“Please.” I coughed, choking on something in the back of my throat.
Gemma rushed to my side as I raised a hand to my neck, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
“Hey, calm down.”
I let out a frustrated noise, my nose wrinkling, and that’s when I felt a tightness on my cheek. My touch traveled higher, and my fingers palpated over a tube extending from my nostril, rough tape holding it in place on my face.
“Your feeding tube,” Gemma explained.
Swallowing against the tube, I groaned at the uncomfortable sensation. “Want it out.”
I finally forced my eyes open the rest of the way, and my stunning girl’s face came fully into view. She might be sporting glassy, red-rimmed eyes with dark circles beneath them, but she was still the most beautiful woman alive. Her haggard appearance only highlighted how much she loved me in return.
Her feisty spirit rose to the surface, and she threw both hands on her hips. “I’m not qualified to do that job. So, you’re gonna have to make a choice. Which do you want more? For me to stay, or for me to step into the hallway for two seconds to grab a medical professional who might be able to help you?”
My chest rumbled, but I surrendered to her logic. “Fine. Come right back.”
Gemma’s gaze softened. “Of course.”
She disappeared from sight, quickly returning with a nurse in dark blue scrubs.
The nurse smiled, teasing, “Welcome back to the land of the living, Mr. Gusev.” She approached to check my vitals displayed on the monitor beside the bed.
I went to move my left arm to beckon Gemma back to my side and frowned. It was heavy, weighted down, and I shifted my gaze to find it wrapped in a cast that kept my elbow bent at a ninety-degree angle.
“Yeah.” Gemma sighed. “You broke a few ribs, too.”
“How long?”
“Few more weeks. The doctor said it was a clean break.”
That wasn’t what I meant. I couldn’t care less about waiting for my arm to heal.
Taking a deep breath through my nose, I tried again. “What’s the date?”
Understanding dawned, and she sat on the side of the bed, pulling the hand of my uninjured arm into her lap. “March 7th.”
Fuck. I’d been out of it for a whole month?
The nurse spoke. “I’m going to page the doctor in charge of your case and let him know you’re awake. He’ll want to pop up here and check on you, run some cognitive tests.”
Gemma thanked her, but when she turned to leave, I halted her with my raspy words. “Tube. Take it out.”
The woman spun back around. “I can’t do that without orders from your doctor.”
“No.”
If she wasn’t going to help me, I would do it myself. Lifting my hand out of Gemma’s hold, I ripped the tape from my cheek, hissing at the sting.
Eyes wide, the nurse jumped into action. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on.”
“Sasha,” Gemma chided.
Giving me a stern look, the nurse explained, “I have to go get the necessary supplies for removal. Think you can hold off on ripping it out long enough for me to do that?”
“I’ll make sure he behaves,” Gemma answered for me.
The nurse nodded and left the room, muttering something about difficult patients, thinking they knew better than doctors.
