Chapter 48
Leo
My eyes burn when I blink them open.
As my vision comes into focus, Charlie’s face is the first thing I see. He’s hovering over me, leaning all into my personal space. “Hey man. Can you hear me? Do you hear what I’m saying?”
There’s a tube pumping oxygen into my lungs and a machine monitoring my heart rate. “Would you back up off me?” I grit out. It comes out all garbled and the look on his face tells me he didn’t understand a word I just said.
He becomes frantic, his hands fumbling with the call button. "Hang on, buddy. The nurse is coming," he tells me. “Hang on.”
My throat is sore. My insides of my nostrils feel like they're lined with paper cuts. The taste of my dried out tongue makes me want to gag. I look down at my arms. They're all bandaged up and fuck, it hurts. What the…?
The memory floods into my brain. The last thing I remember was…Godddammit! No! And now, I’m panicking, fighting to get the word out.
Ignoring the soreness blanketing my skin, I try to climb out of bed. “Reese…” Her name scrapes across my swollen vocal chords.
"You lost consciousness the minute you stepped out of the building. And then the whole thing just crumbled behind you like dominos." Charlie’s voice cracks. He seems shaken by his own words. "You were burned. Badly."
"Reese..." I force out her name again.
Charlie's breathing hitches and a morose expression fills his eyes.
Oh god. She's dead.
"Where's Reese?" I demand. The pain in my throat is the least of my concerns.
Charlie pushes a trembling breath. "She inhaled a lot of smoke. Nobody knows just how long she was passed out on the floor before you found her. Her toxicity levels were high—"
I grind my teeth and speak through the pain. "Is she dead, Charlie? Was I too late?"
He squeezes his eyes shut. "She's alive. Hanging on. But we don't know what the outcome will be. We don't know if she'll have brain damage."
A doctor bursts through the door. "Leo. You're awake. That's good," the old man say propping an electronic tablet under his arm. "I'm Dr. Hecker."
I try to lean my weight on my arms and sit up straighter but now I'm yowling in pain.
"Slow down there. Slow down," the doctor commands, motioning with his arm for me to sit back.
"Reese! How's Reese?!"
The man takes on a diplomatic tone. "We should discuss your situation first before we worry about—"
"Tell me about Reese. Please! "
He glances at Charlie over the rim of his glasses and my friend nods, giving the doctor his consent to disclose the details of his sister’s medical condition.
"Reese has been unconscious since she was found at the scene and although her vital signs are stable, her toxicity levels were very high. We're working to purge her body of those toxins and to decrease the inflammation. Thankfully, she wasn’t badly burned but I won't lie, she suffered a lot of internal damage and she's lucky to be alive. We're not sure what the long-term outcome will be."
"I want to see her."
The man sighs because he knows I'm going to fight whatever excuse he's about to give me. "You've suffered third degree burns on your hands. The risk of infection is very real. We can't have you traveling the halls all willy nilly."
"Then slip some gloves on me. Tie my hands in plastic bags. I don't care. I need to see her!”
The doctor’s face goes stern. “Mr. Montgomery—”
I won’t have it. “I need to see her, doctor, because if anything happens to her and I don’t get to tell her how much I fucking love her, I’ll never be able to forgive myself.”