“My girl’s a fighter.”
“Your girl?”
I nod. “I’m marrying her as soon as she’s ready.”
“Don’t you think it’s a little too soon? You’ve known her a few months at best.”
“Nope. I knew she was important the moment I met her and I’m not running from that. She likes to run, but she also knows I’ll follow her anywhere.”
He stares at me, and I stare right back, keeping my gaze steady. I know he’s assessing me, but I don’t give two fucks if he finds me lacking or not. She’s my girl and I will marry her.
He can like me or not. It’ll be easier if he likes me, but it’s not necessary in the long run.
“You stink,” he says after a while.
“I haven’t left her side since I climbed into the ambulance with her apart from when she was in surgery or they take her to radiology. Me, Dylan, and Collin gave her CPR until the paramedics took over. I told her I wasn’t leaving her, and I meant that.”
“I’m sure there’s a shower around here somewhere.”
“There is. I took a shower a few days ago while Collin sat with her.”
“You can go shower and I’ll sit with her.”
“No.” The word is sharper than I meant it to be. “Sorry. I’m just…I can’t leave her.”
“Why?” he asks.
“I have this fear if I leave, she’ll stop breathing or her heart will stop. I sat for fifteen minutes breathing for her while Dylan and Collin made sure her heart stayed beating. I can’t get it out of my head. When I got there, she was lying broken on the ground, and she wasn’t breathing. I can’t leave her, not until she wakes up and looks at me. I know you’re her brother, I do, but I don’t know you. The only person I trust to sit with her while I’m not here is Collin.”
Again, he gives me that measured look and I stare right back at him. “You’ll do,” he says after a long while of the staring contest.
“I brought you clothes…” Collin trails off when he sees Robbie sitting in the chair across from me. “Who the fuck is this?”
“Meet Red’s brother, Robbie. This is Collin, your adopted brother.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “Adopted brother?”
“How else you expect me to get in here? These people are strict.”
He nods slowly. “Okay.”
“What took you so long to get here?” Collin questions as he sets a bag down beside my chair. “It’s been a week.”
“I was overseas, bedded down in enemy territory. It took them a while to reach me and then I spent days in transit. I got here as soon as I could.”
“I can’t fault that,” C says and then turns to me. “They come in yet and tell you if they’re going to take her off the vent?”
I shake my head. “I’m still waiting on the doctor and the respiratory therapist. How was practice?”
“Brutal.” He looks around and not seeing another chair, he sits in the floor beside my chair. “We go out of town in a week for two weeks of away games.”
“Fuck.”
“Coach was asking today when he can expect you back.”
“Not until she’s awake.”
“I told him that. He didn’t look to happy, but he didn’t say much else.”
