Going Mad For Maddox

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Kodi

I WAKE UP to a pounding headache that has me wanting to cut my skull open and pour ice water onto my brain. My mouth is dry and when I swallow it feels like my esophagus is scraping against sandpaper.

My vision is blurry and I look toward the celling to see an unfamiliar haze of bright lights instead of the dim ones I'm used to. My tongue feels numb while saliva builds up behind my teeth and suddenly I feel that all too familiar feeling surface its way up. 

"She's going to hurl." A voice in the distance shouts. It's familiar, soft and almost whimsical, but I'm too muddled to be able to make out who it is.

What I do know is that they're completely right.

I am going to hurl.

Strong arms lift my head so it's leaning over the couch I'm laying on and the moment my curls are pulled from my face a massive bucket is slid in front of me.

In no time, I let the acids in my stomach spill from me, burning its way up my throat until it almost unbearable. I groan at the nausea swirling inside of me and lean my entire body weight onto the person that's now rubbing soothing circles onto my back.

"Is the princess going to be okay?" A small voice says to my right and my lids open a little wider to see a  wide eyed cherub-like face, staring at me. "Princess you okay?" I blink a few times, letting my vision clear and that's when I make out Gracie standing off to the side, hugging a stuffed chicken close to her chest.

"Gracie?" I lift my head to see Jo with her pink haired braided off to the side, crouched low to the ground, grasping the bucket that now holds the rest of the little to no food I had in me. "Jo?"

What is going on?

"She's going to need some water—Gracie can you get a waterbottle from the fridge." My gaze pivots toward the deep voice that just announced their presence only to make eye contact with a massive older man, cladded in military wear. "You good, kid?"

I shrug, not lying when I say, "not really."

"Give yourself a couple more hours and you'll be back to normal."

Gracie patters her way through, handing me a plastic bottle, dripping with condensation, "here!" I wince at her tone and she sees this, making a bashful expression. "Sorry."

I squeeze her hand when I grab the bottle from her, giving Jo's niece a soft smile, "it's okay, Gracie." I press my hand onto a muscled thigh and lift myself up, not realizing who I'm using to assist me, "oh shit...sorr—." I turn my head only for my apology to die in my throat. Because my favorite pair of eyes watches me with a worried crease to his brow. "Mad?"

He places the back of his hand to my cheek, feeling my temperature. "You've been out for a while, babe."

"How long?"

He wipes a curl away that is stuck to my neck, placing his fingers against my pulse, "couple hours."

"Nine to be exact." Jo chirps up.

"Seventy-six beats." Maddox whispers, but it sounds like it's more to himself than it is to anyone else. He blows out a breath, dropping his hand from me, but curls it around my thigh, pulling me closer to his side. "I know you're not feeling okay, but I'm still going to ask you...you okay, Ko?"

Maddox uses my nickname and I rest my head on his shoulder. "I will be, just a little out of it." I rub a hand down my face, "what happened?"

"Someone shot you with a tranquilizer." Jo says casually, taking a seat on the glass coffee table. "And Maddox carried you out of the grocery store like some knight in shining armor while we ran for our lives."