Monroe, Marla - Love Between the Hired Hands [The Men of Space Station One #4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (17 page)

“Yeah, you’re probably right. I’ll take a walk and find something to bring back. I’m not sure I can eat, anyway.”

“You need to if you’re going to keep up your strength. We’ve got to be able to take care of her, Gray.”

“Fuck, I guess you’re right. I’ll be back in an hour.” Gray eased off the bed and gently laid Elissa’s hand back on the covers. “Don’t leave her side, Clint.”

“I won’t.”

He watched his friend walk out the door. Gray was taking it hard. Hell, he was taking it hard. He couldn’t stand the idea of something hurting her like this. She would be horrified that she had something foreign in her body. He didn’t know how they were going to tell her when she woke up. They would have to tell her, though. He dreaded it.

A little over an hour later, Gray walked back in with a bag lunch for him. He opened it up and pulled out two sandwiches. He devoured them even though he really wasn’t that hungry. He knew he needed to keep up his strength. He would be there if Elissa needed him. Gray would be, too. He just needed time to assimilate everything.

“Any change?” Gray finally asked him.

“Other than the antibiotic being finished and Scott checking on her, no.”

“Do you think she’s going to be okay?” Gray finally asked.

“I have to believe it, Gray. I can’t imagine what I’d do if she wasn’t.”

They sat there in silence for nearly an hour when Elissa moaned and moved on the bed. Both Clint and Gray got up to check on her.

“Elissa, honey? Can you hear me?” Clint took her hand as Gray stroked her cheek.

She opened her eyes and smiled a strained smile. “My leg hurts.”

“Okay, baby. I’ll go get the nurse.” Gray hurried out the door to find Scott.

“How do you feel other than your leg?” Clint asked her.

“Fine, why? Is something wrong?” Her eyes widened, and she tried to sit up.

“Easy, Elissa.” Clint tried to keep her in the bed, but she was insistent.

“I want to see my leg. What’s wrong with my leg?”

“It’s okay, Elissa. See, your leg is fine. It still has a dressing on it, though, so we can’t see it right now.” Clint realized Elissa thought her leg was gone. He cursed himself for scaring her like that.

“Why do you look so worried, then?” she asked.

“You’ve been sleeping hard all day, Elissa. We can’t wake you up when you go to sleep. It has us worried.”

“Oh. I feel fine other than my leg hurting.” She relaxed some.

The door opened, and both Scott and Gray walked in. The nurse didn’t look the least bit worried, but Gray’s face had a slight pallor to it. Had Scott said anything to him outside?

“Hey, Elissa. I’m Scott, Dr. Davis’s nurse.

“Hi.” She looked over at Clint with a nervous expression.

“Let’s have a look at your leg and see if there is anything I can do to make it stop hurting,” Scott said. “Roll over for me.”

Clint helped her roll over and kept her gown closed while Scott exposed her lower left leg. The nurse gently removed the dressing. They could all see that the entire area around the bite was a pale yellow now. The puncture areas themselves hadn’t drained any more, though.

“Her leg isn’t swollen and there isn’t any more drainage, so that is good. Elissa, I’m going to go get the doctor and see if he wants to give you something for pain, okay? Can you stay like this till I get back?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. My back was beginning to ache from lying here anyway.”

“I’ll give you a back rub, honey. Roll on over some more. Gray, can you keep the covers off her leg while I cover her ass up?” Clint pulled the covers down from her back until they rested just above her ass.

“I’ve got it,” Gray said.

Clint began to massage her back and shoulders. “How’s this?”

“That feels really good, Clint. Thanks.” She moaned when he moved a little farther down her back.

A few minutes later, the doctor walked in with Scott behind him.

“Hi, Elissa. I don’t think we’ve met. You were asleep when they brought you in earlier today. I’m Dr. Jeff Davis.”

“Hi, I’m sorry I was asleep. I’ve just been so tired lately.”

“How long have you been tired, Elissa?” he asked.

“Um, well. I guess just since I got bit. That was yesterday, wasn’t it, Gray?”

“Yes, baby. It was yesterday.”

“Clint, how about you cover her back up and let me check her leg.” Jeff waited while Clint readjusted her gown and the covers.

“Describe the pain for me, Elissa.” Jeff pulled on gloves and felt around the wound with his hands.

“It burns, mostly. Throbs a little when I move it or just start to.” Elissa tried to look over her shoulder at it, but she couldn’t see anything.

“Okay. I’m going to try some medication topically on it and I’ll give you something for pain as well. On a scale of one to ten with ten being the worst possible pain. What would you rate your pain?” he asked.

“Oh, maybe a five. It’s not that bad. I guess it’s a little above annoying.” She made a face. “I don’t want a shot.”

Scott chuckled. “He won’t give you one for a five, Elissa. Don’t worry.”

She smiled. “Good. I probably only need pain pill.”

“I’m going to give you something a little stronger than that, but not strong enough to put you to sleep again. You need to sit up some, Elissa.” Jeff smiled at her and nodded at Scott.

Scott began redressing her leg. He talked to her while he did. Jeff nodded toward the door, indicating he wanted to talk to them outside. Clint looked over at Elissa and realized she was busy talking to Scott about her garden. He nodded at Gray, and they followed the doctor outside the room.

“I suppose you noticed that the yellow discoloration has spread some,” he began.

“Yeah, you said it wouldn’t,” Clint said.

“I said it shouldn’t, and it hadn’t with the other women. I think this is as much as it’s going to spread. It only filled in between the bite marks. It hasn’t gone beyond the original margins, so I think this is it.”

“What else showed up in her blood work from this morning? You haven’t said.” Gray rubbed a spot between his eyes.

“She’s slightly anemic, which I’ve noticed in pretty much all of the women here. I don’t know what it is from, but no one has gotten any worse. I’m going to prescribe iron pills for her when I discharge her home.”

“Anything else?” Clint asked.

“No. That’s it. Try to urge her to eat more meat once she’s back home.”

“Okay, we can do that. We’ve been eating mostly out of the garden without a lot of meat.” Gray looked over at Clint.

“Never dawned on me she might need the meat,” Clint said.

“I’ll check her again before I head to bed and then we’ll see how she is in the morning after her last round of antibiotics,” Jeff said. “I’ll see both of you tomorrow morning around nine.”

Clint and Gray walked back in the room to find Scott sitting on the straight chair talking to Elissa about foods high in iron. Clint sighed. They wouldn’t have to push her too hard to eat meat without telling her why. Scott already had.

“Scott says we’re all a little bit anemic and need to start eating meat for at least two meals a day. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize we needed to.” Elissa frowned.

“Don’t worry about it, baby. We didn’t know, either,” Gray assured her.

“We’ll get more meat while we’re here, honey,” Clint added.

“Okay, I’m going to get the medication Jeff talked about and be right back.” Scott nodded at them and left the room.

Elissa narrowed her eyes. “Okay, what did Jeff have to say that he didn’t want me to hear?”

Clint winced. “Nothing, honey. He was telling us about the anemia and that he would check you again tonight before he went to bed.”

“I know you’re keeping something from me. What is it? Tell me now or I’ll demand that Jeff tells me later. It’s my body.”

Gray cursed and looked over at Clint. “She’s right. We can’t keep things from her.”

Clint realized they were right. “Okay.”

Neither man spoke for a while. Elissa frowned looking up at them.

Gray finally spoke. “Elissa, the area around the bite marks has changed color. It’s a pale yellow.”

“My skin is yellow?” She looked incredulously at them. “I want to see.”

Scott walked back in after a quick knock. “See what?”

“She wants to see her wound. We had to tell her about it being a little yellow,” Clint said.

“Okay. I’ll be right back then. I’ve got a mirror in the other room.” He disappeared out the door.

A few seconds later he returned with a handheld mirror. He handed it to Elissa.

“I’m going to removing the dressing and then you can look at it using the mirror. One of you can hold her leg up so she can see it. I’ll stand at the head of the bed while you do.”

Clint wasn’t sure why until he was the one to hold up her leg. There was a direct view of her panties from his angle. He looked up at Scott. The other man winked at him.

“Okay, Gray. Hold the mirror behind her calf so she can see the reflection of the bite marks.” Scott directed them on how to show her.

“Oh—my—God! My skin is yellow. Is it going to go away?” she demanded.

Clint lowered her leg back to the bed. She kept it bent so the wound wouldn’t touch the covers. They all looked at Scott to see what he would say.

He sighed and shook his head. “It hasn’t from anyone else’s wounds. I think you’re stuck with it.”

“You could have lied,” she said with a pout. “What am I going to do with yellow skin?”

“Don’t worry about it, Elissa,” Gray said. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you get well.”

“Gray’s right, honey. Just concentrate on getting well and coming home.”

“Take me home now,” she said.

“We will tomorrow, baby.” Gray sat on the edge of the bed next to her. “You’ve got to get the rest of your antibiotics first.”

“I want to go home, Clint.” She looked over at him.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m with Gray. You’ve got to have the rest of your medicine. Then we’ll take you home.”

“Okay, roll over and let me put this medicine on your leg. It’s especially for burns, and since yours is burning some, we’re going to try it and see if it helps.”

Gray helped her roll over. Clint stood back and watched as Scott put a white substance on her leg. It coated her calf. Then he put another bandage back on and stood up. He pulled off his gloves and washed his hands in the sink across the room before picking up the little pill container and handing her a glass of water to take it with.

“These will help with the pain, but shouldn’t make you sleepy.” He waited while she swallowed the pills, then gathered up his supplies and left.

“How do you feel right now?” Gray asked her.

“I feel okay. I’m tired, but not really sleepy. My leg already feels a little bit better. I guess the stuff he put on it helped. It isn’t burning as badly.”