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61. Pancakes

Paige's POV

I refuse to wake up completely and startle Landon. His brow furrows in his sleep. It's an unsettling change from his worry less, usually peaceful sleeping face. His hand around my torso makes my ribs ache, and I can't get a deep breath but the morphine lady should be around soon, so I enjoy the time I get to stare at Landon.

He's too handsome. I love looking at him when he smiles, it's heart warming, but rare. I can only imagine how is life would be now if his parents hadn't cared so little for his well being. If my parents and his parents hadn't decided to buy out a local drug dealer, if he would have been at my house that night and walked out to the pool. I choose not to dwell on the thought.

It's only about 6 in the morning, and I can only imagine how well Landon has been sleeping since I've been out, so I allow him to snore onto my chest.

"No, no, no, I should tell Dr. Kennedy." The morphine lady shakes her head as she steps into the room.

I shush her with a finger in the air and lay out my other arm flat on the bed so she can adjust my morphine drip. Her name is Suzie, but I like to call her exactly what she is- morphine lady. Her visits came periodically through the night and I promised her that I would kick Landon out of my bed before morning.

"The respiratory specialist should be in soon," Suzie pats my hand as she walks away and I try to ignore the scowl that spreads over her face when she glances at Landon before she leaves.

A respiratory specialist, maybe she will help me breathe.

Landon said yesterday that Diane was mad at him. I know why, I just wish she wasn't. Diane probably thinks that Landon could have done something to stop Allen, but in all honesty, I don't think anything could have. I knew that firing him would piss him off, but I definitely wasn't imaging a baseball bat as his revenge.

A shiver runs through me and Landon groans as he stirs awake. I run my finger along his spine as his eyes flicker open and search around the room. I watch him assess his surroundings and then his head moves up to me.

"Hi beautiful," he grins widely and then frowns, probably seeing the bruises along my skin. I endeavour to forget about them as I run a hand through Landon's unwashed hair.

"If you won't leave the hospital," I suck in as much breath as I can without showing discomfort, "shower here." I tug at his collar to adjust it against his neck.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Landon smirks at me and tilts his head from one side to the other and I can hear the soft crack of his neck as he does.

"Go home and sleep on a bed," I groan loudly and pat Landon's shoulder.

He replies with a shake of the head and a wiggle that makes him lay flat back onto the pillow and he tucks his hand under the pillow. The automatic door leading into my room opens with a beep from the keypad on the other side of the wall and Landon instantly sits up in the bed.

"No regard for hospital policy?" The woman with short blonde hair smiles at me and sets down a binder on the tray that is resting at the foot of my bed.

"Not usually," I try and smile at her as I feel the bed fill up beside me as Landon climbs out of it. I watch him grab the chair from the corner and drag it up to the side of the bed. His loss makes me feel instantly cold.

"Paige, I'm Jane and I am the one that performed your surgery." Jane introduces herself with a nod of the head and I smile at her as light shines through the solitary window on the other side of my room.

"Well, thanks." I push a button on the hand rail of my bed and it raises with a loud buzzing. For a moment, I'm worried that it might collapse and squash me in half.