Chapter Twelve

Anika

Voices pull me from the comfort of my dreams. I hear the laughter of Mia and Max and it makes me smile.

“She’s awake,” Mia says happily. I force myself to open my eyes and I see Mia. She leans down and hugs me.

“Be careful, Mia,” Rowan says.

“I am. Hush,” she scolds him.

I look around and see that everyone is in the room besides Theo and anxiety washes over me.

“Where is Theo?” I say, panicking.

“Woah. He’s okay. He just went to get coffee,” Rowan says as he kisses my forehead.

“In hindsight, I should have told y’all Isaac was following me,” I say. “Can I sit up?”

“Yeah,” Rowan says as he and Max help me sit up.

“He was following you?” Mia asks.

“Yeah. He texted a few times and I saw him a few times when I’d be out by myself. Getting shot hurts.”

“I’d imagine so,” she laughs.

“Who’s the guy?” I ask, pointing to a guy sitting with Annie.

“Andrew,” she smiles.

“Fuck. Y’all had a trip to go on,” I say.

“You are more important,” she says as she hugs me. “Theo is blaming himself.”

“I figured he would. Isaac went into that building with a plan to kill me. It would have happened either way,” I say. “He acts calm all of the time but I know it’s just an act.”

“It is. He was and still is a mess. It’ll help for him to see you awake. They took you off sedation around five this morning so it taking you twelve hours to wake up freaked him out,” Annie says.

“He’s literally a doctor,” I deadpan and she laughs.

“Yeah, a doctor with anxiety and in love. He said you guys talked?” she asks.

“Yeah. After I threw a temper tantrum,” I smile.

“Then lots of sex I’m sure,” she laughs.

“Yeah. At least I got to have sex before I got shot. You know your husband fucks like a monster?” I say and everyone laughs heartily. The door opens and Theo damn near drops his coffee trying to set it down and come to me. He sits beside me and gently kisses me.

“I’ m so sorry, Anika,” he says.

“Listen here, psychiatrist . Do you honestly think it was your fault or do you think he was just waiting for an opportunity?” I ask.

“I didn’t know he could see me,” he says tearfully.

“Hey. No. None of that. If you cry then I will too and if you make me cry I’ll hit you. Got it? I’m alive and I have a cool new scar,” I say.

“I got it,” he smiles and kisses me again. “I love you, Anika”

“I love you too, Theo,” I smile.

“Tell her,” Annie says.

“Oh. Right. We are moving in with you guys. Me and Annie want to be closer to you and Andrew wants to stay close to Annie. Rowan told us to just come there since there are four rooms. Pretty sure Mia and Emma are going to try to sneak in,” Theo says.

“Are y’all dating?” I ask Mia.

“Yeah,” she smiles.

“This will be chaotic but the house is definitely big enough,” I say.

“Are you okay with that?” Max asks.

“To be in the same house with my whole family? Of course, I am,” I say. “Speaking of…”

“They came shortly after you went into surgery. They asked about you but Rowan and Mia scared them off,” Max says.

“Did you tell them I want nothing to do with them?” I ask Mia.

“Something like that,” she laughs.

“How bad did I get for Theo to look at me the way he did when he came in?” I ask and everyone gets quiet. “Well obviously I’m alive so someone tell me.”

“You coded in the ambulance,” Rowan says. “You got so bad because the bullet damaged an artery. You are lucky that an ambulance was already there waiting. Calling for help before it was needed saved you.”

“Wow.” That’s all I can manage. I died… but then I didn’t… But I should have. “So… When can I leave?” I ask as a man is coming into the room.

“Hello, Mrs. Garcia,” he smiles.

“Call me Anika, please,” I smile.

“Well, Anika, I am Dr. O’Brien. I was your surgeon. How are you feeling?” he asks as he grabs gloves and walks over to the computer beside my bed.

“I’m okay despite the obvious,” I say and he chuckles. “I’m not in too much pain if that’s what you’re asking.”

“It is. Scale of one to ten, where is the pain?” he asks.

“Uhh… a three. Maybe a four.”

“You sure?” he asks, glancing at me from the computer.

“Yeah?” I say slowly.

“You haven’t been given pain meds since you were sedated. We were wanting you to get uncomfortable so you’d wake up,” he says. “I’m going to lay you down and check a few things.”

“Is something wrong?” I ask.

“Tell me if you can feel this,” he says, ignoring my question. He pokes me on the bottom of the foot with something sharp and does the same to my other foot.

“Ow. You psycho. Yes, I can feel that,” I snap and he laughs.

“The bullet got close to your spine, so I wanted to ensure we didn’t miss paralysis. I’m going to check the incision, okay?”

“As long as you don’t stab it like you did my foot,” I say.

“Nice to see you are still you, Ani,” Mia laughs.

Dr. O’Brien washes his hands and then puts on his gloves. He then pulls the blanket down enough so he can pull my gown up to reveal my bandages. He gently peels off the bandages and hands them to the nurse to throw away. He carefully presses on my abdomen in various places. I have a three-inch incision on the left side of my abdomen and he presses down.

“Ow!” I wince.

“You have an incredibly high pain tolerance,” he states. “Expect some pain once you are moving around though.”

“Meh. It’ll heal. I still managed better than the other guy,” I say.

“Did you know him?” he asks me.

“Yeah. He was my ex-fiancé. I would say I dodged a bullet by leaving him but I clearly didn’t,” I say, and Mia giggles. The doctor and nurse exchange a glance and smirk so I know they are painfully curious.

“I see you just got married?” The nurse asks me.

“Girl, the tea is hot with this one,” Mia laughs.

“I am painfully curious,” Dr. O’Brien laughs.

“So, I left Isaac like three weeks ago because I came home from a business trip early and caught him in bed with my sister. I ended up staying with Rowan, who is my boss. I’ve worked with him for eight years. Then I realized Max was his best friend. Max I know from The Cherry. My sister is in kidney failure so my parents were going to deem me incompetent so they could sign and force me to donate a kidney to her. I got married to Rowan to block them from that. I ended up in court for that. Emma is Max’s sister and my lawyer. Emma brought Theo in to evaluate if I’m nuts or not because he’s a psychiatrist. Annie is his wife. Andrew is Annie’s boyfriend. Mia is my best friend,” I explain. They look confused so I continue. “So Mia is my best friend. Rowan is my husband. I am dating Max and Theo. Theo is married to Annie. Annie and Andrew are dating. Mia is dating Emma. And we all apparently live in the same house now… Oh Emma owns The Cherry. Isaac followed me, Rowan, Max, and Theo there.”

“So you’re poly?” The nurse asks.

“Yeah,” I laugh.

“I couldn’t have two wives. I can hardly keep track of one,” Dr. O’Brien says and Theo laughs.

“It helps when they both have a boyfriend or husband,” Theo chuckles.

“Or both,” I shrug.

“So your ex shot you because he cheated on you with your dying sister and you moved on?” The nurse asks as Dr. O’Brien is redressing my incision.

“Yup. Oh, and Theo was the one who shot him,” I say.

“I can tell you right now how you have a high pain tolerance,” Mia snorts. The doctor looks at her before smirking and shaking his head.

“When can I leave?” I ask.

“Well, since I know you will have plenty of people to look after you, I’m going to let you go home tonight. Just do me a favor and rest. Make those three men of yours wait on you hand and foot. You will need help for a while, so let them,” he says.

“You are talking like I’d refuse help or something,” I say, acting shocked.

“Anika, I’ve been doing this a long time. If it takes three men to handle you, I’m willing to bet you are painfully stubborn and independent,” he says.

“I think he just called you a brat,” Rowan says, grinning.

“I won’t give her a choice. I’ll be with her during the day while they work,” Maria says.

“I am definitely working from home,” I say.

“What do you do for work?” The doctor asks.

“I am a publishing agent for Genesis Press,” I say. “I’m sure a few of those authors have blown my voicemail up by now.”

“They have. Ava has been helping the best she can to keep them happy,” Rowan says. “I’ll make a few calls for you today and update your main clients like Andrea. ”

“As long as you are sitting and sleeping every now and again, you can work all you want,” he says. “I’ll have a nurse call in a few days for you to make an appointment for a post op check. I will also call in a prescription for pain medication if you need it. Come back in if you have a fever, severe swelling, or pain.”

“Okay. Thank you for not letting me die,” I smile.

“You are welcome, Anika,” he smiles.

My entire life has been let down after let down until I became an adult. I met Mia and Rowan. I started my amazing career. I met Max. Although I had to go through awful things to get where I am, I wouldn’t change anything.

I am cherished by three amazing men who would do anything for me and I would lay my life down for. I have wonderful friends who support me unconditionally. I have a real family and real love in my life.

Under their protection I have learned how to become unstoppable.