A thin veil of pain hung over his limbs. It seeped into the spaces between his joints. The muscles in his lower back cried out in pain. It spread up the length of Rocco’s spine, and settled into his right arm.
A soft groan escaped his lips as his eyes fluttered open. He winced, the bright, white fluorescent lights felt like having tiny, bright knives stabbed into each eye. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, and forced himself to try again. Come on. He lifted one eyelid, the murky mixture of bright white lights, and the smell of menthol hit him at once.
Rocco opened the other eye and narrowed his eyes until the lights felt more like a dim source of brightness. The first shape to fully materialize in front of him was the long, glass tubes that were behind the screen above him.
Hospital lighting. Rocco groaned and turned his head slightly to the left of him. There was a small, coral colored chair beside him. A magazine had been abandoned in the middle of the seat, and the rest of the room was vacant as well. He pushed his elbows back against the sheets.
“Shit,” he mumbled. A sharp pain shot through his right arm and his eyes settled on the bandages that covered his forearm. In a whirlwind of flashes, he remembered the way that Meish lifted his gun and aimed it towards Hailey. He vaguely remembered the sound of the ambulance’s whine and Hailey’s panicked sobs as he faded out of consciousness.
Meish shot me. Rocco narrowed his eyes. He actually shot me. But, what happened then? I don’t suppose he rushed me to the hospital too. Rocco turned his head and looked towards the open doorway. A couple of nurses hurried by, with clipboards tucked into their arms. Rocco wrinkled his nose and sat back against his pillows.
If a doctor doesn’t come in here and tell me when I can leave I’m going to lose it. A bubble of panic spread in his chest and Rocco’s eyes flew around the room. He challenged himself to swing his legs on the other side of the bed but he couldn’t lift his legs off of the bed.
Rocco’s hands flew all over his lower body, he pulled the thin hospital blanket back and screeched, “Nurse! I need a nurse! Somebody get me out of here, I can’t feel my legs!”
The sound of footsteps moving across the linoleum was prompt. A nurse with jet black hair and piercings in her nose and ears flew into the room. She winced as her hand smacked against the doorframe and she hurried over to his bedside. “Sir, what’s wrong? Are you in pain?”
Rocco’s eyes flickered from the gunshot wound on his arm to the distressed lines that had appeared near the nurse’s mouth. “I need some information.”
The nurse blinked and said, “Sir, are you having a problem?”
“I can hardly move my fucking legs without feeling like death, and I want to know when I can leave. I’m not staying in a hospital-”
The nurse’s cheeks burned bright red and she walked around to the other side of the bed. She wrapped her fingers around the chart that rested on the edge and said, “You have a gunshot wound.”
“No shit,” Rocco retorted.
The nurse flicked her eyes up towards him and said, “I’ve seen some pretty distressed people after an injury like yours, but that girlfriend of yours has her work cut out for her.”
Rocco blinked and leaned forward as he repeated, “Girlfriend?”
The nurse chuckled and said, “I know that you bumped your head kind of hard when you fell from the force of the gunshot, but I hope that you didn’t forget about the cute young woman that sat by your bedside all night.”
Hailey. “Hailey was here? Where did she go?”
“One of the other attending nurses got her to go and get something to eat. She’s been worried sick, she told one of us that she was pregnant and we got her into an ultrasound a little bit ago.”
“Hailey had an ultrasound?”
The nurse nodded. “That’s right. She was worried about the baby after all of the excitement with those biker thugs,” the nurse patted Rocco on the leg and he breathed a sigh of relief at being able to feel the gentle pressure on his lower leg.
The nurse smiled and said, “The baby is fine, by the way. Once you’re all healed up, you’ve got parenthood to look forward to.”
As if on cue, the beginning of a migraine roared behind Rocco’s eyes. He sighed and said, “Yeah, yeah, that’s right.”
“I’m Victoria. If you need anything, just buzz and Nurse Victoria will come running.” The disdainful expression that she wore earlier faded away and Victoria smiled. “I’ll let your lady know that you’re awake.”
Rocco relaxed into the pillows and stretched his legs out. He looked like a giant in the modest sized hospital bed. He fell back against the pillows and turned his eyes towards the ceiling. The baby is alright. Clyde and Hailey figured things out. Rocco raised his hand and set it on top of the middle of his chest. His heart fluttered underneath his palm, and he couldn’t remember the last time that he’d felt this vulnerable. I don’t think that I’ve felt like this much of a baby since Mariah’s death. He remembered then how he couldn’t believe the way that he’d just fallen into Clyde’s arms.
Footsteps approaching the doorway pulled Rocco out of his thoughts. Hailey stood in the doorway with an apple and a bagel in her hands. She smiled sheepishly and hurried over to the side of the bed. A thin, dark grey t-shirt clung to her lower belly. The top of the shirt curved around her full breasts, which Rocco got a glimpse of as she leaned over to set her food on his end table.
“You’re awake,” she breathed. Hailey crossed one leg over the other and reached over. She squeezed his hand and said, “You’re so strong, I can’t believe that you’re already awake.”
Rocco shook his head. “It feels like I’ve been asleep for three years.”
Hailey pulled a strand of her hair behind her ear and said, “You’ve been out for a little over a day. Anyone would after losing as much blood as you did. Clyde and I were so relieved when we found out that you were going to be okay.”
Rocco knitted his eyebrows together and asked, “What happened? I don’t remember anything after Meish took a shot at you.”
Hailey sighed and lowered her eyes. She sat back against the coral chair and grabbed her bagel off of the end table. She took a bite and considered her words as she chewed. Hailey swallowed and said, “Meish hit you with the bullet, and you passed out almost instantly. I… panicked, and fumbled for your gun.”
Her voice cracked as she went on. “I tried to remember everything that you taught me, but I was so furious that I just pointed and shot.” Hailey lifted her eyes and tears spilled over her eyelids. “Rocco, I killed Meish. I know that he did some awful stuff to the both of us but I know that you might have thought of him as family at one point.” She curled her fingers into a small fist and rested her fist in between her breasts. “My father thinks of his guys like family, and he wouldn’t be able to look at anyone who tried to hurt any of his men,” Hailey’s voice was thick with tears. She dragged the back of her hand across her cheeks and said, “He’s dead.”
Rocco’s eyes widened and he squeezed her hand in his. “It’s alright.”
“It is?”
“Meish felt like family for a long time, he gave me and Clyde a good living, and something to fill a part of.” Rocco leaned forward and hook his finger underneath her chin, “But the man that played all of the things that happened to you and Becca, that’s not the guy that I know. The guy that I knew had integrity. You killed a son of a bitch, that’s who you killed.”
Hailey nodded and sat back in her chair. She sniffled and said, “I told the cops that Meish was forcing you and Clyde to be a part of my kidnapping. I got my Dad to go along with it, he was willing to help after he found out that you were the father of my baby.”
Rocco nodded. “That’s good.”
Hailey lifted her butt off of the chair and reached into her back pocket. She withdrew a pair of keys and dangled them in front of Rocco. “He also gave me these. He knows that there might be someone looking to avenge Meish over the next few weeks, so he’s given us access to his safehouse so that you can rest up and keep us safe.”
Rocco chuckled and said, “I’ve never met a guy that was so nice to his daughter’s kidnapper.”
Hailey shrugged and said, “He even offered to let you join his crew, he said that it sounded like you had some real integrity.”
Rocco shook his head. “I want to keep my head clear of the motorcycle business for a while. I need time to think about my next move.”
There was a sharp knock on the open door of the hospital room. Rocco and Hailey turned their heads towards the doctor. He was taller than Rocco, and sported silver hair on the sides of his head. His cheeks and upper lip were hairless, and he reminded Rocco of an old doctor that he’d been to as a kid.
The doctor smiled and said, “How are we feeling?”
Hailey pointed at the doctor and turned her head towards Rocco. “This is Dr. Howell. He’s been looking after you since you’ve been shot.”
Dr. Howell shook his head and said, “No, Hailey’s been looking after you far more than I have. I’ve just been popping in and out to make sure that your stitches haven’t become infected. How does it feel to be among the living again, Rocco?”
Rocco shook his head and said, “Not as good as you’d think. Every muscle hurts.”
Dr. Howell nodded and said, “That’s to be expected, just a little stiffness from lying in bed. Your body took pretty big hit when you hit the ground as well, but I see that the swelling has gone down.” Dr. Howell moved over to Rocco and pressed his index fingers against his temple. He tilted Rocco’s head to the left, then to the right, and said, “Looks pretty good. How does that arm feel?”
Rocco grimaced as he attempted to move it. His fingers twitched but the rest of the muscles in his arms howled in protest at his attempt to move too fast. “It could be better. When can I leave? I know that I’ll probably heal better if I’m not stuck in a hospital all day.”
Hailey rolled her eyes and said, “I think that he thinks he’s too tough to stay in the hospital.”
Dr. Howell chuckled and said, “I understand. If you promise to take it pretty easy, we can get you out of here in a sling this afternoon,” he turned to Hailey and said, “Of course, we’ll have you on some pretty powerful pain meds. He probably won’t make much sense if you get him talking.”
Hailey jumped to her feet and said, “How does that sound, Rocco? I can get you signed out and we can get to the safe—to my dad’s other property.”
Rocco nodded and curled his fingers around the threads of the hospital blanket. “Let’s get out of here.”