“Are you okay?” he asked, kneeling beside her.
“Me? Are you serious?” Ro pressed her hand over his, trying to help stop the bleeding. Graham flinched. “I’m sorry.” She started to pull her hand away, but Graham shifted, covering her hand with his big, bloody one.
“It’s okay. As long as you’re okay. We’re good.” Ro nodded, but his next words were drowned out as the front door to the mess hall crashed open, and Zach and Beau flew into the room. Beau ripped his kit open, and carefully removed Ro and Graham’s layered hands from the wound. He shredded Graham’s shirt and tossed it aside. A deep, bleeding furrow, edged with torn flesh, was exposed.
“Oh my God,” Ro breathed, falling back against the wall. Her vision swam, and her eyelids fluttered.
“Ro—. Fuck. Someone grab her …”
The rest of the words were lost as the blackness descended.
Ro woke disoriented. Her head throbbed, and her entire body ached. She surveyed her surroundings in the dim glow of the light and deduced she was flat on her back on a cot in the clinic. A noise to her right had her cautiously turning her head toward the sound. Zach was passed out on the cot next to her. What the hell is going on? Why am I so damn tired? Moving her head took so much energy. Ro groaned, and Zach jolted up, as if he’d been sleeping with one eye open. He rolled out of his cot and was at her side.
“Hey, baby. You joining the land of the living again?”
Ro started to respond, but her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. “Water?”
“Just a second.” Zach stood and crossed to the sink, filling a small paper cup and returning to her side. Ro reached for the cup and realized she had an IV attached to the top of her hand.
“What happened?”
Zach sat on the edge of her cot and helped her sit up. She accepted the cup and sipped, as Zach pointed to her bandaged wrists. “Infection—from one of your wrists. It was bad, babe. Beau’s pretty sure it was antibiotic resistant. He had to get creative. We weren’t sure his treatment would work. You’re lucky.”
“I don’t understand ...” When she’d asked what happened, she’d meant what had happened to Graham.
“I’m not going to pretend to have the answers to that. You’d have to ask Beau. I’m just fucking happy you’re finally awake. You scared ten years off my life.”
“But—” He pressed a finger to her lips.
“Important things first: how do you feel?”
“Tired. Achy. Like I got hit by a bus.”
“I should get Beau.” He started to rise.
“No, wait.” She was almost afraid to ask. “Is Graham okay?”
Zach gave her a small smile. “Yeah, babe. He’s going to be okay.”
“Going to be?” Ro frowned. That didn’t sound good at all.
“He’s moving a little slow, but he’s damn lucky that bullet just grazed him. Another inch, and he’d have been missing a chunk of his side.”
Ro shivered at the thought, and then wondered why he wasn’t in the clinic with her. Probably would’ve needed to sedate him to get him within ten feet of me. She mentally cringed when she remembered the barely-leashed rage in his grip when he’d pushed her up against the wall. She was still confused about what had set him off. All she knew for sure was that it had something to do with the man sitting next to her.
“What happened? He avoided me for days, and then he was furious and spoiling for a fight. I just … don’t get it.”
“That’s my fault. Not yours.”
Maybe her head was still too fuzzy to follow logical reasoning, but Ro wasn’t getting it. “I’m missing something here.”
Zach started to respond, but the door to the clinic creaked open, and her dad stuck his head inside. “She awake yet?”
“Yes, sir. I’ll give you two some privacy. And, I’m already late for fire watch.” Zach kissed her forehead. “We still have a lot to talk about. Soon. I’ll let Beau know you’re up so he can fill you in.”
Ro didn’t have a chance to answer before he stood and headed for the door. He exchanged nods with her dad and exited.
“Well, girl, you scared the life out of me.”
“Now you know how I felt.”
“How about we don’t do that again.”
“That’s a deal.”
“How’re you feeling?”
“Not too bad.”
“Truth, Ro.”
“A little bit like I wandered into oncoming traffic. But it’s nothing I can’t handle. I’m ready to go whenever you are.”
“I have a feeling that boy of yours isn’t going to want to leave until you’re back to full steam.”
Ro started to reply, but stopped when she replayed his words in her head. “You mean let me leave.”
Her dad tilted his head and smiled slyly. “He didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?” Ro asked, again doubting her capacity to follow a rational conversation.
Her dad jerked his head toward the door. “That man of yours told me, bold as brass balls on a bull, that you weren’t leaving this place without him, and if I didn’t like it, that was too damn bad.”