I try to open my eyes, but they feel heavy. It takes a few tries, but I manage to crack them open just a little. Enough to have to blink at the brightness of the room.
“Baby,” Cerberus calls, and I find him looking at me as my vision clears. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuckin’ finally. You’re awake.”
Blinking again, I open my eyes wider while staring at Cerberus. “What happened?” I manage to croak out.
“You were shot, Em. I can’t tell you how sorry I am that I didn’t protect you. Keep you from taking the bullet,” Cerberus says while reaching over with the hand not holding mine in order to cup the side of my face. His expression is one filled with such regret. “I promised you and still I failed you, baby.”
He failed me?
I was shot.
Images flicker in my head of the last thing I remember. Being outside the clubhouse. Jon Coleman being there. Him leaving. Cerberus and I joking. The man who holds all of me and doesn’t even know it.
“You’re not responsible for what happened to me.” My throat feels dry and croaky. I want something to drink, but I also want him to know that I’d never, not in my life, blame him for me being shot.
“I didn’t protect you . . .”
“Did you know there was a shooter?”
“What?” Cerberus’s brows furrow.
“Didyouknow there was ashooter?” I repeat, emphasizing the question.
“No,” he grinds out, lowering his head and shaking it.
“Then stop being sorry, Jase. Please,” I murmur, closing my eyes. Exhausted from the little bit of talking.
“I’ve got to let the nurses know you’re awake,” Cerberus remarks, drops his hand from my cheek, and releases my other one.
I crack my eyes open in time to see him stand and lean over me. Panic starts to seep in, realizing he’s going to leave the room. I don’t want him to. I don’t want to be left alone.
“Don’t go,” I whisper, reach for his hand and latch on to it tightly. “Please don’t leave.”
Cerberus’s hands come back to my face, and he curls them on either side. “Not gonna go far, baby. Just gotta let them know you’re awake.”
“I don’t want you to leave me. Please, Jase, don’t go.”
Watching me carefully, Cerberus nods. “Okay, Em, I won’t go anywhere. I’m gonna hit the call button though and let them know you’re awake.They’ve got to make sure you’re good. Hospital just moved you out of the ICU yesterday.”
Holding my gaze, Cerberus reaches over me and presses a button on the side of the bed. Moments later, a pretty nurse comes in, smiling at Cerberus.
“Everything okay in here?” she asks, not looking at me, but focused on Cerberus.
I look to him to see his eyes are filled with annoyance now with the attention she’s paying him.
“Yeah, you can help by going to get the doctor and another nurse,” he states.
The nurse blinks at his words. “Pardon?”
“I said get another nurse and the doctor,” he snaps and looks back at me, dismissing the nurse.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see the woman look between the two of us, turn on her heels, and leave the room.
“You didn’t have to send her away,” I finally say, giving him my full attention. Or at least what I can. All I want to do is go back to sleep.
“Baby, she came in here and didn’t once look at you until I told her to get someone else. That ain’t the nurse I want in here looking after you.” His words surprise me. They were sweet, and I like what he said.
Moments later, the doctor comes in, not only with a nurse but also Stella.
