His body jerks awake instantly.
“Mama,” he said as his mouth comes down and he kisses my forehead gently.
“Thirsty…” I croak and he immediately reaches over to a table and gets me a drink from a glass there. It seems to take all my energy just to suck out of the straw.
“What happened?”
“Don’t you remember Mama?”
“No, but I feel like I’ve been ran over by a Mack Truck. Was I in an accident?”
His big hand comes down and caresses the side of my face. His eyes are so deep and intense that I can’t look away and there is moisture there too. I feel like I am missing something big here.
“Something like that but you’re going to be okay Mama and that’s all that matters.”
“You look tired.”
“Yeah well, when my woman gets shot I tend to not get any sleep.”
“Shot…oh God Dragon, Irish…”
“Shh…it’s all okay now Mama but when the police ask you questions, I need you to tell them that you don’t know who kidnapped you. That you have no idea who they are and you’ve never seen them before. Can you do that for me?”
“Dragon…”
“I’ll explain later, I promise.”
“Dragon…Dani?”
“She’s going to be okay, Mama. She’s already been released. She’s at the club where we can watch over her.”
“She’s released? How long? How long have I been here?” I asked, feeling unease move through me.
“A week.”
“A week?” I croak.
“You developed an infection and were in a coma for awhile, but you kept fighting and holding on. That’s all that matters. Jesus Mama, I’m so glad you’ve come back to me.”
I gave him a weak smile, feeling something close to happiness spread through me. He cared.
“Well! I see your fiancé has decided to wake up and join us Mr. West.”
An older nurse said walking into the room. I look over at Dragon and mouth, “Fiance?”
He grins big and that ‘close’ to happiness I felt earlier explodes beyond measure.
“We were beginning to wonder about you young lady.”
“Sorry.” I said tightening my hand around Dragon’s.
“Do you need anything?”
“A bath?” I really wanted one, I felt horribly grungy.
“We can’t do that right now, but we’ll see about getting you cleaned up in a bit. There are some detectives wanting to talk with you? I’m supposed to call them when you are able to talk?”
“She’s just…”
I pulled on Dragon’s hand to stop him from going on.
“Sure, go ahead.”
“I want a doctor checking her out first.”
The nurse looked back at Dragon with a frown, but nodded her head in agreement.
“Mama….,” he started, but I interrupted him.
“It’ll be fine Dragon and the sooner we get rid of them the better. Shit! What happened to the clothes I was wearing?” I say in a panic as I remember more of what had transpired.
“There wasn’t much left of them, the doctors cut them up and the police took it with them for processing.”
“Fuck! Dragon we got to…”
“Calm down Nic, you can’t get upset and besides we had a cleaner get rid of any…”
“Dragon no, there was a SD card in my pocket, it had pictures of you and some man in a tub and the... shit we can’t let the police find it…”
“I got it Mama, Doc found it when he was working on you. Mama we need to talk…”
“Not now. If you want you can tell me later. But not here around so many…”
Dragon looked at me strangely but nodded.
“You’re mine,” he said almost in disbelief.
“And you’re mine,” I said hoping he understood.
He bent down and kissed my lips gently, and then whispers in my ear.
“Forever Mama. Forever.”
I wasn’t sure how it happened, how our mixed up, fast paced relationship somehow transpired into forever, but I fully believed in it. Whatever this was between Dragon and me, it was indeed, forever.
Chapter 27
Dragon
She unmans me. Just when I think I have her figured out, Nicole does something to completely blow me out of the water. Will I ever be prepared for her? I’m starting to think no and I’m okay with that, to a point.
I watched her calmly tell the investigating detectives that she had no memory of what happened. That she was hit from behind and from there it was all blank. The doctors could only confirm that she had been hit and had suffered a concussion and amnesia could occur after a traumatic injury. I just shook my head, but inside. Fuck inside, I felt raw at times. She was completely cemented in me now. She had been before, but now with every day that passes I am completely and irrevocably wrapped up in her.