Nate (A Texas Jacks Novel) (41 page)

“It’s fine, Charlie. You go in first. Carianna should be back soon with their dad. Until then, I know he would rather wake up to your pretty face over our ugly mugs.” Holt softly smiles at me. I hug him, giving him an appreciative squeeze around his waist, then let go and continue following the doctor down to Nathan’s room.

The doctor stops us at the door. “Don’t worry, he won’t look as bad as he sounds.” He reassures me of this before opening the door and pushing his way in. I silently follow, dreading seeing Nate in that hospital bed. Once we clear the door and step into the room, I stop in my spot to take him in. I need to evaluate him with my own eyes, but don’t trust myself to get too close to him yet. He might wake up and be mad when he sees I’m here. So I stay still, in one spot, just watching and waiting for what comes next. It all hinges on what Nate will do when we make eye contact.

Waking up
hurts,
and it shouldn’t.

“Why can’t I move my arm?” I groggily call into the emptiness of wherever it is that I am.

“
Where am I
?”

My vision is blurry. I can’t move very well, and my arm feels weighted down. I try to sit up, but there’s a burning pain and agony within my chest. Just breathing hurts. I look down and see wires and tubes coming out of my arms. I realize after a little more investigating that I’m in a hospital room, and I can’t remember how I got here.

The last thing I remember is walking off the track to get to Charlie, before flying backwards as something hard hit me and threw me off my feet. And then it was lights out until now, apparently.

“Welcome back,” I hear a deep, gravelly voice say as a shaft of light blinds me. I quickly squeeze my eyes shut, turning my head away from the brightness. But I have a killer headache, which causes even more pain to radiate through my skull. The new noises and light make me want to throw up.

“You’re one lucky young man.” The deep voice continues on, “I’m Dr. Johnson, by the way. I treated you for your injuries. Do you remember anything?”

“Just that I was walking towards my girlfriend, then something slammed into me. After that, I was knocked out. What happened to me?”

“As I was just explaining to your friends, and girlfriend, you’ve sustained a lot of injuries.” I can hear him moving around, but I haven’t opened my eyes yet. I prefer the darkness at the moment.

“You have a concussion, a few broken ribs, a broken arm, and a broken nose,” he continues. “With the injuries you sustained, and the type of accident you had, I’m surprised you didn’t break your jaw, shatter your cheekbone, crack your skull open, or lose any teeth in all of that.”

I can hear some rustling of papers in the background, and I’m presuming he’s checking my chart, but I can also hear a faint crying noise to my right. I slowly turn my head that way, and open my eyes to find Charlie.

She sniffles quietly in her huddled space in the room. I try to hold out my hand, but it flops heavily back to the bed. I realize then that it’s in a cast. I try again, and this time she comes over and, gently as she can, takes my hand into hers to hold.

“So, doctor,” I say, turning my head back slowly his way. “How long will I be laid up?”

“Well, that all depends on how well your body heals up. Being a dirt bike racer, you well know how sore your body is after each time you ride. Luckily for you, you’re still young, so it probably won’t slow you down as much. For now, we want to keep you overnight. Technically, we plan to keep you for two nights, so we can monitor your head injury. From there, we will reevaluate how you’re progressing, and then determine when we will let you leave, and what you should do for follow-up care. For now, I would suggest you lay off the racing for the foreseeable future. I’ve had plenty of men in here with injuries from this sport. Things as simple as losing their footing on a pedal, so their foot gets caught up and crushed. Or the ones who flip over their handle bar after hitting a muddy hole, and wind up fracturing their skulls. Some have had their teeth shoved up into their sinuses. There are all kinds of things that can happen out there, and I would hate to see you back here because of the sport. It’s very dangerous.”

I let out a groan from what he just told me, and the agony my body is in. “Maybe we can share horror stories involving injuries when one, my body isn’t trying to kill me now, and two—when my girlfriend isn’t sitting here. I really don’t want to terrify her more than she is already.”

The doctor chuckles. “I’ll send a nurse in with orders to up your pain medication dosage. You can have your friends visit, but not too long. You need some rest, but with that will come hourly wakeup calls. It comes with the territory of concussions, I’m afraid.” He nods at me with a humorous grin, then to Charlie before taking his leave.

“Charlie?” I have to make sure she’s really here.

“Yes, Nate?”

“Are you really here?” I quietly ask.

“Yes,” she’s just as quiet when she replies.

“Are you okay?”

She laughs, heartily.

“What?” I give her a sly smile, or as best as I can manage.

“You’re the one laid up, broken and bruised, and you’re asking me if I’m okay? That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in days.”

She smiles sweetly down at me. “I’ve missed you, cowboy. But don’t think you’re getting off scot-free after the garbage you pulled.”

“Charlie,” I say in a serious tone, “maybe you shouldn’t be here. I love that you are, but I don’t want you stressed out because of me. Go home and rest.” I rub her hand with my good one.

“No. No, you don’t. And we’re not fighting about this. Especially right now, while your body needs to be calm and rest. We can talk about this later.” Her tone is sternly firm. I knew I would be in hot water with her. I don’t want to push my luck, but I don’t really want her wasting her time sitting here, babysitting me. I have to try one more time, though I selfishly want her here.

“I—” I start to say, until she kisses me, hard. I moan loudly, as my nose and head hate life right now. As much as I want to kiss her, the rest of me would rather pass out into a deep sleep until I can fully recover.

“Shut up, cowboy,” she says against my lips.

I manage a smile against hers, right before she kisses me again. She pulls away just in time for our friends’ to interrupt with a throat clear and a fake cough. I look up to find them gawking at us. “When did you hooligans show up? I can’t believe they let just about anyone in here, these days.” I try to laugh at my own joke, but end up in more pain than anything.

“You idiot! What were you thinking, man?” Holt chides me.

“‘Hello’ is how I usually start off my sentences when I see someone hurt. What about you, Charlie?” I ask, watching her fight a smile.

“Seriously, you could have been killed out there. You
should
have been killed. Racing is dangerous. Why do you think Charlie was always worried about you out there? Don’t think we haven’t read up on all of the crashes that have killed people, Mister!” Halley throws her full load of attitude and worry at me. “You’re lucky you’re in that bed and we can’t beat you for your idiocy!”

“What happened out there?” Tucker calmly asks from his side perch against the wall, where he holds Naomi’s hand.

“I wasn’t thinking.”

“That’s obvious.” Holt scoffs.

“Why did you jump off your bike in a crazy way, and then try to rush it off the track like that?” Halley questions.

“I saw Dave, and then I couldn’t think or see right. I was raging, and saw red. I knew I had to get him away from Charlie, once and for all. That’s what I was trying to do, when something slammed into me and I went airborne.”

“Yeah, another rider hit you, which caused many others to crash.
On. Top. Of. You!
I still can’t believe
you were able to walk away with the injuries you have, and nothing more,” Holt irately states.

“I know. I get it. I’m lucky to be here. I was distracted, okay?” I feel Charlie’s hand tug hard to pull away. “And no,” I look her in the eye, “you’re not leaving me to heal on my own again. I want you here.”

“Ouch. That was a low blow, don’t you think?” says Tucker, rather than Charlie.

“I’m tired, my head is killing me, and you are all in here making matters worse,” I say to my friends. “As for you, little one, I didn’t mean it to come out that way. I’m going crazy over here without you, and I don’t want to waste another day by being apart. I want you here while I recover.” I give her a pleading look. “Please?”

“You’re sure?” she timidly asks.

I nod at her question, trying to let everything in my eyes show her the truth of my words.

“I think she’s still waiting for a few specific words, right guys?” Halley chimes in.

“Would you give it a rest, woman?” Holt grumbles at her. “We are all mad, scared, and wanting to kick some sense into him. But we aren’t helping things.”

“Thank you, finally!” I say, but it could be at Holt, or to the nurse who just walked in with my medication.

“I see it’s a full house in here.” She observes as she walks over to my IV stand. “Nathan’s going to be groggy in a few minutes. So you’ll want to say your goodbyes now, before he passes out.” She smiles at my friends, and then administers the liquid medication into my IV. Once she completes her task, and checks if I need anything, she leaves the room.

“You heard the woman. Say your peace, and then get the heck out of here. I need my girl, and my beauty sleep.”

“I don’t know which one you need more, or which one will even save you.” Holt taunts, making the others laugh. “Try sleeping for another thousand years. Maybe your Princess will see your beauty then,” he continues ribbing me.

“Always the funny one, Curly.” Halley laughs.

They all say goodbye and take their leave, leaving Charlie behind.

“Has anyone told my family?”

“Yes. Carianna was here earlier. She left to get your dad. He was working late, and she couldn’t reach him. In fact, they should be back within the next 30 minutes, I would guess.”

“I really wish they weren’t coming by so late. I’m exhausted.”

“You do know it’s not in the middle of the night, right? I think it’s closer to 8pm.”

“Can I just hold you?”

“Is that even possible?”

“Anything is possible, if you let it be.” I quietly admit.

She looks at me with so much love in her eyes, for a few moments longer.

“If I get in trouble for this, you’re paying for it!” she scoots onto the bed and tries to maneuver her way into a comfortable position, though I know it’s not easy. I can’t move or help her. I feel like a useless gimp.

“You’re not a useless gimp.” She chuckles.

“How did you know I was thinking that?”

“You said it out loud. I think the pain meds are kicking in. Go to sleep, cowboy. I’ll update your family, then send them on their way with a promise that you’ll call them tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Charlotte,” I manage to say as my eyes start to get heavier.

The darkness and quiet, mixed with Charlie’s light breathing and the beeping of a machine, start to lull me to sleep when I think I hear her say, “I love you, Nathan. Sweet dreams.”

It’s a nice thought, and I’m hoping and wishing that’s what I really heard. I think it’s more like my mind is playing tricks on me. Either way, I fall into a deep sleep for the rest of the night.