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  As the pain meds started hitting Dex’s system, the epiphany struck. “Have you even been home?”

  Neil shook his head. “I didn’t want to leave you two. I called your parents Saturday morning. They’re driving down. They should be here later tonight. I warned them to hold off coming until today because I knew you were going to be unconscious anyway.”

  “How’d my mom take the news?”

  “She wanted to fly down immediately so she could take care of you. I told her I had your power of attorney, so that wasn’t necessary.”

  “I bet that didn’t go over well.”

  “Like a turd in a punchbowl. I handed the phone off to Ed. That’s why we pay him, anyway.”

  “He’s here?”

  “Not right now. He came in Friday night and stayed with me for hours, until you were out of surgery. He’s been stopping by to check on you guys.”

  The pain was starting to ease back from apocalyptically hellish to mildly agonizing. “Does everyone know?”

  “Yeah. Ed and Hope took care of that. I called Sorrellson.”

  He stared at where Neil’s fingers were laced through his, finally squeezing. “Thank you. You should go home and rest.”

  I didn’t want to leave until at least you were awake.”

  “Have you even been sleeping?”

  “Out in the waiting room. They have a couple of recliners. Everyone’s been bringing me food and stuff.”

  His gaze drifted up, the meds really kicking in now. As he focused on her engagement ring again, he said, “Please keep that safe for me.”

  Neil reached up and touched it. “I will.”

  He nodded, closed his eyes, and let the medication’s effects fully wash over him.

  * * * *

  Neil waited long past when Dex’s grip grew limp and his breathing slowed and deepened to finally extricate his hand. Exhaustion threatened to take him right there. Forcing himself up and off the stool, he walked out and stopped where the nurse was working on the computer.

  “I need to run home for a while. We’ve got several friends out in the waiting room. Can I send one of them in to sit with him?”

  “Of course. I have your phone number.”

  “Thanks.”

  He stopped by Tamsin’s bed first. She had a different nurse than Dex.

  Neil walked in and stared at her for a long time, cried out right now. He’d spent an hour crying earlier that morning, holding her hand, begging her to get better even though he knew she couldn’t wake up yet.

  For now, she needed to stay asleep, to let her body have a chance to heal.

  The good thing was her body responded to pain stimulus, so there was that. They knew she had good brain function still, catching the swelling early enough they could do an operation to actually open her skull and make room. Once the swelling decreased, she’d have to have another surgery to replace the piece of skull that was now tucked inside her abdomen.

  They couldn’t give Neil any kind of prognosis yet.

  There were too many variables. Infection, stroke, complications from the surgeries she’d already had.

  He had lied to Dex, though. The picture he’d showed him of her had been taken Saturday morning, before the worst of the bruising had turned dark and purple, rendering her face unrecognizable. In the grand scheme of things, he hoped Dex forgave him that fib, if it ever came out.

  The last thing Dex needed to do was hurt himself trying to get to her. They’d told Neil they might get him into a wheelchair in a couple of days. Then he could bring him over to see her.

  By then, hopefully, Dex would be strong enough to handle seeing her like this.

  He stroked her hand before leaning in to kiss the tip of her nose. “Love you, baby brat. You get better, and that’s an order. I have to go home for a while.”

  He headed out to the waiting room, where Leah, Doyle, Cali, and Eva were sitting. Others would come by later, taking shifts to make sure he wasn’t alone, and that there was always someone available to be with Dex, now that he was awake.

  They looked up. “He’s awake. Well, he woke up, but then they gave him pain meds and he’s out again for a while. But I need to go home and get a shower and a nap.”

  Leah stood and hugged him. “I’ll go take the first shift. You go rest. We’ll call you if he needs you, or…if there’s any changes.”

  “Thanks.”

  It took him a minute to remember where he’d parked. First, he had to find his way around and through the hospital to the ER entrance. Then, as he blinked in the bright Florida afternoon sunshine, he finally remembered to hit the button on his key fob to make the horn chirp and the lights flash to give away his car’s location.

  Now oriented, he trudged his way through the heat shimmering off the asphalt and collapsed into the driver’s seat. He sat there for a minute with the engine running to get the AC to cool the interior.

  This…if this was a nightmare, he could wake up anytime now.

  Or maybe it would at least dump him into an alternate world where he could deal with the usual stuff of nightmares, like zombies and murderers.

  Right now, that would be a far more welcomed world than this one.

  Chapter Eight

  Neil barely remembered to get the mail from the box before he headed inside. After stripping his clothes in the bathroom and dropping them to the floor, he stared at himself in the mirror.

  He really didn’t have the time to engage in self-pity over his appearance, much less the energy.

  Or the right to bitch. Not when Dex and Tam had things a lot worse off than he did.

  He shaved before climbing into the shower and standing against the wall, letting the water hit his sore back. That’s when it all slammed into his brain and he couldn’t shove it away any longer. His knees gave out as he sank to the floor, sobbing.

  Dex would probably make it. Especially now that he was awake and knew what had happened to Tam.

  But…

  His sweet, beautiful baby brat. He’d spent a lot of time at her bedside over the past couple of days. Time had blurred, and between grief and exhaustion, it threatened to overwhelm him.

  He still hoped to wake up and find himself stuck in a nightmare. That Tam and Dex were going to walk through the door, unharmed and healthy.

  Not…this. Not this hellscape, a world he didn’t want to be a part of.

  After getting that bout out of his system, he dragged himself to his feet, finished the shower, and barely made it to bed. He did remember to plug his phone in and make sure the ringer was turned on loud.

  Then his world went black.

  * * * *

  When Neil next opened his eyes, disorientation swirled around him, causing his pulse to spike as he struggled to figure out where he was, much less the time. It was dark, and it took him a moment to remember that he was home, not at the hospital.

  That thought sent him sitting straight up in bed. Fortunately, he hadn’t missed any calls from the hospital. It was a little after nine at night, and after using the bathroom, he called Leah.

  She answered immediately. “Did you get something to eat?”

  It was almost enough to make him laugh.

  Almost.

  “I just woke up.”

  “Make sure you eat. I just walked out a few minutes ago. Still sitting here in the parking lot. Cris and Bob are there now, with June. They’re going to take turns going back into the unit. Dex woke up again, had more pain meds, and went back to sleep.”

  He almost couldn’t make himself ask. “Tam?”

  “She’s still hanging in there. No change. But that’s not a bad thing. Tilly told you that. Her body needs time to heal from the trauma. This isn’t a sprint, it’s going to be a long-ass marathon.”

  “I know.” He sank onto the end of the bed. “I want to wake up from this nightmare now, please.”

  “How about you stay home tonight? Please? I have the rest of the week organized so you can go back to work. Someone will be
there twenty-four-seven with them.”

  Neil rubbed at the bridge of his nose with his free hand. “Dex’s parents arrived, didn’t they?”

  “Oh, you mean that charmingly obnoxious couple who even I wanted to smack within three minutes of meeting them? Yes. But they left to go to their hotel before I left. Dex told them to go, that he was going to sleep for the night.”

  “Thank you for doing this.”

  “Hey, you guys are family. But seriously, it’s okay. We have this end covered.”

  “I’m still taking tomorrow off. I’ll be there.”

  She hesitated. “Dex’s parents will be back.”

  “Ask me if I care. I’ve butted heads with them before. They’re not real fond of Tamsin.”

  “Yeah, well, they didn’t even ask to visit her, much less ask how she was, if that tells you anything.”

  He stuffed back the wave of rage that threatened to drag him under. He couldn’t afford that kind of diversion of energy right now. “Yeah. Instead of getting to know her, they decided to judge her and her living arrangements.”

  “Because of you?”

  “Yep. We obviously couldn’t tell them about the BDSM part of stuff, so they didn’t get why their future daughter-in-law is living with another guy and has for years.”

  “But you’re gay. Don’t they know that?”

  “Yep. That only made matters worse.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah, exactly. And when they found out Dex and Tam were going to be living with me for a while after they get married, they were sticking their noses and opinions in where they didn’t belong and weren’t invited.”

  “Maybe I should call Ed tonight and give him a heads-up.”

  “No, I can deal with them.” A ragged sigh escaped him. “I’ve dealt with worse. If Dex wasn’t awake yet, I’d say yes, please, I need the backup. But they can’t interfere with Tamsin and her care, so fuck ’em.”

  Once he got off the phone with Leah, he forced himself to eat. He lost the struggle to not cry while nuking the leftovers from a meal Tamsin had cooked just a few days ago.

  His baby brat.

  His best damn friend.

  Family.

  No, he couldn’t go back to sleep. He had to go see them. He might have to go back to work Wednesday, but at least he had tomorrow off.

  Once he’d dressed—and shaved again, since he’d done a shitty job of it earlier—he headed out to the hospital. He remembered to take Dex and Tam’s phones with him, and the chargers.

  Dex might want hers, which had miraculously survived since it had probably been in her purse during the actual wreck, to be able to notify people from her contacts.

  Cris and Bob were sitting in the waiting room when Neil arrived, and they stood to give them hugs.

  “Hey, didn’t expect to see you back tonight,” Cris said.

  Neil offered a half-hearted smile. “I had to come.”

  “I understand. June’s sitting with Tamsin right now. We take turns and go back and forth between Dex and Tam when he’s awake.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Landry sends his love. He’s home with KC.”

  Neil headed in, stopping by to see Tamsin first. June had been reading to her from her Kindle.

  “Hey, what are you doing here?” The tiny woman stood to hug him. He always suspected there was a deeper well of strength within her than most people ever knew. “Why aren’t you home sleeping?”

  “I napped. Any change?”

  “I decided to start reading her Harry Potter. Book one, from the beginning.”

  Neil smiled. “She loves that series.”

  He tried not to focus on the deepening bruises on Tamsin’s face, or the surgical dressing covering the shaved and deformed section on the left side of her head. They put the portion of her skull in her abdomen to preserve it. Once the swelling went down, they’d be able to replace it.

  He didn’t want to contemplate any of that.

  He’d kept the gory details about the surgery from Dex, knowing it would only upset him right now, so soon after his own trauma. Especially when he couldn’t get out of bed and see her.

  “I’m going to go see Dex,” he said.

  “His parents were here earlier.” She made a face.

  Neil couldn’t help but laugh. “I know. Hopefully they won’t be around for long.” A sudden thought struck him.

  Dex would have to be discharged to Neil’s house. Dex lived on the second floor of his apartment building, and it didn’t have an elevator.

  “What?” she asked.

  “I just realized I have a lot of stuff I’m going to have to do at home so Dex can get around when he’s released.”

  He would likely need a wheelchair for a while, and the pool bathroom had a wide enough door. Except the shower in there was tiny, not enough room for a shower chair. He thought a wheelchair would fit through the bathroom door of the master bath, where the shower was much larger, large enough he could put a shower chair in there for him.

  The hall bath that was Tamsin’s—and Dex’s by default—was too small to fit a wheelchair, and had a tub-shower combo that would be difficult for him to navigate safely with his bad leg.

  “Well, anything you need help with, let us know,” June said. “You have an army of volunteers driving Leah crazy to jump in and help.”

  “I might need to take you up on that. Especially Seth. Isn’t he a contractor?”

  “Seth was, yes. Max and Sean work for a builder. Brooke’s guys are a plumber and an electrician. Why?”

  He stared at Tamsin. Hopefully, he could get her home, one day soon.

  If he did, she would likely need a modified bathroom, too. “Depending on how things go with Tamsin, I might need to renovate a bathroom for her.”

  In fact, he was already calculating the home equity loan he’d need to take out. If they got anything from the insurance settlement and lawsuit—rather, if anything was left over after those paid for her medical care—he’d think about being reimbursed.

  For now, everything needed to go toward Tamsin’s care.

  “You should go home and go back to sleep.”

  “I’m going to go check on Dex,” he said, a wave of exhaustion suddenly washing over him. “Then I’ll go home.”

  June nodded. “You need to sleep. You can’t kill yourself. Let us all help.”

  “Thanks.”

  He checked in with the nurse to see how Dex was doing and found that they were thinking about moving him to a regular room tomorrow.

  Which likely wouldn’t settle well with Dex, even though he couldn’t get out of bed to visit Tamsin yet. Not to mention it’d add a degree of difficulty to the schedule, having them in two different locations.

  Well, duh. He’s got to heal.

  Dex’s eyes were closed, but when Neil heavily lowered himself into the recliner next to the bed, Dex opened his eyes and stared at Neil.

  Then he reached over the bedrail for Neil’s hand. “Hey.” He looked near tears.

  Neil stood and leaned in to hug him, kissing him on the forehead. Dex clung to him, breaking down, sobbing.

  “Tell me this is a nightmare,” Dex hoarsely begged. “Please.”

  “I’m so sorry, buddy. I’ve been wishing that myself.” He got the bedrail lowered so he could sit in the chair and lean in, Dex still holding on to his arm, their heads touching. “We’ll get through this. I’m not going anywhere, and June and Leah have whipped the volunteer corps into fighting shape.”

  “My parents were here earlier.”

  Neil struggled and finally won the battle not to be snarky. “I know.”

  “My mother was hinting around at staying in my apartment while they’re here, but I’d rather they don’t. I don’t need her snooping through my stuff and getting all judgy.”

  “I don’t blame you there.”

  Dex’s hands stilled on Neil’s arm, tightly clutching him. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  �
�For being you. For being here.”

  “You’re family. What the hell you think I’m going to do? Don’t be surprised I get a little Dommy on you once I have you home. You need to get healed up.”

  “I won’t even complain, I swear.”

  They heard the door open and Wade, in full uniform, stuck his head in. “Hey, how you doing?”

  Neil was going to sit back, except Dex didn’t release his arm, so he stayed where he was.

  “Hey.”

  Wade walked around the other side and leaned in to awkwardly half-hug Dex. “You know you scared the crap out of me, right, dude? My friends aren’t allowed to do that to me.”

  “Sorry. Thanks for staying with her. Neil told me.”

  “Yeah, well, she scared me pretty bad, too.” He pulled the nurse’s stool over to that side of the bed and sat. “Ask me now, man, because I really don’t want to think about it again.”

  “Tell me. I want to hear it. Everything.” Dex still didn’t let go of Neil, so he wasn’t going to move.

  Wade started with rolling up to the scene and recognizing them, what had happened, filling in the blanks. Once Dex was transported, Wade’s full attention had been focused on keeping Tamsin alive.

  Wade brushed at his eyes. “I’ve been lucky up ’til now. One time worked a minor accident where a guy I knew from high school had whiplash, but nothing major.” He slowly shook his head. “Everyone at the station told me to pass on that if you need us to work shifts for you, we will.”

  “I can’t even think that far ahead yet. I don’t know how long until I can go back to work. Plus we have to take care of Tam.”

  Neil didn’t bother to correct Dex, that Tam likely wouldn’t be able to leave the hospital for weeks. From there she’d go to a rehab facility, then home. Hopefully.

  As long as…as long as she recovered.

  Dex would likely be back at work long before any of those benchmarks happened.

  If they happened.

  Quiet settled among the three for a moment.

  “I can’t go home, can I?” Dex quietly asked.