“Do you have any idea where he could have taken her? The police have gone to her house but she’s not there.”
I close my eyes and her pretty blue orbs blink back at me. Perfect, small nose tinged in pink from the sun. Pouty, peachy lips ripe for tasting. God, I want to touch her.
Reopening my eyes, I try to scan my body to find exactly what’s wrong with me. What it is that seems to be sitting on my chest holding me pressed against the bed. But when my eyes peruse over the blanket, I don’t see any weights. Just a thin hospital gown.
“You were shot,” Dad says softly and points to my chest. “Do you remember?”
My eyes meet his and I nod. It’s difficult with the drugs in my system but he sees.
“The bullet went through your shoulder. It hit one of your ribs on the way and cracked it but didn’t break it. The bullet punctured your left lung, which collapsed during surgery. You’re intubated until your lungs heal a bit more. Eventually you’ll be able to start some pulmonary therapies to regain usage of that lung.”
I close my eyes again and wonder if the bullet had been infected with anything. Had Gabe touched it or not handled it properly before loading it into that chamber? What if he’d been in contact with something toxic? Does that mean it could potentially poison my bloodstream?
The heart monitor begins racing which only causes me to panic more. Each time I awake and my mind gets out of control with my obsessions, the nurses come back in to “calm” me down.
But it doesn’t calm me down. It sends me hurtling right back into the dangerous depths of my mind.
Warren, chill the fuck out.
Dad squeezes my hand and I pop my eyes back open. He’s frowning and keeps glancing at the heart monitor.
“Relax. I need you here with me. We need you to get better so we can find where he took her,” he says firmly, his voice the stern one he’d use whenever I was in trouble as a boy.
I nod again and this time the tears do well in my eyes. He’s right. I need to pull my shit together so I can get well and help the police find my girl. She’s out there in his clutches as we speak. The motherfucker is most likely doing unspeakable things as I sit here fading in and out of black.
“Is everything okay in here?” a nurse questions as she comes into my room.
I nod at her and she flashes me a sweet smile. “Good to see you alert and awake today, Mr. McPherson. Dr. Watson is hoping to be able to extubate you today. Get you off that ventilator. He’s also sending in Dr. Daniels for a psych evaluation later. But first, I’m going to grab some supplies and I’ll come drain the blood from your chest tube.”
She scurries off and I dart my widened eyes to my dad.
“Listen, War. You have got to be strong. Stay strong for her and get yourself well. Dr. Watson was able to repair your lung but you’re not in the clear. You’re going to have to fight harder against these episodes or they’ll keep pumping you with that mind-numbing shit. I need you to do whatever it takes to get yourself through this.”
I nod and furrow my eyebrows in concentration as the nurse comes back in the room. My eyes remain locked on Dad, tuning out her mindless chatter, as she sets to sucking out blood and fluids from my chest.
Don’t think about it.
Don’t think about it.
“Son, do you remember that time we saw that stingray over at Coronado’s beach? He had to have been four feet long. Just swam right up to you.”
His twinkling eyes meet mine and he grins. I nod and try to smile around the tube in my mouth.
“Your mother started screaming like a wild banshee. You’d have thought you were being attacked by a great white, not a stingray. How old do you think you were? Ten? Eleven?”
Nodding, I smile again. I remember at first being terrified by the sea animal but then I couldn’t take my eyes from it. I’d reached out my shaky hand and stroked the smooth side of the creature, careful to stay away from its tail, before it floated back out into the water. By the next big wave, it had disappeared. Dad told me animals know a kind spirit—that they’re drawn to them. He said that magnificent creature was fascinated by me as much as I was about him. A mutual respect and curiosity between species. To this day I still wonder about that stingray.
“Wasn’t so bad,” the nurse chuckles and starts cleaning up. “Last time we had to sedate you. You’ll be walking out of here before you know it.” She winks and leaves me here with my dad.
“Good job, son. I knew you could do this. Focus on the good—focus on Baylee. We’re going to get her back. Just as soon as we get you out of here, we’re going to find her and keep her safe so that bastard never messes with her again.”
My nod this time is curt and I stare at him with an intensity that I hope conveys my serious determination to get better so I can help her.