Page 5 of Cannon

“It’s all of us,” War said, motioning to the room. The doctor walked closer to where most of them were sitting. Jesse stood even though she worried what would happen if he was here to tell them Cannon was gone.

“He’s alive. We repaired the fractures. He’s in a thigh to foot cast because of the multiple breaks he had. He’s breathing better but he’s not out of the woods yet. The major plus I can tell you is that his helmet did its job. He’ll be in recovery, then moved to the surgical ICU floor. We’ll be watching for infection, especially with his open wounds from sliding across the road. You all might get some sleep. We’ll keep him pumped full of all of the good stuff because he’s going to hurt with all the hardware we installed and the bruising from the wreck itself.”

“Thank you, doctor. Do you know when he’ll go home?” Clara asked.

“We’ll take it day by day. Just the surgery alone would usually warrant one to two days in ICU. Other than that, I can’t speculate.”

The doctor nodded and left. Clara turned toward the group. “I’m staying here until that boy goes home. Is there a hotel close by to sleep tonight?”

War nodded. “Yep, Bear is going to take care of that. So who all is staying and who is going home or to the hotel? I think we need a schedule once they let people in the room because it sounds like we’re in this for the long haul.”

“I’ll be with him unless Jesse wants to see him. He’ll be confined to bed and have to listen to any wisdom I want to impart.” Clara smiled at Jesse and Jesse grinned back. Jesse didn’t think anything could make her smile this morning. Clara taking care of Cannon had done it.

Now, Jesse needed to get home and rest. At some point, she and Cannon would need to have a meeting of the minds and decide how they were going to do this but when he was in pain wouldn’t be that time. Maybe they could shuffle people around. She and Cannon could have houses side by side. Beth came over and they walked out of the room after saying goodbye. It was a long drive back, but Jesse could relax. Cannon had made it through surgery. She would worry about tomorrow, later.

Chapter Four

Cannon felt his IV line move and cracked open his eyes. A nurse was replacing his bag. He tried to swallow but his mouth was so dry.

“Mr. Adler, would you like a drink?” the nurse asked.

He started to nod but remembered he didn’t want to do that. Moving hurt.

“Yes,” he whispered.

A straw touched his lips, and he sucked greedily until she pulled it away.

“Let’s not do too much until we make sure you’ll keep it down.”

Probably a good idea. Cannon had no idea his body didn’t deal well with anesthetic drugs. When he’d woken the first time, the pain had been a dull throb, but the nausea had him retching to the side. Besides feeling bad for the nurses that had to clean him up, he’d vowed never to do that again. The dull throb of pain because the meds had been keeping it at bay had becomea crashing explosion in his chest, arm, and leg from his violent vomiting.

She moved around him, checking his bag. He’d never had surgery, but he’d realized quickly he’d given up all rights to any privacy. Between the catheter in his dick and not being able to move, the nurses had been up close and personal with everything. He glanced around the room, looking for Clara. She’d been here every time he awoke.

“She went to get a cup of coffee, Mr. Adler, and should be back in a minute.”

“Cannon.”

“Can you what?” the nurse asked.

“You can call me Cannon. It’s my name.”

“A nickname?”

“No, a road name. I’m in an MC.”

She nodded and brought back the drink so he could sip it this time. She smirked when he did it slow.

“The doctor should be in on rounds in an hour. He’s usually earlier but had an emergency surgery.”

Cannon just concentrated on breathing. He was starting to feel more pain. The nurses had explained the pain pump but he was trying not to use it. He wouldn’t be like his dad.

“Cannon, if you’re starting to hurt, push the button. It won’t dispense medicine if it’s too soon. It’s best in the early days to stay on top of the pain. Staying in pain won’t help your body heal.”

“Don’t want to be an addict,” he croaked. Man, his voice sounded like he’d gargled with rocks.

“Have you had trouble before? Are you a recovering addict? I didn’t see that on your chart.”

He stared at the nurse searching the chart in her computer.