And Kellan, always the passionate one, if I hadn't beaten him down so much, he would have reacted much differently to Denny's outburst. Possibly he'd have fought back. Possibly with an even worse outcome. But it all came down to me...me and my multiple poor decisions and indecisiveness.
I used the bathroom as quickly as a sore person could, and shuffled back to my bed. Curling into a ball, I wondered what I was going to do now. I didn't come up with anything and my eyes slowly reclosed from pain and exhaustion, and I fell back asleep.
I woke briefly throughout the night when the nurse, Cindy, I'm assuming, since I was too groggy with sleep to ask, checked my vitals and reattached me to my annoying beeping machine. I didn't fully wake until the next morning when the bright and cheery Susie returned.
"Here she is, sweetie. Oh, and she's awake too. Great!" She came over to check my vitals and handed me some pills for the pain, which was a bit better today. I barely registered the plump, merry woman though, since my eyes were mainly focused on the beautiful vision of a woman beside her.
"Hey, sis," Anna whispered, as she sat at the foot of the bed. Her long hair was back to its traditional near-black, shiny luxuriousness, and she had it pulled into an adorably high ponytail. The sweater she wore was royal blue and tight enough to reveal all of her marvelous curves, and for once, I didn't care how plain I looked beside her. I only cared that someone I loved was here with me.
My eyes watered as the nurse went about her business. I thought I heard her murmur something about "lunch is in an hour and you should try eating today", before she shuffled out the door. My mind momentarily registered that it was almost lunchtime already, and then focused back on Anna, still gazing at me with perfectly green, but sad, eyes.
Just when I was about to ask her what she was doing here, she spoke softly, "Those boys really did a number on you, didn't they?" I cringed, knowing she must know everything then. She shook her head lightly and then with a sigh, stood and wrapped me in a hug. "Really, Kiera...what were you thinking? Getting in-between a fight?"
I choked back a sob and muttered, "I wasn't...obviously."
She held me for a moment, and then crawled into the bed bedside me, snuggling up to the side of me that wasn't attached to an IV. She held my hand tightly in hers and put her head on my shoulder. "Well, I'm here to do the thinking for you from now on," she muttered into my shoulder and I smiled softly at her comment, relaxing into her warmth.
"I love you, sis, and I'm so glad you're here...but what are you doing here?" I hoped that didn't sound disingenuous. I really was thrilled to see her.
She pulled back to look at me. "Denny. He called after the...accident." Her eyes narrowed as she looked me over. "You're lucky he got me and not Mom or Dad. Your broken butt would be on a plane back home by now."
I cringed again at that thought. No, it was probably better if my parents never knew about this. "Well, don't you have a job or something back there?"
She cocked an eyebrow at me. "Trying to get rid of me?" I was already shaking my head no, and clutching her arm to keep her near me, when she chuckled. "No...I've been between jobs. Honestly, I think Mom will be glad to have me off her couch for awhile, and what better place to find work then way out West with my self-destructive sister?"
She beamed at me, as what she was saying registered in my slow head. "Wait...you're staying in Seattle?"
She shrugged and then put her head back on my shoulder. "I was just going to make sure your stupid ass was okay, but then I heard that you needed a place to stay and thought maybe I could find a job out here and we could be roommates. At least until your school is over with." She looked up at me with a stunningly beautiful and playful expression. "Do you think Hooters is hiring? I bet the guys there tip crazy-good."
I rolled my eyes at my capricious sister, and then narrowed them at her. "How did you know I needed a place to live? Kellan only told me that yesterday..."
Her face went blank and she sort of looked like a deer in headlights, a painfully attractive deer in headlights. "Shit. I wasn't supposed to mention that. Damn, he's gonna be pissed." She shrugged again. "Oh well." She sat back on the pillow and I turned to look at her better, curious over what she was talking about.
"I ran into Kellan downstairs. He told me what was going on. He told me that he asked you to leave." She raised her eyebrow again. "He looks like shit, by the way. Hot shit, but shit nonetheless. Denny really did that to him?"
I was nodding at her without really thinking about it. "Kellan is still here...at the hospital?" I kind of figured he'd written me off and gone home to dwell with a bottle of Jack, and maybe even a girl...or two.
She sighed and tucked some hair behind my ear, her fingers staying on the gross bruise I knew covered part of my face. "He's crazy in love with you, Kiera. He won't leave the hospital. He wanders around downstairs, drinking coffee, and waiting to hear if your condition has changed." She removed her hand and tucked it under her cheek on the pillow. "Some of the nurses up here were even talking about him when I came up. Apparently, he's charmed quite a few and they tell him things about you when he comes up here every once and awhile." She rolled her eyes. "There's some serious crushing going on in that nurses' station."
I blushed at that and turned to stare at the ceiling. I tried to picture where he might be in the hospital, feel his warmth, even through our distance. All I could feel was the dull ache in my head and the greater ache in my heart. "He's not coming back in here...is he?"
Anna sighed heavily and I turned again to look at her almost glistening eyes. "No," she whispered. "He said it's too hard. He needs space." She scrunched her brow in a too cute expression of confusion. "He said he needed a minute." She shrugged, like she didn't understand that.
I closed my eyes. I did. Our code...he needed a break...from me. How badly had I hurt him this time? Bad enough for him to finally stay away...sort of. Even though I was chilled with loneliness at forcing two men away from me, it warmed me that he still cared enough to stay somewhat close to me.