Him

Recovery

The next morning, I woke up to Craig stirring and groaning in bed beside me. I almost forgot about what happened yesterday. Almost. I looked over and saw that Craig was trying to sit up. I pushed him back down as gently as possible. Quietly, I tell him that he needs to lie back down and rest since he's still hurt. He sighs, but, eventually, gives up. I get out of bed to get some more painkillers to alleviate some of his discomfort and make staying in bed easier.

I leave him alone and go into the kitchen, closing the door behind me. I start making some breakfast for both of us. Just something simple since I have to work and won't be at the house for very much today. I bring him some coffee, eggs, bacon, and toast. Craig and I haven't had many sleepovers, so I'm not sure what he normally eats for breakfast, or if he even eats breakfast. I put the tray of food and coffee down on the table next to him and grab an extra pillow to help him sit up slowly.

When he's settled and started eating, I sit on the bed next to him, turning my body to face his. Once he notices, he stops eating mid-bite. He gives me a look and mutters a low, "What?"

"What happened last night Craig? I need to know. You just show up on my door step, in the middle of the night, with a giant cut on your side. Something happened and I need to know what." He puts down his food, dusting the crumbs off his hands.

Shifting around, Craig lets out a big sigh before starting. "Okay. So, Jason and I weren't doing a deal like the kind I told you about. We were doing a deal...it just wasn't as legal as I said it was." I blink a few times, trying to process what he just told me. He was doing something illegal? How illegal? "Layla, I trust you, so that is the only reason I'm telling you this. And the fact that if you're my girl, it could possibly put you at risk of being in danger at some point. If I tell you, you can't tell anyone else, not even Scarlett." I nod my head a few times, showing Craig that I understand. "I need you to tell me, in words, that you understand."

"I won't tell anyone...I promise," I said hesitantly. I don't know what he's going to say next or if I even want to know anymore.

"So Jason kind of works with the family sometimes. This time, it was just me and him working a job. We were gonna go into an empty factory, get some cash and some drugs, and get out. It was supposed to be easy. No one there. No cameras." Craig avoids eye contact with me the whole time he's telling me what happened.

"I'm guessing it was a little more difficult than you anticipated?" I ask like I'm completely okay with the fact that the guy I'm seeing is a criminal. Calm down Layla, it doesn't matter right now. I just have to put that out of my mind and find out all the details first.

"Yeah, you can definitely say that," Craig says shaking his head with wide eyes, recalling the events. "We get there with all our gear and we see that the lights are on inside. I asked Jason about it and he told me not to worry. He said it was probably just one guy. Well it wasn't. We go inside and there's at least eight-to-ten guys there. We fought a few of them off, but some of them had guns, luckily we did too. After a little while, this guy I was fighting got me in the face and I didn't notice another guy coming up behind me with a knife. I heard Jason yell for me and I saw that he was fighting off some guy too. I saw the one with the knife and I was able to dodge a few swings. When I lunged at him is when he cut me." I cringed as he was telling me about getting himself hurt.

"We knocked pretty much all the other guys out and just bolted. Jason drove me to where my bike was, basically, kicked me out of the car, and left. I knew that Smurf and Pope would chew my ass out, I can't go to the kid, and Deran was out of town. I had to come here. I swear I didn't want to get you involved with this Layla. I figured this was more of a third date kind of thing," he said lightheartedly, chuckling at his own joke. I just shook my head looking down trying to hide my smile.

I look up at him more serious now that he's finished his story. "You could have gotten seriously hurt. You're a lucky bastard, you know that? What if it would've been worse and I couldn't help enough or I didn't have the right stuff to help you? What would you have done then?" I ask getting myself worked up again, just thinking about the state that he was in last night. He put his hand on my knee to calm me down before he started talking again.

"Then I would've cracked a few more stupid jokes with a beer in one hand and you in the other," he said giving me a soft side-smile. I know that Craig is trying to make me feel better and make light of this situation, but seeing him like that really fucked me up. I could go my entire life never seeing him, or anyone, like that again. "Listen, Layla. I know I was a dumbass and I'm lucky, but I will make a full recovery and will still be here for a while. You can even play my sexy nurse for a little bit. Until then, why don't we just relax, you call in sick, and maybe order some food here. What do ya say?" He tilts his head, eyebrows raised in asking.

"That sounds perfect to me."

I know that he's okay this time, but what about next time. I just met him and I'm not ready to lose him yet. I don't usually catch feeling this fast, or at least I try not to, but with Craig he's so different. I really like spending time with him. He makes me laugh and I'm always smiling when we're together. I'm not ready to give that up...even if it means accepting this new criminal side to him.

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I'm sorry it literally took me a whole year to write this chapter, but covid was crazy and I started my first big-girl job so I was a little busy. Hopefully I'll be able to balance my time better and be able to write more chapters. 

-Alyssa