Through my heaving sobs, I heard another door open and close over the speaker and more footsteps, but this time they were much, much quicker before an out-of-breath Henry gasped out, “Blue? We need to go. Something’s happened to Daniel.”
Blue’s voice responded in the affirmative before they were on the move again.
“Daniel?” Henry asked, still out of breath, still on the move.
“Yeah?” I responded quietly, trying my hardest to get my tears under control.
“Text me the name of the hospital and the room number. We’re on our way. We’ll be there once we secure a flight.”
Blue’s muffled voice came through then. “I’ll call Roman. He’ll lend us his jet.”
“Good idea, angel,” Henry said before his voice became clearer when he returned his attention to me. “I’m calling Mom and Dad, Dan. We’ll all be there soon. I promise.”
I sniffled and sucked a shaky breath in before I responded with a quiet, “Okay.”
And with three short beeps, he disconnected the call, and I was alone again.
“Should we wake him?”
“No. Let him sleep, Rose.”
“Why does the nameplate thingy say Sparkle Marshall’s last name is Porter?”
“I don’t know, but we can ask your dad when he wakes up. But for now, we should be quiet so he can sleep, okay?”
Yeah, good luck with that, Jackson.Rose would never stay quiet if she had questions. “It’s okay. I’m awake,” I murmured roughly into Marshall’s thigh, where I’d let my head rest however long ago. I rolled my head further into his motionless leg, surreptitiously wiping the drool from my lips onto the thin hospital blanket that still covered him before lifting my heavily lidded eyes to see a worried Rose kneeling in front of me and a smirking Jackson leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed.
“Welcome back,” Jackson said quietly. “How are you feeling?”
Looking around for the cup of water that I knew I’d left on the bedside table, I smacked my lips, trying to get my mouth working again. “Like I was hit by a tanker.”
“Mm. I bet,” he said before focusing on Rose. “Rose, can you get your dad a bottle of water from that vending machine we passed on our way in?” He dug into his back pocket to fish his wallet out, rummaging around until he found what he was looking for. “Here’s my card. Get something for him to nibble on too, okay? And grab something for yourself too. Take your time. There’s no need to rush back.”
Rose frowned before she cast her eyes over me, then nodded, seemingly satisfied with whatever she saw on my face. “Okay, Pappy Jacky.”
Silently, I watched her take the offered card and slowly make her way out of the room. I waited until I couldn’t see her through the glass windows before I turned my attention on Jackson. “How is she?”
The smirk that had been playing on his face fell. “Scared. Worried. Better now that she’s here with you and Marshall.” He pushed off the doorframe and walked around the room until he dropped into the other seat and wiped one palm over his jaw. “Fuck, Daniel. What a day, huh?”
“Yeah.” I rolled my shoulders to stretch as much as I could without letting go of Marshall. “I’ve had better.”
He took a deep breath and sat forward so he could rest his forearms on his splayed knees, then nodded at Marshall’s still form. “How is he?”
Shrugging, I chewed my bottom lip as I shifted my focus from the man who represented everything about my past to the man who embodied my entire future. “The doctor said he’s fine and that he should wake up in the next day or so, but….”
“But he hasn’t woken up yet, so you’re stressing yourself out.”
I huffed. “Something like that.”
He nodded slowly, pursing his lips as he flicked his eyes between me and Marshall and back again. “If the doctors are saying he’ll wake up, then he’ll wake up.”
Logically, I knew he was right, but I swallowed the tortured lump in my throat that said otherwise. “Yeah… I know.”
That playful smirk was back. There had been a time when I would have done anything to see that look on his face more. It had always filled me with a sense of pride that I’d been able to amuse him enough that it appeared. That I was enough for him. That I’d been needed, even if it was only for playing the fool enough to make him laugh.
Now, though, I felt nothing other than the easy friendship that existed solely from over a decade of knowing each other. Even the anger that had lingered for years after he’d left me was gone.
It had only been a few days, but Marshall had healed me more than I could have ever imagined.
