Lost for You (6 page)

“Okay. One last lot before I check your vitals again,” the nice woman tells me. “I’m Beverly. I’m your nurse for the next three hours until I finish my shift.”

Not wanting to hurt my throat again, I give her a small nod and smile. I feel a small warm hand gently grab my wrist, then the ripping of Velcro while a scratchy cuff is pulled up to the top of my arm. Beverly turns my wrist outwards, pressing two fingers on my pulse point while I feel the cuff start to inflate and tighten.

“You gave us quite a scare there for a while. Especially in the OR.”

I clear my throat. It feels so dry and rough, but I’m still feeling really confused and wary. “W…what happened?”

“The bullet punctured your lung, and there was some uncontrolled bleeding. It took a while to get the bleeding under control, then we had to reinflate your lung, but the surgeon was able to fix you up as good as new,” Beverly explains.

“B…..B….Brax,” I whisper. Damn, it hurts to breathe.

“Sweetheart, I’m here.” I hear his voice coming from my right hand side. The voice I’ve been dreaming about while I’ve been sleeping is here with me; not over the phone, and not in my head. He’s actually here with me.

I turn my head towards his voice and give him a sleepy smile.

“Yeah, baby, I’m here.” he says, gently grabbing my free hand, and stroking his thumb over my knuckles.

Suddenly, it is like a dam has burst; a sob escapes my throat, and I can’t stop the tears that fall.

“Elle, it’s okay now. I’m here, and I’m never gonna leave you again,” he says, leaning forward and gently kissing my dry lips. “I’m here.”

Beverly clears her throat. “Don’t go getting her upset now. She’s been asleep for a long time, and she’s only just come off the ventilator.”

Brax looks up at her and gives her a responding nod. “Yes, ma’am,” he says with a smirk. I hear her chuckle; that smirk will charm anyone obviously.

“I’ll leave you two alone, but I’ll be back in about an hour to check your vitals again. The doctor wants them done hourly for the next twelve hours,” she explains before grabbing a folder from the end of my bed and heading out the door, leaving Brax and I alone.

I move my head back towards him and smile; he’s just as gorgeous as I remember. He looks very tired and worn down, though. It seems like just yesterday I was falling asleep in his arms.

I realize that I have so many unanswered questions, and I don’t even know where to start.

“When?”

“I came as soon as I could get here. I think it was about thirteen hours after they brought you in,” he says, slowing down his strokes across my hand. “I swear to god, sweetheart. This has been the longest week of my life.”

A week? “A week?”

He looks up at me, wide eyed. “Elle, you’ve been in an induced coma for the past four days, hooked up to a ventilator to help you breathe. The bullet nicked your lung, and you bled out.”

I gasp in shock. A whole week of my life is gone, just like that. He stands up and leans over me, stroking my hair away from my face.

“Hey, it’s okay, hon. You’re out of the woods now. The doctor is happy with how you’re doing, and will be by to explain everything to you soon.”

I nod. My throat feels like it has closed up.

“I’ve been here the whole time. I couldn’t bear to leave you again. I’m so sorry.” He comes closer and gently brushes his lips against mine. All I’ve wanted since he left was to feel his lips on me again. I lift my hand and gingerly place it behind his neck, pulling him back towards me when he tries to move away.

He smiles as he goes to kiss me again. I can tell he’s being careful, but his touch feels tender and soft, like he thinks I’m going to break.

His forehead leans against mine; as he looks down at me. “I missed you so much, Elle,” he murmurs against my lips.

“Missed… you… too,” I whisper. Damn, it hurts so much.

Brax stands up and sits back down in the chair beside me, not once letting my hand go.

“How are you feeling?”

I move my hand around to show that I’m feeling so-so. He leans forward again and sweeps my hair back off my face. “I missed you,” I whisper again.

He sits there, like he’s trying to commit my face to memory again. “I missed you more.”

I shake my head, not believing that it is possible for him to miss me more.

“Well, I would show you, but considering you’re struggling to breathe, we might have to take a rain check,” he replies with a cheeky smirk.

I start to giggle, then suddenly wince in pain. “Ow.”

“Shit, are you alright? Damn, I can’t stop hurting you, can I?” He shakes his head and frowns. “I hope to hell you’ll let me make this up to you because it’s killing me to see you like this, babe, knowing that it’s my fault.”

I shake my head at him. “No,” I wheeze as I feel my eyes get wet again.

“Shh, you’re okay.” He reaches over to cup my cheek in his hand. “No more blame,” he whispers before leaning in again and gently brushing his lips with mine.

“You need to rest, and your medication is going to make you fall asleep. I’m just gonna see Shay and update him. You sleep, and I’ll be back when you wake up. Is that alright?”

“Yeah,” I reply, my speech slurring as the meds start kicking in.

I hear a chuckle in the darkness, “I love you, sweetheart,” he says as I hear his footsteps walk out of the room.

I sigh, unable to open my eyes to see him leave, but knowing that he can see the small smile on my face.

Brax came back.

I wake up, startled, a short while later.

“Brax?”

“Hey, sleepyhead. He popped home to clean himself up. There is a friend of yours in the waiting room, though. Would you like me to get him for you?” that nice nurse, Beverly, asks, standing beside me. She’s taking my blood pressure again; that is probably what woke me up. She removes the cuff, and offers me some more ice chips.

“I’ll just pop down and get him for you, Elise. You need to rest, though, so I don’t want anyone upsetting you, okay?” I nod in agreement as she turns and leaves the room.

A few moments later, Shay walks in the room. He takes one look at me and shakes his head. “Shit, babe. I’m so sorry, Elle. I should’ve stopped him.”

“What do you mean?” I whisper. It doesn’t seem to hurt my throat as much if I talk quietly.

“The shooter. He must’ve already been in the building because I didn’t even see him go in. But I had a feeling something was wrong, and when I heard the gunshot, I raced upstairs. I knocked him out, but he got away while I was helping you.” He grabs a chair and drags it over next to the bed, “I’m so sorry,” he says again.

“Shay, it wasn’t your fault.”

“It shouldn’t have happened. Not to you,” he says shakily, his voice almost breaking. He seems to be taking this really hard.

“Brax?”

He shoots his head up, grabbing my hand at the same time. “I sent him home to have a shower and a nap. He’s been here 24/7 since he got back. He did tell me to say that he loves you and that he’ll be back soon.” I give him a weak smile. “His brother, Devon, drove him up. You’ll get to meet him soon, no doubt.”

“Brother?” My head is going fuzzy again. I’m guessing that Beverly gave me some more medication and that it is starting to kick in. All of a sudden, it seems really hard to do anything.

“Yeah, babe. Brax will explain later, but you need to rest. He’ll be back here in no time,” he says quietly, reaching up and stroking my head.

“Why did Brax say I was in danger?” I ask, my words coming out very slowly.

“Don’t worry about anything, Elle. We won’t let them hurt you again,” I hear him say as my eyes go blurry and darkness envelopes me once again.

When I wake up, the room is dark. All I can see is the red line of the heart monitor and a haze of light coming from the doorway. I look around, starting to panic when I can’t see Brax.

“Hey, sweetheart. I’m right here,” he says from the other side of me. He must have moved the chair closer to the bed when I was sleeping.

“I was scared you wouldn’t come back,” I say breathlessly.

He reaches for my hand, tucking it in between his. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m here to stay. It’s you and me against the world now, hon.”

I try to take a deep breath and calm down, causing pain to spike through the bottom of my chest. “I hope so,” I wheeze.

“Hey, you gotta take it easy. I’m not leaving you again. Ever. You’re my today, tomorrow and my forever if you’ll still have me.”

A huge smile grows over my face. “I’ve never wanted you more, Brax, and I don’t see that changing in this lifetime.”

“Glad to hear it, darlin’,” he drawls, melting my heart and any resolve I had to quit touching him. I lift my hand and crook my finger at him, asking him to come closer.

“I need you to show me,” I say quietly so only he can hear.

“You don’t have to ask me twice,” he states, before gently teasing my mouth open with his tongue and softly caressing my tongue with his, exploring my mouth like it has been weeks, months, years since our last kiss. I sigh into his mouth as we pull back and just breathe each other in.

I feel safe again. With Brax by my side, I’m not afraid of anything. I’m not scared of Harry Brimstone and what he might do with Brightlight, or even of the stranger who broke into my home and tried to kill me. Right now, in this room, I have everything I ever need.

Elle has been in a general ward for just over three days now. The doctors are amazed at her recovery, and how well she is doing with her breathing rehab, and are talking about releasing her at the end of the week. Just two days and I can have Elle home with me.

While she has her therapy session this morning, I’m heading home to make sure the apartment is ready for her and to meet up with Shay and Devon. While I’m grabbing some coffees, I feel my phone buzz on my hip.

I pull it up to my ear. “Brax.”

“Brax, it’s me. How’s Elle doing?”

“Hey, boss. She’s really good. Looking at being discharged in a few days.”

“That’s good news. How are things between you two?”

“Really good. We’ve still got to talk about things, but we’re good, I think. I was gonna call you, actually. I’ve taken down the bugs in the apartment. We don’t need them anymore,” I state.

“Brax,” he says, his voice full of warning.

“No. There is no discussion on this. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. There is no need for HQ to listen in anymore!” I’m being defiant now.

He pauses for a moment. “Okay, but you have to stay alert, Brax. And I’m glad she’s on the mend. I really am. Now for the reason I’m calling. I don’t know if you’re going to like what I’m about to tell you.”

“Go on…”

“I called to tell you that I had to let Gibbons go. He tried to hack into some secure information I had set up to catch him out. We traced some calls between him and Harry Brimstone starting a few months ago with the last one being last Saturday.”

“I fucking knew it!”

“Yeah, you picked it. I don’t know how much information he forwarded onto Harry, but I couldn’t take the risk anymore. You understand?” he drawls.

This changes things. “Of course, although I’m surprised you didn’t put him out on his ass when we first worked it out.”

“Yeah, well there is always a reason why we do things, Brax. I wanted to make sure he was compromised, then build up some evidence against him as leverage,” he explains.

“So where to from here?” Suddenly, I have a bad feeling about all of this. We have another person to worry about.

“I’ve put a trace on his calls and emails. When, and if, he contacts Brimstone again, we’ll know about it, but I want you to brief Shay about these latest developments. Gibbons received a fairly good incentive to cross me, and he might become desperate now that he’s lost access to his bargaining tools.”

“Devon’s sticking around for a while. I think he should go with Shay too.”

“That’s your call, Brax. You know whether he’s worth anything to us.”

“Yeah, he is, and I’ll back him 100%.”

“Good, because it’s on you.”

“Would Gibbons come after Elle himself?” I hope like hell he is smart enough to know how idiotic that would be.

“I don’t know, Brax. I haven’t worked out his angle, yet. Right now he’s motivated by money, but I want Shay and Devon to stay on Brimstone. It means they’ll have to go to LA, but with Elle in the hospital right now and you not leaving her side, I think it is now or never,” he explains.