Nine

NINE

Huck

The redness and cuts on my knuckles felt good.

Retribution was helping.

Seeing this asshole doubled over in pain, spitting out blood, and groaning with the slightest movement didn't completely make up for what happened to Josie, but it was a small step in the right direction.

I was feeling marginally better than I had been.

A hand settled on my shoulder. "I think you covered it, Huck. You settled the score."

Greyson had come with me when I left the hospital. He attempted to reason with me the entire way here, but I refused to hold back. Maybe I should have remained calm, stayed at the hospital, and waited to see Josie before I did anything, but I couldn't.

I'd been waiting for too long. I needed to do something to seek justice for what happened to her.

So, I came here, and I waited. It wasn't long after I'd arrived when he showed up. And when I followed him into his house, I made sure he knew not only who I was, but I also made it clear just how big of a mistake he'd made.

Greyson stayed out of it. He knew I needed to do this, and at this point, he was here mostly to make sure I didn't take things too far.

Apparently, he believed I'd proven my point. I didn't agree.

Shaking my head, I bent at the waist and landed another blow to his face. He groaned, and I felt nothing but satisfaction hearing it.

"Not so much of a tough guy now, are you?" I asked him. "You need to beat up a woman to feel like a man? With all that practice, I would have thought you'd put up a bigger fight with me."

"Get out of my house," he demanded, his voice indicating just how much pain he was feeling.

"I'm not leaving until I make myself clear," I informed him. Grabbing his shirt by the neck, I lifted his torso slightly and seethed, "Listen here, pussy. Josie is dead to you. You don't go looking for her. You don't call her. If I even get so much as a whiff of you thinking about her, I will not hesitate to hunt you down and remind you that she's off limits to you for the rest of your miserable life. Since it's obvious you're not very smart, I'm going to make this plain. Touch her again, and you're dead."

I released the hold I had on his shirt collar, and his body slumped back to the ground. Then I stood up straight, looked down at him, and asked, "Are we clear?"

"Yeah, man. Now get out."

Stepping over him, I made my way to the front door. But just before I walked out, I remembered something. So, I turned around, went to the kitchen where I'd found Josie earlier, and snatched up her phone. My eyes caught sight of Josie's purse. I picked that up, too.

Sure, there were likely other things here she wanted from the house, but it wasn't worth spending another minute here. I'd get her whatever she needed.

And as I walked back to the front door and out of the house, I did it thinking that what Josie needed to get through this wasn't simply going to be things that could be purchased at a store. She was going to have a long road ahead of her, but I intended to be there for her every step of the way.

Josie

Something squeezed my hand. It was brief, but I knew I hadn't imagined it.

I opened my one eye that hadn't been swollen shut and located my hand. That's when I saw what had squeezed it.

There was another hand, Huck's, to be precise, and it was still holding mine. He was still here with me. I didn't know how long it had been—I felt unbelievably exhausted—but through all the pain I'd felt in my body, the knowledge that Huck hadn't left me felt so good.

My eye lingered on his hand, and if I had the strength in my body, I would have frowned and attempted to wake him up. Because I didn't like what I saw.

All his knuckles were red and swollen, and some had been cracked open and were bleeding. How had that happened to him? Why hadn't he had them taken care of, especially considering it would have been easy to do while here in the hospital?

I wanted answers.

But the weight of my exhaustion was too much. I had no choice but to wait. Because a moment later, the fatigue took over and pulled me under.

It could have been an hour, a day, or a month. I had no concept of time. The only thing that led me to believe it hadn't been a month was that when I woke again, I could still only open one eye. That had to mean I hadn't been here that long just yet.

I received additional confirmation I wasn't wrong when I glanced down at my left hand and saw Huck was still there, holding it with a firm but gentle grip.

When I woke this time, I was rewarded by the most strength I'd had since Kurt had attacked me and the sight of Huck staring at me. Just because I felt the best I had since it had all gone down did not mean I wasn't still tired. I was. My eyelid was still unbelievably heavy. But I couldn't ignore Huck.

Unable to stop myself, I asked, "What happened to your hands?"

Huck ignored my question, returning one of his own. "How do you feel, Josie?"

"Tired and achy all over."

"So, sleep," he urged me. "I'm not going anywhere. You're safe."

I closed my eye and sighed, feeling like a lead weight was leaving my body. I hadn't realized I'd been holding on to so much tension. But once I had his confirmation that he wasn't leaving me, that heaviness in my chest vanished.

"Am I going to live?"

There was an extended silence. And just as I was about to force my eye open again, Huck answered in a choked voice, "For a long time."

My eyes were both still closed when I murmured, "But what happened to your hands?"

In a move I hadn't been expecting, Huck used those injured hands to lift my left one from where he'd been holding tightly to it on the side of the bed. He kissed my knuckles twice before he said softly, "We'll talk about that later. Just get some rest, honey."

Warmth spread through me as I relished the feel of his lips on my skin and the sound of his voice calling me honey. It was so good, so nice, it was no wonder I'd drifted off once again, searching for beautiful dreams in what had become the nightmare of my life.

It was when I woke for the third time that I finally felt like I'd be able to stay that way for a bit. And I thought that was a good thing, because it was probably well past the time when I needed to learn the full extent of my injuries, apologize to Huck for having put him in the position that I did by not listening to him from the start, figure out how long I'd been here, and ask questions about what it was going to take for me to be able to leave.

Of course, that last part of the equation might require some planning, since Huck didn't yet know just how deep this thing was going to go. I'd already pulled him into something I was certain he never would have wanted to sign up for.

Rolling my head to the side, I saw he was still sitting there in the same clothes he'd been in every other time I'd opened my eyes.

"Hey," I said softly.

What he saw when he looked at me, I didn't know. I had to imagine my face looked terrible. But Huck didn't seem to be repulsed, because he smiled at me and said, "Hey."

"How long have I been in here?" I asked, my throat feeling painfully dry.

"Not quite a day and a half."

Wow.

I'd missed more than twenty-four hours of my life, remembering only two bits of it when I woke briefly and saw Huck at my bedside. At least the memories I had included him.

Before I had the chance to ask my next question, a nurse walked in. She noticed I was awake, stopped in her tracks, and smiled at me. "You're up."

"I am."

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Thirsty."

She smiled. "I can get you some water. How is everything else feeling?"

I took a moment to assess the situation. "I don't feel as tired as I did when I woke up two times before this. But when it comes to the pain, I don't know. Maybe I feel sore. I guess I'm afraid to move, because I don't know how bad any of the injuries are."

She nodded her understanding. "I just saw your doctor walk onto the floor as I was coming in to check on you, so he might—" The nurse stopped speaking as a doctor walked in behind her. "Here he is. Dr. Garcia, Josie was just curious about her injuries. Did you want to talk to her about that while I run to get her some ice water?"

"Sure. Thanks, Heather." The doctor focused his attention on me and said, "Hi, Josie. How are you feeling today?"

"Too nervous to move too much for fear of injuring myself," I confessed.

He sent a nod and a smile my way. "That's understandable. Your body has certainly been through some trauma. So, let's start with the facts. In addition to the bruises and cuts on your face, arms, legs, and torso, you had a dislocated shoulder and some cracked ribs. We got your shoulder put back in place, but there is going to be a period of rehabilitation with that. We'll take that one day at a time and see how you do with it. As for the lacerations, they've been cleaned and treated with ointments where necessary. When it comes to the ribs, unfortunately, there's little we can do to speed up that process. They simply need rest to heal."

"I wasn't wrong about my shoulder, then," I mumbled.

"If you assumed it was dislocated, then no."

"So, is that all?"

He shook his head. "I'm afraid not. As surprising as it might be, the biggest area of concern was the concussion you suffered. We learned that you had your faculties when the ambulance arrived, but we don't know how long you might have been out before making that call for help. In addition, you did lose consciousness right when you arrived, so we want to monitor you for just a bit longer before we send you on your way."

"Is that why I felt so tired?"

Dr. Garcia gave me a nod. "That's likely the biggest reason why. But don't diminish what the lack of adrenaline in your body once you felt safe in that kind of situation would do. I wasn't there, so I can only go based off what I've been told. It is my understanding that although all your injuries are undeniably bad, some more severe than others, you were very lucky."

And if I'd listened to Huck and taken him up on his offer, I wouldn't have needed to feel relieved about being lucky. I would have likely been called smart in that case.

The nurse returned with a cup of water, Huck taking it from her as she approached the bed. He released his hold on my hand, brought the cup to my mouth, and angled the straw toward my lips. I drank slowly, the cool water feeling like heaven on my parched throat.

When I glanced up at Huck, I couldn't miss the way he was looking at me. Like it was his life's greatest privilege to be holding my cup of water for me, so I could take a drink without having to lift a finger. I still hadn't had a chance to speak to him about everything I had wanted to, and there was such a buildup of tension between us. Or, well, I felt the tension on my end. I couldn't be entirely sure what Huck was thinking.

And I wanted to talk to him, so I needed to do what I had to do to get everyone else out of the room. So, I pulled my head back slightly and released the straw. "Thank you," I said softly.

Huck smiled at me and returned his hand to mine. "Anything you need, Josie."

Maybe I was going to need the water back, because my throat suddenly felt parched again.

Begrudgingly, I tore my gaze from Huck, focused on Dr. Garcia again, and asked, "What happens now?"

"Well, I'd like to do a couple of tests quickly just to confirm everything looks good neurologically, and we'll evaluate what's happening with that shoulder," he answered.

So much for being able to talk to Huck like I wanted. "Now?"

"Yes," he confirmed before turning his attention to Huck. "Sir, if you wouldn't mind stepping out while I do that?—"

"I made a promise to her, and I'm not leaving her alone with anyone she doesn't know," Huck fired back without an ounce of hesitation.

My heart began pounding in my chest. Apparently, I was wrong. Huck didn't seem to have any problem with being in the middle of this.

"I can understand your reason for feeling frustrated, but my job is to take care of my patient," Dr. Garcia explained.

Not wanting this to turn into something it didn't need to be, I gave Huck's hand a squeeze. He turned his attention to me. "It's okay," I assured him. "I'll be fine."

He looked like he had something he wanted to say in response, but he held himself back from sharing whatever it was. "I'm not going to be any farther away than right outside this room. If you need me, you yell."

"You know I will." Giving him that reassurance seemed to help. The tension in his shoulders eased. Huck's eyes lingered on me a moment longer before he turned and walked out of the room.

And once he was outside, I understood precisely why the doctor insisted on doing the exam alone. This was a clear case of domestic abuse. Sure, Huck had been the one to call the ambulance and cared for me until they arrived, but all they had was his side of the story. So, while Dr. Garcia had performed several tests as he had indicated he was going to do to confirm things were progressing in the right direction, there was that additional piece to the puzzle that needed to be addressed and documented.

The entire ordeal didn't last incredibly long, but it felt like an eternity when all I wanted was to have Huck back in the room with me.

Finally, the doctor completed the evaluation. He indicated that, unless there was any regression, it was likely they'd hold me here for two more days just to be on the safe side. It was longer than I would have wanted, but I didn't put up an argument. He was the expert, and at this point, I realized I needed to start trusting some other people to know what might be best when it came to handling a situation like this.

As soon as Dr. Garcia and Heather, the nurse, had left, Huck walked back in. Seeing him and the concern in his expression, I didn't know how I didn't start crying. But since I knew it was okay to move my body as long as I did it slowly and mindfully, I reached my good arm out to Huck.

He didn't hesitate. He crossed the room and came to sit beside me on the bed, gently wrapping his arms around me and allowing me to do the same with him using just one of my arms.

And that's when it happened.

Feeling his protective embrace around me for the first time since he'd given me that hug at the diner, I burst into tears.