“Call me if you need anything.”
“I will, Doc. Thanks.”
I hung up and stepped back into Kennedy’s room as quietly as I could. She was restless, but she didn’t seem to be awake, so I slid her hand into mine and she quieted. I kissed her palm gently, then took the seat next to the bed, keeping our connection.
Two hours later, a nurse walked in and woke Kennedy. “The doctor’s here and we’re ready to take you down to the operating room.”
Kennedy nodded, then glanced at me. I took her hand again and leaned over her. “You got this, baby. I’ll be right here when you get back.”
“She’ll be in recovery for a while after the surgery,” the nurse said.
“You tell me what you want, Lace,” I said, and Kennedy sniffed.
“I want you to be there when I wake up.”
“Then I’ll be there when you wake up,” I promised, leaning down to kiss her gently. I nearly fell over when she kissed me back. It was technically our first kiss and I relished it.
She broke our connection and tugged on my beard. “Don’t get excited. That was an ‘I might die’ kiss.”
I smiled. “You’re not gonna die, and I plan to continue this conversation when you’re feeling better.”
“Well, don’t hold your breath,” she retorted, but she did let me kiss her again.
The nurse wheeled her away, bed and all, and I headed down to the café for something to eat.
Kennedy
My head was killing me, and I heard myself groan, almost like an out of body experience. A strong, rough hand squeezed mine, and then whiskers tickled my palm and I knew Mouse was kissing it.
“Hey, Lace. Open your eyes, honey.”
Another hand rubbed my arm. “Kennedy, wake up, honey.”
Remington?
I blinked my eyes open and found Mouse and Remington leaning over me, their faces hopeful as they smiled down at me. “Hey, baby,” Mouse said, squeezing my hand again.
“Hi.” I focused on my best friend. “What are you doing here, Rem?”
“Like I was going to stay home when my best friend in the world is hurt.”
I licked my lips. “Can I have some water, please.”
“Yeah, baby,” Mouse said, and a cup with a straw appeared in front of me. He guided the straw to my mouth, and I took a long pull. “Sip, baby. You don’t want to puke.”
Doctor Warren walked in, pumped hand sanitizer into his palm, and covered his hands as he walked to me. “Hi, Kennedy. Your surgery was textbook perfect.” He smiled, settling his fingers at my wrist to take my pulse. He then moved to my leg before pulling up my x-rays. “You’ll see you’ve got several pins and screws, plus the titanium rod to stabilize everything. We’re going to keep you for a couple of days, watch for infection, then evaluate you from there. If all goes well, you should be able to go home on Saturday.”
“Home, home?” I asked, hopefully.
“No. I understand you have a place here where you’ll be able to convalesce?”
“I do?”
“You do,” Mouse said. “We’ll be staying with Aero and Letti.”
“We?”
“Yeah, Lace. We,” he stressed.
I raised an eyebrow. “We’ll talk about that later.”
He grinned. “Can’t wait.”
“You’re not going to be able to fly for a while,” Dr. Warren said. “I understand you have people in Colorado Springs who can support you as you heal?”
“She does,” Mouse said.
I glared up at him. “Or I can answer the doctor’s questions without comments from the peanut gallery.”
He grinned. “You’re right, baby. How about you do that?”
“How about you shut it long enough so I can?”
Mouse chuckled.
“So, you have a place to convalesce?” the doctor asked again.
“Apparently, yes,” I said.
“A Dr. Brooks reached out to me about your chart,” the doctor continued. “I don’t have a waiver on file so I naturally couldn’t talk to him about your case, but if you’d like him to have access, we’ll get you the form.”
I nodded. “Oh, right. Yes, please. He’s a friend.”
“We’ll take care of that today,” he said as he glanced over my chart.
“Thanks.”
“I’m going to keep you here for an hour, then we’ll transfer you to a room and go from there.”
“Thanks, Doctor,” I said, and he smiled and walked away.
“You two should go find something to eat,” I said, nodding to both Remington and Mouse.
“I’m not goin’ anywhere,” Mouse said.
“Have you eaten?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I ate while you were in surgery.”
“And I ate on the plane,” Remington said. “I also brought snacks.”
“Mouse, can I have a few minutes with Rem alone?” I asked.
“No.”
“Seriously?” I hissed.
“Yeah, seriously.”
I frowned. “Why not?”
“Because you’re gonna try to hatch some dumbass plan to get rid of me.”
I snorted. “Oh, the plan’s already been hatched, big man. And, never fear, I would never leave a trace of your murder.”
He smirked.
“Seriously, Declan. I just need to talk to my bestie for a few.”
He sighed. “Fine. You got three minutes.”
I rolled my eyes as he walked away.
Remington sat in the chair he’d just exited and took my hand. “Are you freaked?”
“Quick. Work with me here. I need to get back to Savannah,” I said.
“You’re freaked.”
“Remington, we have limited time,” I whispered. “You need to get me out of here.”
“Honey, you can’t walk. I can’t get you out of here.”
“Then get him out of here,” I growled.
She raised her eyebrow. “Why?”
“You know why.”
“No,” she countered. “You’ve given me bullshit reasons and shown your delusions—”
“Um, hi Kettle, I’m Pot.”
She smiled gently. “Takes one to know one, Kennedy, and you love that man like I love Finch.”
I wrinkled my nose. “You don’t know me.”
“What’s really going on?”
I shook my head and picked at the blanket over my lap.
“Don’t shut down on me,” she demanded. “Talk to me.”
“I’m peeing into a bag,” I whispered.
She sighed and smiled gently. “Mouse doesn’t care.”
“I care,” I hissed. “It’s gross. And totally not romantic.”
“It’s not going to be forever.”
“I don’t care,” I said. “I don’t want him anywhere near it. I think he needs to go home, and we can talk when I can walk my ass to a toilet.”
“You’re
