Page 46 of Storm

“Just let me get some feelin’ in my legs,” I say as I stand here, holding onto his shoulder for balance. It takes me a minute to get myself steady before he wraps an arm around me and helps me inside, but I do walk myself. Well, limp that is.

As soon as we make it inside, I see her. My eyes move over her, just making sure that she’s okay before the guys lead me down the hall to my room.

“She wasn’t hurt, right?”

“No. She’s fine.”

“Good,” I say as they lead me into the bathroom and start the water.

“Doc’s gonna take a look, but you need to be cleaned up,” Tide tells me. I nod my head, wanting nothing more than to wash this shit off me. The guys help me out of my clothes and into the shower, which is embarrassing enough, but after spending years in the pen, I’m used to other men seeing me naked. So fuck it.

The warm water rushes me, and I tip my face up to let it hit me front and center. I feel the fucking rag, as one of them washes me off, and if I wasn’t a bigger man, I’d be embarrassed, but I’m not.

Once I’m clean, they help me out and over to the bed where the doc checks me over. He doesn’t say anything that I didn’t already know. Blood loss. Concussion. Bullet wounds that can no longer be stitched. The cut to my face. Nothing is new to me as he shoves a needle into my arm for pain.

“This gonna fuck me good?”

“I would hope so, but even if it doesn’t, it’ll take away some of the discomfort.” I nod my head when Jenson holds a straw to my lips.

“Beer?” He chuckles and shakes his head.

“You’re dehydrated, asshole. It’s water,” he adds before I lean up and take a sip before coughing.

“I can start an IV.”

“Fuck that. No.”

“It’ll work better,” the doc adds.

“I said no. I’ll drink whatever you want me to.” He rambles on about what to give me to drink but I don’t pay attention to him. I let the others handle that since I won’t be getting out of this bed any time soon.

Once I’m situated, they all leave to let me rest. I hear the door creak open but I don’t bother to look to see who it is. I don’t really care right now.

“I was so scared,” Kenzee whispers. “So fucking scared that you were gone too.”

Chapter 18

Kenzee

He’s lying there with his eyes closed and I can’t tell if he’s asleep or not. But I keep talking just the same.

“I saw you lying there, Storm. I…”

“Leave.” His scratchy voice startles me a little.

“What?”

“I said leave, Kenzee.”

“What are you talking about? You just got back and I-“ he cuts me off. His eyes fly open, and he glares at me with so much anger and pain that it nearly knocks the breath out of me.

“I said leave. This shit, between you and me? This isn’t gonna work. I don’t know why the fuck I thought it would.”

“What are you saying?”

“You heard what I said. This isn’t gonna work, Kenzee. It’s over,” he says, and my heart shatters inside of me.

“No. It’s not. You don’t get to come back and decide that.” He looks down at the cut I’m wearing, the one that says Property of Storm across the back.