenne thought to type the information into her phone so it wouldn’t slip out of her head again. Now, the drow halfling’s heart hammered in her chest as she reached Room 317 in the Inpatient Recovery ward. The door was closed, and she hesitated.
If she didn’t want me to come, she wouldn’t have called.
After a polite knock, Cheyenne opened the door and strode into the room. It was brighter than the last room they’d kept Ember in. The curtains were pulled open, letting the evening sunlight in to light up the otherwise dreary and not-quite-cozy hospital room. The head of Ember’s bed was raised, and she sat up, eating a bowl of Jell-O and stared at the muted TV mounted across the room.
“Look who’s up.” The halfling went to her friend’s bedside.
Ember’s blonde hair was matted, but she looked and smelled like she’d had a shower. Cheyenne pictured her friend bloody and unconscious with a bullet through her spine when she’d carried her into the ER a week ago. Seeing her here and clean made her smile. Ember returned it with a weak half-smile of her own. “Don’t freak out or anything, but your phone number’s the only one I have memorized.”
With a laugh, the half-drow leaned down and wrapped Ember in a gentle hug. They both winced, but Cheyenne ignored her issues since her best friend was awake enough to hug her in the first place. “Doesn’t freak me out. It means I’m the first person who gets to see you.”
When she pulled away, Ember released a tired sigh and sat back in the propped-up hospital bed. “And I’m glad to see you.”
Cheyenne ran a hand over her friend’s still-damp hair. “How long have you… I mean, when did you wake up?”
“A bunch of times, apparently. At least, that’s what the doctor told me when we had our first conversation. But fully awake? Yesterday, I think. Today’s Tuesday, right?”
“Right.”
“Okay, then yesterday.” Ember’s small smile faded, and she nodded toward the chair beside the bed. “You might wanna sit.”
“I’m good.”
“Cheyenne, seriously. Sit down. I…” Ember took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I gotta tell you something.”
She’s trying to let me down easy. The halfling couldn’t deny the request, though, so she walked around the bed toward the window and pulled the uncomfortable armchair up to the hospital bed’s railing. She sat and pulled her legs up to cross them beneath her, then placed her hands in her lap. “How are you feeling?”
“Pretty shitty, honestly.” Ember gave a pained little chuckle and grimaced. “I mean, they have me on serious painkillers, so that’s nice. But it doesn’t get down deep to everything, you know?”
“That sucks.”
“Yep.”
Cheyenne licked her lips. When Ember took a breath to make the big reveal, the drow halfling cut her off. “I already know.”
“Uh, well, I just found out, so I’m not sure that’s possible.” Ember gave another small, tired laugh, then her eyes widened when she saw how serious Cheyenne was.
“I wanted to be here when they told you. You know, for moral support and stuff.”
“So, you know.”
“About your legs? Yeah.” Cheyenne rubbed the back of her head and wrinkled her nose. “I was here every day until…well, I guess Friday. Asking about you. I think I wore that doctor down, ‘cause he confirmed what I already knew.”
“How’d you get a doctor to tell you about my…about what happened to me? They’re not allowed to talk to anyone who isn’t family, and I definitely didn’t sign any forms for them to tell you.”
“Yeah, I kinda…” Cheyenne lowered her voice to a whisper, “hacked into your patient file after you went through surgery.”
Ember snorted. “Of course, you did.”
“I hope you’re not mad.”
“Why would I be mad at you for being who you are?”
For a moment, Cheyenne couldn’t bring herself to meet her friend’s gaze. But she has a lot of reasons to be mad at me for not being myself. For not standing
