The Bodyguard's Claim {manxman}

TBC: Chapter Nine

Dr. Nicca James Alfarone

Ugh.

Was I dead? Was this the afterlife? This white light that surrounded me, was I in heaven? I must have died, right? I mean, surely I should have. That pain I felt was nothing to live through. It felt as if one hundred daggers were digging into my skin slowly, all in unison. I internally groaned with anguish as I fluttered my eyes open, my eyelids harboring my sight. It hurt to look around, I decided as I saw several people standing around me, relief on their faces.

What were they looking at? Me?

"Don't you scare me like that ever again!" I heard Jose scream from the left side of my bed but I was unable to say anything so all I could do was stare at him. "I thought I lost you!" He cried, balling my shirt up with his fists. "Oh my fucking god, Nicca!" He sniffled, a man that I had never seen before clenching his fists as he stood behind Jose. "Don't use god and fucking in the same context or the same sentence, Jose." My father stood on the other side of my bed next to my mother, who looked relieved. "My baby is finally awake." She sighed, her sad smile being replaced with a genuine one.

What had happened? Why did it hurt so much? I literally had several bandages all over me.

"I don't care!" Jose wiped his face in response to my father, a grin on his lips. "My best friend is finally awake." He smiled and I clawed at my throat, unable to breathe or speak. What was this feeling? It made me feel claustrophobic, stuck in some predicament that I couldn't get myself out of. It scared me and everyone in the room saw it as I struggled to breathe, ignoring the pain on my body. "Aw, shit!" My father snapped. "He has a tube in his throat!" He pressed the call button on the side of my bed as my mother rubbed my hand reassuringly. "They put a tube in your throat to allow some of the smoke that had been ingested, to be released. This way, there wouldn't be so much pressure on your lungs." Marica explained when she noticed the panicked look on my face. "I don't know who could do such a thing to my baby." She let a tear escape her eye and I jolted a bit.

"I have an idea." Jose muttered, folding his arms. "That fucking piece of shit." He grumbled, contorting his face into a look of disgust as he looked at the floor. "Huh, did you say something, Jose?" My father turned to him and he shook his head. "Will the nurse hurry the hell up!? Nicca looks scared bloody shitless!" Jose raged as soon as the nurse burst in through the door, gloves on. "Bout bloody time." He rolled his eyes and I winced as pain flared throughout my body. What happened? Why did it hurt so much? I could still feel blood dripping on parts of my body. Who did this to me?

"Open your mouth." The ginger haired nurse held my mouth open gently as she stuck a pair of pliers down my throat, latching onto the tube. "This will feel slightly uncomfortable." She stated and I nodded, having gone through this procedure with many of my patients before. She slowly pulled it out and I gagged at the feeling of my throat being full. It was covered in blood and saliva and the tube was colored a dark grey, probably from the smoke I had breathed in. I coughed and hacked, breathing in fresh air.

"W-Why does everything hurt so much?" I threw my head back against the pillow, the light blinding my eyes. "What happened?" I had to ask because I couldn't remember. "Someone had put a bomb under your car and it was rigged to go off once you entered a 3 mile radius away from the hospital." Jose growled, his face turning red as the guy behind him put a hand on his shoulder. "Coppers found the remains of the bloody bomb in the crash. You guys done got wrecked up, I say." He said. "Adrian isn't any better." He finished and I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion until I realized that Adrian was the personal driver my father hired for me.

I remembered seeing him with Steve and I couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about. From what I have heard and seen, Steve had never met Adrian Fontaine before in his life. I only told him about my father hiring me a driver after I told him I felt threatened but I never specified who he was or what he looked like. I could say that maybe they knew each other before I met Adrian but my father confirmed that he had Adrian brought here from Canada and Steve was from Texas.