Monroe, Marla - Their Reluctant Submissive [Knights in Black Leather 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (21 page)

The soft whirr of the machine that was breathing for her kept up a steady rhythm. What could he say to her? The nurse had said they should talk to her. He looked up at Jackson for some clue.

“Kelly, baby. Please get well soon. Marx and I need you so much, kitten.” Jackson’s voice appeared to be a little steadier.

Marx needed some form of touch other than the small area on her face. The covers on the bed were draped across the footboard. He gently lifted them and found that the sheet wasn’t tucked in. Moving them over a little, he found her foot free of any dressings or obvious wounds. He replaced the covers, but kept his hand on her foot. It wasn’t much, but it soothed him to a certain degree.

“Kelly. Steve, Ben, and Tessa are out in the waiting room wishing they could come and see you. Everyone from the club was here earlier checking on you. You’ve got so many people worried about you, babe. Get well.” Then as if pulled from deep inside his heart, Marx whispered something he didn’t think he would ever say to a woman.

“I love you, Kelly.”

He felt Jackson’s gaze on his face. They hadn’t really talked much about their deeper feelings for her, but each knew the other loved her. Saying it out loud made it seem all the more real to him. He wanted to hug her close and make love to her long and slow. Instead, he had to settle for his hand on her foot and whispered words.

* * * *

Jackson froze when he heard his brother tell Kelly that he loved her. Relief unlike anything he had ever experienced poured over him. It freed him to tell her as well and meant that his brother was fully engaged.

“I love you, too, Kelly. Get well, honey, and let us take care of you.” He bent over and kissed her cheek.

They stood there watching her face for any sign or reaction for another ten minutes before the nurse let them know that visiting hours were over. They slowly backtracked out the automatic doors into the waiting room. The others stood up and crowded around them for what they thought about Kelly’s status.

Jackson could tell that Marx wasn’t up to talking, so it fell to him to fill them in on how she looked. When he had finished, the three of them appeared almost ashen. Even though they hadn’t actually seen her, their imaginations were probably working overtime. In reality, the truth probably wasn’t as bad as their thoughts could paint it.

“But she’s going to be okay, right?” Tessa’s voice was still wobbly, and there were residual tears in her eyes.

“She’s going to be fine. It’s just going to take some time.” Jackson reached out and touched her hand.

Steve seemed especially glad to hear it. Jackson had purposefully left out how she looked with all the machines hooked to her. There was no need for them to picture her that way when they finally lay down to try and sleep. God knew, he dreaded trying to close his eyes. He knew all he would be able to see would be her amid all those wires.

“Is there anything we can do for you guys?” Ben asked. “I can run out to the ranch if there is something that needs taking care of.”

Jackson looked over at his brother. Marx shook his head.

“Thanks, but we have everything handled for now.”

Steve, Ben, and Tessa all said their good-byes and left the room. Now it felt almost desolate with only them in there. He checked his watch and found that it was close to eleven in the morning. There was no way he would get any sleep. Besides, he wanted to be there when it was time to see Kelly again. He wanted to be around when the doctor made rounds so he could ask more about her condition. He wanted to know when she would be awake.

Marx stood in front of the windows looking out. He knew his brother was fighting the need to hit something. He was used to working out on the ranch when he was upset about something. It helped him deal with his anger. Stuck in the ICU waiting room, there wasn’t anywhere he could go.

“Why don’t you go back to the ranch for a few hours? You can come back and spell me later. That way one of us is always here.” Jackson waited to see if he would answer him.

Finally, Marx turned away from the windows and jabbed his hands in his pockets. Something about that simple act, so outside of his brother’s normal behavior got to him. Jackson walked across the room and squeezed his shoulder. The other man made eye contact and nodded his head.

“I’ll be back in a few hours. Call me if there’s any change.”

“I will.” He watched Marx walk out of the room.

Waiting wasn’t something he thought he had a problem with. Being a Dom took a huge amount of patience, and he had always thought he possessed endless amounts of it, but waiting in a hospital waiting room was an entirely different animal. It left him alone with his thoughts, and they weren’t pretty at the moment. The knowledge that Kelly was alone with strangers in that hospital bed hooked up to cold machines ate at him. That combined with the less-than-desirable complimentary coffee he had consumed and it was no wonder his stomach was hurting and he had a headache.

The sound of footsteps behind him made him turn away from the window. Stacey, Anna, and Jessica walked in with Tag, one of the other Doms at Golden Shackles, and Zander right behind them. To his bemusement, the three women surrounded him and started crying. He looked over at the two men looking helpless as they stood by the coffeemaker and sighed. He found himself comforting the other women.

“Is there any news?” Anna asked.

“Nothing yet. I’m hoping to catch the doctor when he makes rounds.”

“Steve said she’s on a ventilator.” Stacey sniffed.

“Yeah. They’re keeping her lungs open. She has some cracked ribs, and they’re scared she’ll end up with pneumonia.”

Tag and Zander walked up and they shook hands. It was good to have them there even though it was obvious they didn’t know what to do or say.

“Thanks for coming, guys.”

“Wish there was something we could do. I don’t like feeling helpless,” Tag said.

“I don’t either. I don’t suppose either of you have heard what caused the fire yet, have you?”

Tag and Zander exchanged glances. Zander looked pointedly at the women and shook his head no.

Jackson didn’t like that exchange one bit. It meant something was up that they didn’t want to discuss in front of the ladies. Tag asked Jessica if the girls would go get Jackson a sandwich from the cafeteria, and as soon as the women left the room, Jackson demanded to know what was going on.

“They’re pretty sure it was due to faulty wiring in one of the breaker boxes.” Tag ran a hand over his head. “The thing is that it looks like they had trouble with one of the breakers and instead of getting it replaced, they rigged it so that it wouldn’t kick off when it overloaded.”

Tag nodded. “Add to that the fact that someone in one of the apartments had hooked up some high-powered grow lights for their illegal botanical garden and it finally got too hot and caught fire.”

“The place was a fucking firetrap to begin with.” Jackson rubbed his hand over his face.

“The owners should be arrested for reckless endangerment,” Tag muttered.

“Forget arresting them. They should be strung up outside the burned-down building to make an example of them.” Zander didn’t pull punches. It was why he and Marx got along so well.

The swish of the automatic doors from the ICU caught everyone’s attention. A tall man wearing jeans and a long white coat walked through the doors. He zeroed in on the group and crossed the room in long strides. Tag and Zander positioned themselves on either side of Jackson.

“I’m looking for the family with Kelly Baylor.”

Jackson held out his hand. “I’m Jackson Callahan. I’m one of Kelly’s boyfriends. These are my friends, Tag and Zander.”

“I’m Dr. Felix Greer.” He shook everyone’s hand then looked at Jackson. “Let’s sit over there and talk.”

Jackson followed the doctor across the room and sat down with him. Tag and Zander stood close to the outside door to wait on the women to return. He appreciated that they gave him some privacy with Kelly’s physician.

“How is she doing?”

“Kelly is running a temperature. It’s not unusual with trauma to run a low grade temperature while the body heals, but I’m concerned because it is higher than it should be. I’m worried that she’s developing pneumonia.”

Chapter Nineteen

Marx hurried into the waiting room to find Jackson and Steve talking in front of the coffeepot. For the last four days, they had been taking turns staying at the hospital to be near Kelly in case she needed them. Jackson had called Marx to get him to come back to the hospital because Kelly had been trying to wake up despite the sedation they were giving her to keep her comfortable. The doctor had decided to wean her off the medication in an attempt to get her off the ventilator so she could fight the infection in her lungs.

“What’s going on?” Marx interrupted the two men.

“Dr. Greer says she’ll be off the medication soon. He wants us there to talk to her and see if we can get her to wake up.”

“What about her lungs? How about her fever?”

“Her fever has broken, and that’s why he thinks she’s trying to wake up. He wants to get her off the machine so she can cough on her own.” Jackson glanced at his watch. “Shouldn’t be much longer now. Doc said he would come get us.”

“You know we’re all praying for her, guys. I’m going to head back to the store and let everyone know what’s going on. When you can, call me with an update.” Steve shook their hands and left.

Before Marx could ask any more questions, the automatic doors swung open and Dr. Greer motioned for them to come on.

“As soon as you wash up, go right on in her room and talk to her. Don’t upset her. She needs to stay calm, but it would be good if we could talk her awake now.” The doctor left them at the hand-washing station.

They quickly cleaned up then headed to Kelly’s glass room. A nurse was adjusting something when they walked in. She smiled at them before closing the curtain and walking out. Marx took one side of the bed and Jackson took the other. They each brushed kisses on her face before finding a free section of skin and touching her.

“Hey, kitten. Marx and I are here. We sure would like to talk to you and see your pretty blue eyes.” Jackson watched her face as he spoke.

Marx couldn’t tell any difference in her since the last time they had been in other than her skin no longer felt hot and dry to the touch. It was cooler now and maybe a little softer. He struggled to come up with something to say. Jackson kept talking, telling her about what was going on around town.

Finally he managed to speak up. “You should have seen me yesterday, Kelly. I was helping Pete, one of the hands, put out hay, and one of the bales had come lose and we didn’t realize it. When Pete scooped it up with the tractor to put it in the truck, it fell all to pieces and covered me and the inside of the damn truck with hay. I’m going to be picking hay out of the front seat of that truck for months.”

“Yeah, when he came to see you last night there was still hay in his clothes.” Jackson smiled.

No doubt his brother was remembering the cursing he’d been doing about it. The damn stuff was uncomfortable down your shirt. He thought he felt her hand move against his. Marx stared down at it. Sure enough, her fingers flexed. He glanced up at Jackson to tell him, but his brother was staring at her face. When he glanced up, he caught her eyelids fluttering. She moved her head and grimaced as if in pain.

“Get the nurse, Jackson. I don’t want her in pain.” Marx wanted them to sedate her again.

“The doc said she needed to wake up. They’ll give her something for pain when she’s awake.”

Marx started to go get a nurse himself when Kelly’s eyes opened for a few seconds. Then her hands moved toward her mouth, but they were restrained with cloth restraints so she couldn’t pull out the tube. She started to pull against the bonds. Marx couldn’t take it.

“Jackson!”

“I’m on it.” Jackson hurried out of the room.

“Easy, kitten. We’re here with you. Relax so you don’t hurt yourself. We’ve got you.” Marx used his best Dom voice to try to get through to her.

Jackson returned with both the doctor and a nurse. The nurse had a syringe in her hand but waited on the doctor to look at Kelly. Marx had to fight to remain still and quiet when all he wanted to do was demand that they stop the pain. She shouldn’t have to hurt. She had already been through too much.

“She’s coming out of it fine. Keep talking to her. As soon as she’s fully awake, we’re going to start weaning her off the machine, and then we can take the restraints off of her.” Dr. Greer smiled at them.

“She’s upset about having the tube in her mouth. I don’t like her trying to fight like that. I’m scared she’s going to hurt herself.” Marx didn’t know what he wanted the doctor to do other than make her better.

“Marx. She’s going to fight the restraints, it’s a natural response. Help her relax and wake up. She has to do this on her own. We can’t build her strength for her.”

He stared at the doctor for a few seconds and finally nodded. He could help her relax into the restraints. He and Jackson were good at talking subs out of panic at the club. At last they were able to do something for their woman. He glanced up at his brother. Jackson nodded. They leaned in and began talking to her in their Dom voices.