Page 25 of Light of Christmas
Motherfucker.
“Addison. I’m a nurse, can I please check your arms?”
She looks back and forth between Lainey and me, her chest rising rapidly. Tears stream down her face. “Addy, you’re safe. It’s okay. It’s okay.” Lainey says through her own tears.
Addison shakes her head back and forth, her breathing not slowing down.
Not taking my eyes off her, I say loud enough for everyone to hear me. “Whoever is riding with us, get in now. She is---” Just as I’m about to give them a warning, Addison passes out.
I hear commotion behind but I ignore it. I press two fingers to Addison’s neck and find a pulse right away.
“She passed out. She’s still breathing.” I say still not making eye contact with anyone. “Grayson I need light before we take off.”
A flashlight is handed to me and I check Addison’s pupils again and they are blown. I move to her arms and my worst fear is confirmed.
Tucking her arms back against her, I look to Lainey. “Sit next to her. If she starts heaving, lean her forward so she doesn’t choke.”
Lainey scrambles to sit next to Addison. I leave the door open and turn to Miles, Lachlan, and Grayson. “The asshole who brought her here drugged her. I can see the marks on her arm. I suspect he gave her a high enough dose of something thinking it would kill her. But it didn’t. She needs to get to the hospital as soon as possible.”
I watch as Miles and Lachlan’s fear morphs into red-hot anger. Grayson squeezes my shoulder, “Lachlan, you can drive my truck. I’ll ride with Miles.” The twins nod and walk towards their respective vehicles.
I go to walk around to the passenger side of the truck, but Gray stops me and wraps me in his arms. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Bear.”
As soon as we get to the hospital and I tell the nurses everything I know, they immediately take Addison back. Grayson and I stay in the waiting room, while Lachlan, Miles, and Lainey follow a nurse to be with Addison.
Grayson sits down in a chair, and I go to sit next to him, but he pulls me into his lap. I’m grateful to be in his arms. With all the chaos I didn’t get to check and see if he is okay, and he wasn’t able to check on me either.
The entire ride to the hospital, Addison alternated between puking, passing out, and crying. I ended up having to climb into the back and get on her other side to help hold her when she would pass out. The look on Lainey’s face was heartbreaking and I know seeing her sister like that is going to be hard to forget.
Grayson hugs me tighter and I shift so I’m sitting sideways on his lap. I get a good look at him, and I can see the exhaustion and turmoil on his face.
I press my forehead against his and tangle my fingers in the hair at the base of his neck. Grayson melts like he always does when I do this.
My big guy may look like things don’t get to him, but he has bad days just like I do. Some days he has nightmares or flashbacks from the night he found me on the ground. Or the day I ended he who shall not be named still haunts him.
On those days, he needs me more than ever. Sometimes it’s in the form of me sitting with him all day while he tattoos and other times it’s me doing exactly what I’m doing now. Most of the time, we are on the couch and he’s lying in my lap not in a hospital waiting room.
I place a gentle kiss on his lips and when his midnight blues meet mine, I say, “Do you want to talk about it, or do you want to call your brothers?”
“It’s almost three am. I don’t want to wake them up.”
“Bear. You know they are up. Noah has texted me at least ten times checking on us. But we can talk about it, or we can talk about it with your brothers together. Or we can sit here and wait and not talk at all. Whatever you need, that’s what we will do.”
He thinks about it for a second before responding. “I'd rather only explain it once. But I don’t want to do it here.”
“Okay. Let me see your phone and I will tell the twins we are in the truck.”
I quickly send off a text to Lachlan and tell him if he needs anything we are still here.
Gray and I head out to the truck, and he immediately pulls me over the center console and into his lap.
“Bear. I love you so much. Whatever you need I will do. Even if that’s just sitting here.”
“I know.” His voice sounding defeated. “But I need to talk about what I saw and not bury it down like I did before.”
Pride blooms inside of me and I want to jump up and down at his words, but I can’t. This man is so strong for everyone else and for years stuffed all his own demons down and just kept going.