Anchor

Chapter 12

Gabriel

The room is quiet, too quiet.

It leaves me too much time to think. And my thoughts aren't happy ones.

I couldn't concentrate enough to watch any T.V. and none of the shows seemed interesting anyway. I wanted to ask Taylor to let Emily stay, but they were both exhausted and Emily needed to be somewhere familiar. There's no use upsetting her more than she already is.

It's been twenty-four hours since our rescue and I've thought of her at least a million times during every one. The doctors restricted me to the hospital bed for 48 hours of observation due to my injuries and the officers guarding my door won't let anyone but vetted personnel and my family in.

In short, I'm slowly going crazy.

It'd be a different story if I had something to occupy my time other than quiet contemplation. I'd kill for a devastating hurricane or a capsized boat. Then I remember that I'm still recovering from the gunshots and my misery starts all over again. The only sleep I've gotten is medically induced and even then my nightmares wake me every couple hours.

This time, I didn't let the nurses give me a sedative. If I'm not gonna sleep, I'd rather do it without the grogginess that accompanies the medicine.

A knock comes at the door and I open my mouth to snarl at them when I recognize the dark, wavy hair. Of course, the last time I saw her she was in a torn, soaked dress the same dark blue of her eyes. She looks as beautiful as I remembered, even in a shapeless hospital gown.

"Hey," she says.

I sit up in the bed and hope I don't sound like an eager fuckin' teenager. "Hey."

She walks hesitantly to my bedside with her lip clamped between her teeth. My heart hammers in my chest, the first sign of life I've had since the boat exploded, as she sits down next to me. The bed shifts with her weight and I have to knot the bed sheets on the other side to keep from pulling her close.

"How are you?" she asks, pausing the gnawing on her lip enough to say the words and then her teeth take hold again.

"I'm—" I stop to wet my own lips to keep from tasting hers. The few kisses we'd shared didn't necessarily mean anything to her. They hadn't to me at the time, or so I thought. Now, I'm not so sure. Do I want them to? She damn sure deserves better than me. "I'm good. Doctor says I should make a full recovery."

"That's good news," she says.

"How about you? Gonna make it?"

"Looks like it," she says, shifting slightly on the bed so that our legs brush. She takes no outward notice of it, but my body goes electric. "How's the hospital treating you? Still hate them?"

"I don't know," I say, my eyes on her lips. "It's not so bad right now."

Her cheeks turn pink and her eyes drop to the thin comforter. "There's the Gabe I know," she says.

"Been missin' him, huh?" I tease.

Then she looks back up at me, and the smile fades from my lips and it becomes difficult to breathe.

"What if I was?" she asks, her voice soft.

I swallow, then say, "Then why didn't you come here sooner?"

She laughs. "I guess I didn't want to seem like a crazy person. I didn't want you to tell me to get lost."

I scoot over on the bed to make room for her, noting the dark shadows under her eyes. "I'd never tell you to get lost," I say and then tug on her arm. "Lie down with me."