A Mended Man (The Men of Halfway House Book 4) (6 page)

Cole was fidgeting. "Fucking. English. Please."

"His brain is bruised."

"How bad?" Aidan asked.

Carmen turned to Aidan and her brows knit together. "There's a lot of swelling but, thankfully, minimal bleeding. His pupils are responsive, so it's not an injury to his eyes. It's the swelling that's causing him to have trouble with his vision. We need the swelling to resolve or we'll need to step in and relieve some of the pressure in his head."

Aidan took a deep breath and clenched his hands to stop the shaking. "Can I see him?"

"We're closely monitoring him for the next few hours in the recovery area so you need to give us a little time first. I'll sneak you in when I can, but he's going to be sedated."

Aidan ran his hand through his hair. "I just
…
need to see him." He managed to squeeze the words through the suffocating tightness in his throat.

Carmen reached out and grabbed his shoulder. "I know. I've got to get back in there." She hugged her brother quickly and gave Ty a chaste kiss on the cheek before jogging back down the hallway.

They sat for another hour before Emma appeared and stole Aidan away from an overly anxious Cole and Ty. "I'll try to get you a minute with him, but that's about it until we can move him to the Intensive Care Unit," she whispered.

Aidan nodded, thankful for the chance to see Jessie. All the reassurances in the world hadn't been enough. He just needed a glance. Emma ushered him down a series of hallways and pushed through the doors leading to the recovery area. He stepped in and obediently stayed by the door, anxiously waiting as Emma walked over to the half-moon nurses' station to the right to speak to the sole nurse on duty. Two rows of patients in various stages of recovery lay in beds—no walls between them, and a consistent beep and series of chirps echoed in the otherwise silent space. Everything was white and freakishly sterile, except for the faces of each patient lying in bed or the hand resting at the patient's side that hadn't been covered by the white bedsheet.

He scanned the room and crossed his arms, fighting a sudden chill. Jessie didn't belong here. He had entirely too much life and fire within him to be in a place so cold and colorless. Emma continued her exchange with the nurse at the station, her arms animated yet her volume hushed enough where he could only catch a few random words—detective, kin, friend, partner. At this point, he'd say and do anything to be near Jessie. He switched his weight from one foot to the other, his breath catching in his throat when he spotted Jessie's bed in the second row.

The nurse nodded at Emma then turned toward Aidan. "We have a strict no-visitor policy while patients are in this recovery area." She looked over to Emma then back to Aidan. "But I'll give you a moment with him." She directed him toward Jessie's bed then walked away with Emma to check on the other patients in the room.

He rubbed his palms on his thighs and blew out a deep breath. He walked to Jessie's bed and leaned over, reaching out and hesitantly brushing his thumb along Jessie's cheek. Bruises had bloomed across his entire face and the swelling had worsened. His arms and legs were held in soft splints and he was heavily bandaged all over. Tubes and wires ran from his body to machines that beeped in tandem.

Steady and strong. Just like Jessie.

Aidan ran his fingers through Jessie's dark hair—a stolen caress he craved, hoping the contact would calm his nerves. He swallowed heavily and gasped a few shallow breaths, battling the emotions that tried to claw their way to the surface. He couldn't stand this. His instinct was to hurt and maim the bastard who had done this. He leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on Jessie's forehead. He closed his eyes as his trembling lips pressed against Jessie's fair, bruised skin.

"Please don't leave me," he whispered in Jessie's ear before stepping away and finally exiting the room.

"Have you gone home?" Cole asked.

"No," Aidan responded, still sitting in the waiting room, with arms crossed, in those stupid connected plastic chairs that numbed his ass. Jessie had been in recovery for a few hours before finally being transferred to ICU. After almost a full day there, the machines started going apeshit and in the midst of the chaos, they sent him back to the waiting room until they stabilized Jessie.

Twice.

He took a deep breath, trying to control all his circling thoughts and avoid spiraling into the abyss. He had to focus on Jessie and the strength Jessie used to always seek the positive in the world. Jessie was strong, far stronger than most people could imagine. Aidan somehow needed to put himself in that same mindset and think positively.

God, please.

He needed something to keep him going. Aidan called headquarters for an update on whether they had caught the Michael Johnson bastard. Nothing. He struggled. He wanted to be at the precinct to work the case and ensure they caught the son of a bitch, but there was no way in hell he could will his body to leave Jessie. The bastard could wait. Jessie was his priority.

His body hummed, and not in a good way. The urge to snap at someone tickled his senses.

"It's been almost two days. You need to shower," Cole said.

Maybe his self-proclaimed future-brother-in-law would be a convenient target. He sat and stared at the closed doors, waiting for Emma or Carmen—or anyone at this point—to emerge with any new bit of information. He'd only received a sprinkling of vague updates during the last forty-eight fucking hours.

We're monitoring him.

We're keeping an eye on him.

He's still the same.

Blah blah blah.

"And you need a shave. You're starting to wolf it."

Cole was begging for it now. Aidan had already managed to block out all the panicked families cycling through the waiting room, he could certainly tune out Cole and his attempt to bait him.

"Aidan, you need to take a break."

He turned to face Cole, ready to attack, stopping only when the worry in those mismatched eyes stared back at him. "No," he said through clenched teeth, returning his focus to the doors. "I'm not leaving him."

"At least eat something."

He heard a rustling beside him. "If you don't want the sandwich I brought you, at least have one of the candy bars."

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall.

"If you take the candy bar, I'll shut up and won't nag you for a bit."

Aidan sighed. Cole's tone carried the same concern Ty's had before he'd left a few hours ago for a doctor's appointment.

"Please."

He pivoted his head toward Cole. If eating something gave him a little silence while he waited, he'd eat a fucking candy bar as long as he wasn't expected to leave the room for more than the time it took to take a piss. "What have you got?"

Cole immediately withdrew three candy bars from the bag and two protein bars. "Pick two. One for now and another for later so you don't have to go to the vending machine downstairs."

Aidan held out his hand to Cole, palm up. His mind was so focused on an update he couldn't decide what to eat. And quite frankly, he didn't care.

Cole grabbed one of the protein bars, opened it, and shoved it into Aidan's hand. "Eat this one now. You need the boost." He opened Aidan's jacket and slid the chocolate bar into his pocket. "Save this one for later." 

Aidan took a bite then scowled. "This tastes like shit."

"I'm not a connoisseur of fecal matter, but you're eating that for the energy boost not the taste."

Aidan chewed the crappy excuse for sustenance, refusing to comment further on Cole's special brand of humor.

"Have you heard anything?" Cole asked.

"I thought you were shutting up?"

Cole shrugged. "I was quiet for a whole minute before I asked."

Aidan took the last bite. Cole snatched the wrapper from his hand and shoved it into the bag before withdrawing a bottled water and handing it over to Aidan without another word.

He uncapped the bottle and threw his head back to chug down the contents.

"Aidan…" Cole whispered.

He followed Cole's line of sight, straightening when Carmen pushed through the doors. He launched forward and met Cole's sister in two strides. "How is he?"

Carmen crossed her arms and lowered her brow. "He's not improving and we're worried about the swelling in his brain. We're going to have to medically induce—"

Aidan swayed. He didn't need to hear the next all-too-familiar word. A strong hand grabbed his bicep, holding him steady and returning his focus to the conversation.

"Why do you have to put him in a coma if he's not in one? You're supposed to make him better, not worse," Cole said.

"It
will
make him better." She looked at Aidan. "I need you to trust me. This is not like Ty's situation. This is us putting him in this state with sedatives to help him. It's not his body giving out on him. This will allow him to recover from all the fractures and internal damage without the sensation of pain. But most importantly, it will relax him and not force his brain to do more than it needs to so it can work on healing itself. And right now, that's what we need to happen to get the swelling down. We're going to closely monitor him for the next few hours. Once he's stable, we'll move him from ICU to the special care floor in the new hospital wing. It's similar to ICU but for rehabilitation and long term care. It's more private than ICU and he'll have a room. The nurse to patient ratio is small so he'll have both the privacy you'll want and the close monitoring he needs."

"Sis, I love you, but I'm not liking you very much right now."

Carmen turned to her brother. "You can hate me now, but this is the only way we can get him healthier without running the risk of him getting worse."

Aidan rubbed the pain in his chest that just didn't seem to go away. "Can I sit with him when you move him to his room?"

"Yes. I'll make sure to get a note added to his chart so none of the shift nurses give you a hard time. Either for round-the-clock protection because of what happened or something else with equal weight so there's no issue with the visiting hours. I'll take care of that. Don't worry."

"Thanks. Let me know when he's moved." Aidan turned away and returned to the plastic chair in the corner of the waiting room. He crossed his arms and leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes, trying to block out the emotional storm swirling within. He counted backward, needing to center himself and calm his nerves. There was a shift next to him and the rustling of that fucking paper bag Cole had carried around for the last hour. Thankfully, Cole didn't open his mouth to utter another word for the next hour.

Seemed his future brother-in-law was smart after all.

* * * *

Aidan pitched the paper cup in the trash can and walked over to the elevators, pressing the up button to return to Jessie's room. He'd stepped away for about fifteen minutes, just enough time to grab a stale doughnut from the skeleton crew manning the cafeteria and the piece of crap coffee he'd barely been able to swallow. He'd needed a sanity break.

The elevator dinged and he slid through the open doors, pressing the number to Jessie's floor then letting his arms fall at his sides. He closed his eyes and stretched his neck, rolling his head on his shoulders until he heard a pop. After only one day at Jessie's bedside in his new room, the wear on his body and sanity were uncontrollable. It was all too much. The exhaustion from work and lack of sleep coupled with the stress of knowing he was helpless in the hunt for the son of a bitch attacker and seeing Jessie lying in bed… His breaking point inched closer with each passing hour. He couldn't stop the shaking of his hands. "Shit," he said, under his breath.

The ding sounded and the doors slid open. He exited and quickly scanned the hospital floor. Two men in dark suits he didn't know had hauled away Jessie's guard to a spot halfway down the hallway. His hackles rose and he withdrew his sidearm. He slowly stepped toward Jessie's door and carefully pulled the handle, trying to avoid any sound before stepping into the room.

A large figure hovered over Jessie in the dark room. His heart pounded in his chest and pulsated in his ears as he straightened his arm, ready to shoot.

"I taught you to have more stealth than that," a familiar voice said in a steady, firm tone.

Aidan slowly lowered his gun. Great, now he was hallucinating.

"Hunter?"

His friend looked over his shoulder and smiled before turning to face him, straightening to his full height. He looked different, still tall and broad with a commanding presence, but his dark hair was trimmed short and an equally short-trimmed beard now covered part of his face. He had abandoned the usual suit and now donned casual jeans and a long-sleeved henley pulled up to his elbows. Hunter's silver-gray gaze cut through the dim room, squarely aimed at Aidan. He was older than Aidan by five years, but there, standing before him, his older friend looked younger, happier, and stronger than Aidan's own thirty-six.