Nat straightens and bellows, “Don’t you ever, ever do that to me again! Or I’ll beat your ass so hard you’ll wake up into next week!”
I chuckle but no sounds come out. My lips are splitting and cracked but I don’t care.
I whisper, “Nik.”
Nat looks at me and tells me, “We can only visit two at a time and the others want to see you so I’ll come back after everyone’s seen you.”
I nod. Ghost and Nat leave the room as Lola and Trick come in. Lola holds my hand on one side of the bed and Trick hold the other on the other side of the bed. Lola tries to be brave but tears run down her forced smile and into her mouth. Trick kisses my forehead. As they leave, Max and Mimi come in.
Max smiles but his eyes are bright. He sits on the bed, hugs me gently and whispers, “I’ll never forget you took a bullet for Nik. I don’t care if we don’t have the same blood; you’re a member of my family.” I smile but tears are streaming down my face.
The only conclusion I’ve come to is that Nik has passed away. This is why no one will talk to me about him.
I’m completely devastated at this but won’t mourn him until I’m alone. I want to mourn Nik privately and I’ll have time to do that later. I don’t want to disappoint my friends who are so happy to see I’m okay.
Mimi smiles big at me and accuses, “You never told me I’m friends with a total badass who jumps on the backs of bad guys with guns.”
I whisper back, “I didn’t know either. Total badass.”
Mimi smiles and whispers, “Righteous.”
Max holds me around the shoulder and I take in the warmth he offers. After a few minutes they both kiss me and leave.
After seeing everyone, I’m exhausted. I close my eyes and take comfort in the darkness.
I hear shuffling in the doorway and open my eyes. I take in Nik.
I smile and hope this dream is a good one. He’s wearing sweats, a t-shirt, and sneakers. He has a cane in his left hand and he limps over to me.
I frown.
This is not a good dream. Nik’s never injured in my dreams.
He smiles big and kisses my forehead. He asks, “Did you have sweet dreams, baby?”
I turn my tired, half-lidded eyes into his bright amber ones and beg in a hoarse whisper, “Don’t wake me up.”
***
My eyes flutter and I press deeper into the warmth at my side.
Something tightens around my waist. I open my eyes and lean back.
Nik is in the hospital bed with me. Dressed in sweats and a tee.
Oh, god. I wasn’t dreaming. Nik is alive!
He smiles and his eyes search my face, he whispers, “Hey, baby.”
I smile but an endless stream of tears fall down my cheeks. I mouth hey.
He wipes my tears away and says, “Well, this proves it…”
I frown and shrug.
He continues “Nothing will keep us apart. And we need to get married. Like, tomorrow.”
I silently chuckle and mouth I do. The after a moment I mouth what happened?
He straightens and explains, “When Omarr shot you, I thought you were dead, baby. Never, in all my life, have I felt the way I felt that night.” The light in his eyes fade and he focuses on nothing in particular across the room, he whispers, “So much blood. I was sure there was none left in your body.”
Stupid hemophilia!
He goes on, “Then he shot me in the thigh. It didn’t look bad but he got a main artery so I was bleeding as bad as you were. And I thought to myself as long as I’m with you in life or death, I’ll be okay. I killed Omarr, baby. My last thought before I passed out was that I wasn’t able to save you. And that sucked.”
He looks so pained.
I whisper, “I love you…and we’re getting married.”
He smiles and teases, “You pinky swear?”
I silently chuckle and hold up my pinky. We link them together. I lean forward and place a soft kiss on his lips. We chuckle and hold each other.
My eyes heavy and I slip into a deep and restful sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Making it official
One month later…
Just thinking about the past month makes me exhausted.
It turns out I was in hospital three weeks before I woke from my deep comatose sleep. I was shot just under the right side of my collarbone. The bullet went straight in and out, luckily missing all vital organs.
Nik was there every day with me, leaving Max in charge at The White Rabbit. My dad came down when I first got shot but Nik sent him back to Cali with a promise that if anything changed, he’d call. The day after I woke, my dad was there bullying me to get better which made me laugh.
My dad becomes even more abrupt when he’s hurting.
I spent another week in the hospital after I woke and upon leaving I asked to see the doctor privately.
Spending a month in hospital after a near death experience will do things to a person. First, you question how you live your life. Secondly, you elect to make changes. And lastly, you decide to live a fuller life. This is the reason for my private doctor appointment.
The older female doctor I know as Gail comes into my room and shuts the door. I make my request and she smiles big, “Of course! We can do it today. It only takes a minute. I’ll only ask this one more time though. Are you sure?”
I nod and within minutes, it’s done.
I’m so surprised at myself and can’t help the huge smile that stretches my face.
The weeks that follow consist of Nik and I doing physical therapy twice daily. We motivate each other as much as we can but some days are harder than others. We’re both healed almost completely but we’ve been told wounds like this are always apparent in the mind and we’ll most likely experience phantom pains every now and again.
Uncle Jerm worked with the police while I was in hospital to have Nik cleared of any charges he might’ve faced for killing Omarr. All charges were dropped and it was ruled self-defense.
A week after I was released from hospital, Nik threw a welcome home party for me at his place. Everyone we care about was there; my dad, the girls, the guys, Nik’s mom and sisters, Molly, Ceecee, even Uncle Jerm.
Half way through the wonderful evening, Max and Trick picked me up and placed me on the kitchen counter. Everyone turned to watch me with amusement in their eyes. So, of course, my eyes narrowed in an I-Don’t-Like-Surprises kind of way.
Nik came forward and said for everyone to hear, “I think the traditional thing is to kneel but I can’t due to my injury so I asked the guys to place you up on counter for me.” He removed a small leather ring box from his jeans. I gasped loudly and covered my mouth with my hands. He smiled and said, “Tina, the best thing you ever did was Friend-zone me.” At this, everyone burst into laughter, even me. He continued, “And I never thought I’d be so thankful for those disgusting candy wax lips. We’ve had so many things be thrown at us and we’ve always come out on top. Not even death could tear us apart. I want you by my side forever, baby. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”