Fighting Ever After (Ever After #3) (37 page)

“This is
nothing to worry about. It’s normal for patients who have lived through this
kind of trauma to react like this when they wake up. She’s probably just
disoriented and reliving some of the attack as she remembers it,” the doc
informed me.

“But she’ll
be okay?” I asked desperately needing her to say yes.

“It looks
that way,” she said.

“Everything
looks good. She’s strong and after the sedative wears off, she should wake up
just fine.”

I fell into
the chair with relief. We’d gotten that Christmas miracle after all and the
first thing I did was start thanking God.

I knew I
should have called Bas and let the other’s know she had woken up. They’d want
to know right away, but selfishly I wanted to wait until after she was awake again
and I had a few minutes alone with her. I didn’t want there to be anyone else
here the moment I got to look into those beautiful silver eyes again. I had no
doubt I would cry some more. I was having a hard time holding back right now
just knowing that she was going to be alright. I crawled back into the bed,
intent on being right beside her the moment she came to, but it took longer
than I thought and I ended up falling asleep again.

It was the sound
of a quiet gasp that woke me. My head shot up and I had to blink a few times to
make sure I was really seeing what I thought I was seeing.

 “You’re
awake,” I whispered, barely able to believe it. She tried to say something
back, but her voice only croaked. “Don’t try to talk. The doctor said it will
hurt for a while, the damage was pretty bad,” I explained. Her hands drifted up
to her neck, briefly touching the bruises there. I saw the fear flash through
her eyes as she must have been remembering.

 “It’s
okay. You’re safe now.” I reached up and pulled her hand away, taking it in
mine. With my other hand I reached over to the stand beside the bed and grabbed
a glass of water with a straw. “Here, just take a small sip.” I held it up to
her mouth so she could drink. She pulled in a small sip, but seemed to have
trouble swallowing it.

“I need to
go tell the nurse you’re awake, but I’ll be right back.” Her hand started
trembling and squeezed mine tighter. “I promise I’ll be right back. I’m not
going anywhere.” I reassured her and she finally released her tight grip on my
hand and nodded.

As quickly
as I could, I flagged down the female doctor that had been attending to Jax,
and hurried back to her.

 “It’s
good to see you
awake
Jaxyn. I imagine you’re still in
a quite a bit of pain,” she said, making her way to the bedside. Jax just
nodded again and the nurse started checking everything, explaining what she was
doing to Jax, but I wasn’t listening to a word she said. I couldn’t take my
eyes off of
Jax’s
and hers never left mine, not even
when the doc shined a light in them to check her pupils, and not even as she
nodded and shook her head to answer the various questions the doc asked about
what she remembered. The whole process took about ten minutes. After the doctor
said Jax would have to stay a few more days for observation and to make sure
infection didn’t creep in, but that everything looked good and normal, she left
us alone again.

I took my
seat at her side.

“What
happened?” she managed barely a whisper. “I remember Connor stabbed me and then
that’s it.”

I grabbed
her hand and pressed my lips to the back of it and then explained how her
instructors had found where Connor left her unconscious in the parking lot with
two stab wounds. It was hard to get the words out, and a few times I had to
stop to pull myself together. When I was all done, there were tears in her
eyes.

 “Hey,
hey, it’s alright.” I brought my hand up to
cup
the
side of her face, rubbing my thumb gently over her cheek. “Everything is okay now.
You’re safe and he’ll never touch you again. He’s gone.” That was the one other
bit of good news that had come over the last few days. Two days ago Jack found
Connor and yesterday he let us know that the problem was solved.

“Gone?” Jax
asked as if she was too afraid to believe the possibility.

“Yes. Your
dad was here yesterday. He found him. Connor’s not coming back Princess. I
promise.” Her body sagged with relief and tears spilled down her face. I wiped
at them with my thumb, but they just kept coming.  It was so heart
wrenching to see and all I wanted was to give her peace and comfort. I tipped
my head down and brushed my lips over her cheeks, lightly kissing the path of
the tears until they finally stopped. It felt so good. I never thought I would
get to kiss her again. Her eyes were shut and I rested my forehead against
hers, savoring the contact. The moment was broken when her eyes blinked open
and looked at me so full of caution.

“What are
you doing here Ky?”

For a moment
I didn’t respond, I just kept my forehead pressed to hers. I was trying to
figure out what to say, and so afraid that anything I said wouldn’t be enough.
I didn’t want to lose her again, but she deserved an answer, so I pulled away,
as much as I hated to do it.

“Ace was
trying to call you that night, but you didn’t answer. He thought you were upset
about something he sent you, so he kept calling. Finally Drew answered,” he was
one of her instructors, and he had probably saved her life. I felt my eyes
watering again and I knew my voice was rough and shaky. “When Ace told me you
were hurt . . . I’ve never felt so scared in my entire life.” I squeezed my
eyes shut, but it didn’t stop the moisture from leaking out. “I thought I was
losing you,” I choked out. The next thing I knew, I felt her lips on my skin
very briefly as she pressed a soft kiss under each eye. I opened them again and
wrapped my arms around her, very gently pulling her into my upper body so I
could hold her. She rested her head in the crook of my neck and I placed kisses
all over her hair.

I knew this
position couldn’t feel good for her with her injuries, so I started to release
her, but she held onto me tighter. “Please just lay here with me.”

I pressed
one more kiss to her forehead and then climbed up on the bed beside her again.
She scooted over to make room and then I carefully tucked her into my side and
she turned her body slightly on her side so that she could rest her head on my
chest.

We just laid
there together like that, neither one of us saying anything. Words weren’t
enough for me right now. Now that she was awake, I didn’t know how to tell her
all the things I’d said to her when she was sleeping. Besides, there would be
time for talking later. I just wanted to enjoy having her in my arms again, and
no matter what happened later, it would be enough just to know that she was
okay. I could take anything as long as she was alright. When I thought she’d
fallen back asleep, I softly started singing her song to her. I’d done it a few
other times while she was sleeping. I still didn’t know if I would ever share
it with her when she was awake.

Eventually
the exhaustion caught up with me as well and I followed her into sleep. The
most restful sleep I’d had in a while. Five days to be exact.
Maybe even longer.
There was a peace and contentment that
only came from having her beside me.

 “I
don’t think they’re allowed to do that,” I heard someone whisper. I was pretty
sure that someone was Spade. What I didn’t know was how long I’d been out or
who had called them. I’d meant to, but I just hadn’t been ready to share her
with anyone yet. In fact, I was still hoping that if we just ignored them, they
would go away. I was pretty sure Jax was waking up as well. I could tell from
her breathing.

“I’m not
going to be the one to wake him up and tell him that, but if you want to, then
be my guest.” That one was Ace. He was always the smarter of the two.

“Hey look, I
think she’s waking up.”

Bas.
So that meant they were all here. Of course they were though. As
soon as one of them heard, it would have only been minutes before they all knew
and came rushing over.

Jax was
definitely awake now and she was trying to burrow herself deeper into me. I was
more than happy to let her, but the rest of them weren’t.

Ace cleared
his throat, “I think you two have had enough alone time, it’s our turn now baby
girl.” Jax and I both opened our eyes at the same time. She looked up at Ace
and everyone else, or almost everyone. There were a few missing people, but the
room was packed with smiling faces.
Faces that I just wanted
to disappear for a while longer, like forever.
Yeah, forever would be
good.

“Go away. I
haven’t had nearly enough time with her. You jack asses can come back in a few days,”
I growled at them.

“I don’t
think so. You’ve been with her for the past five days straight, and you were
supposed to call us the second she woke up. We still wouldn’t know if Chris’
dad hadn’t requested to be notified personally by her doctor. So who’s the jack
ass now?”

Before I
could answer that it was still him, Jax shifted on the bed, wincing slightly,
so that she was on her back, partially sitting up

 “You
don’t know how good it is to see you
awake
Jazz. We’ve
all missed that smile so much,” Bas stepped up next to the bed. He still looked
rough. I didn’t even want to see a mirror to know how I looked.

“Just so you
know, I’m never letting you out of my sight again Jazz,” he told her.

“That goes
for me too,” Ace declared.

“Same here.
Sorry Ky but you better get used to having us around,
because I don’t care if you two are getting it on, we’re not even taking the
chance that she could bump her head against the headboard,” Spade joked, only I
wasn’t entirely sure it was all a joke. I couldn’t blame any of them. We’d all
been so out of our minds and I know I couldn’t bear the thought of ever going
through it again.

“In all
seriousness Tink, this has been the scariest five days of all our lives. I’m
glad you’re okay. We all love you so much.” Jax blinked back more tears at
Chris’ admission.

“And you‘re
not allowed to leave us until I say,” Bas continued. “So basically never
Jazz
.”

Oh shit.

She was
crying again, which meant I was probably going to cry again, not that I would
be the only other one in the room. I don’t think there was a single set of eyes
that weren’t red rimmed and glistening.
Vi
had makeup
streaked all down her cheeks, as did Sadie. I noticed that Ace was gently
rubbing his hand up and down her back. I’d have to ask him about that, and I
wasn’t the only curious one. I saw Jax eyeing the two of them as well. He just
winked at her and gave her a slight grin, which meant there was definitely
something there. Just then there was a knock at the door and three more eager
faces joined the crowd around the bed.

“I’ve got
someone here who really wants to see you,” Shane spoke up and a squealing Izzy
came running to the bed side. I reached down and scooped her up into my lap.
She wrapped her little arms around
Jax’s
neck and
whispered in her ear loud enough for all of us to hear, “I’m so glad Santa
heard my wish. All I wanted for Christmas was you to wake up. This is the best
Christmas ever.” I saw
Jax’s
eyes go wide and then
she pulled Izzy in for a hug.

“Yes it is,”
I agreed. “I know I didn’t wish for anything else either.”

“It’s
Christmas?” Jax asked, suddenly realizing it. “You guys shouldn’t be at the
hospital,
you need to be with your families. And you guys,
you’re supposed to be on tour, are you going to get in trouble for being here?”

“Shut up
Jax.” Leave it to
Vi
to be the blunt one, although I
think we’d all been thinking it. “We wouldn’t be anywhere else. You are
family.” Everyone nodded or spoke their agreement, and then they all stayed
until the other doctor – the male one who didn’t like me as much as the lady
doc – came and kicked them out after admonishing us for keeping her from
getting rest.

Everyone
filed out after a procession of careful hugs and kisses to her forehead. The
doctor gave me a pointed look, but really at this point he had to know it was
useless. I just glared back at him. He shook his head and left the room like
he’d done every other time. Then it was just the two of us again. For the first
time in so long, as I laid there beside her, I felt completely alive, my entire
body humming with energy, and Jax was looking up at me with so much emotion in
her eyes.

 “I
missed you so much. I still can’t believe you’re here with me. It really is the
most amazing Christmas. I never thought I would get to feel this again,” she
confessed and I knew exactly how she felt. I was just so shocked that she felt
it too, but I could see that she did. It was all there on her face.

I slowly
lowered my lips to hers, a part of me so sure that I had to be dreaming, but
then I felt her lips beneath mine, so soft and supple and accepting, and I knew
that no dream could be this sweet. Only kissing Jax for real had ever felt this
good. Her lips were pliant beneath mine as I tenderly caressed them with mine.
I breathed her in, relishing the taste of her and the feel of her as she kissed
me back with equal passion. This kiss wasn’t rushed or demanding, I was still
trying to be careful with her, but there was something so powerful about it
after so long of never thinking I’d get to experience it again. Kissing Jax was
like coming home, because she was my home. She gave that word meaning that it
had never had before.