Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
“Montana is awake, and she’s in a lot of pain,” Blaze told the nurse.
“I’ll send the doctor and a nurse.”
Blaze looked back down at me. “You remember anything that happened?”
I closed my eyes, trying to remember what in the hell landed me here. He silently waited for my answer as I tried to see past the pain clouding my mind to what in the hell had happened.
I was trying to get my fucking clothes.
I sucked in a ragged breath and opened my eyes again, looking up at the handsome man in front of me. For once, his blue eyes held patience and understanding. “My mom and her boyfriend,” I whispered. “He beat the shit out of me.” I licked my lips again, my eyes fluttered closed for a moment as I relived that memory.
Blaze gently cupped my cheek. “Look at me,” he commanded. I opened my eyes again. “Don’t get lost inside your head, you hear me? Keep talking. I need to know what happened.”
If the pain didn’t have me feeling so cloudy, I would have asked him why it was so important he knew. But I could barely think past the pain.
“Mom was high. Didn’t do anything.” I groaned when I tried to get comfortable, but I knew trying to find comfort was no use. “I mouthed off at him, I think. Kind of hazy. But I remember him beating the shit out of me, knocking me stupid a couple good times before he started pummeling me.” I weakly shook my head. “Some of it’s fuzzy.”
He ran his thumb over my swollen cheek, and we both looked towards the door when it opened. John stepped inside. My lips trembled. Tears flooded my eyes.
He would understand.
“John,” I croaked.
Blaze quickly moved, and my brother took his place. I sobbed, pain wracking my chest and my ribs as I did so. “I hate her,” I cried.
He ran his hand over my hair. “I know, little sis. I know. She’ll pay for letting this happen to you.” He brushed his lips to my forehead as a nurse came in with a doctor.
“It’s good to see you awake,” the doctor quickly began. The nurse began administering something into my IV line. “I won’t keep you long because you’ll probably fall asleep here again soon, and you need all the rest you can get.”
John laced his fingers through mine. “You have five fractured ribs. Breathing is going to hurt, but I need you to breathe normally. Shallowing your breaths can cause pneumonia, and we don’t want that.” John nodded his head, agreeing with the doctor. “You suffered a severe concussion. If you can’t remember some things before falling unconscious, that’s normal. You may never regain those memories, and with as severe your trauma is, that’s okay.”
I hated her. I hated him.
I had only wanted my fucking clothes!
“Your baby is fine. You’ve got some major swelling in some parts of your body, especially your face. You took a good few hits to the spinal cord; honestly, it’s a miracle you’re able to move your legs and feet. Your ankle is sprained, and your left wrist is broken. I’m going to keep you for observation a few more nights, and from there, we’ll reevaluate.”
The medicine was pulling me under. I managed to nod my head though, my eyelids already fluttering shut.
“Get some rest, Montana. I’ll be back in later to check on you.”
With that, he left the room. My eyes fell shut.
“I’ll be back,” I heard Blaze tell my brother. “Jonah should be back soon.”
“I’ve got her,” John assured him. “Be careful, yeah?”
Blaze snorted, and I heard my hospital room door click shut a moment later. Part of me wondered what the sarcastic snort was for, but I was too tired to question it.
I let the darkness pull me back under into its comforting, sweet embrace where the pain had no place to be.
22
Jonah
I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back against the wall, staring at Montana as she slept. The medication she was on was making her drowsy. When she’d woken up the second time, her jaw had been too swollen to really talk or eat, so the doctor had her sip broth through a straw, which she’d been doing for the past few meals now.
I wanted to fucking slaughter whoever did this to her.
“Doctor said he wants to discharge her in a little bit,” John announced as he stepped back into the room. He’d gone down to get coffee and something to eat, leaving me and Blaze alone in the room with her while he was gone.
I frowned. “That seems a bit early.”
John shrugged. “Fucking insurance, but the doctor is pretty optimistic she’ll be okay.”
I gritted my teeth. “Bro, she can barely fucking move, and he thinks she’ll be okay?”
John shrugged. “We’ll just do what we can for her,” he told me. “That’s all we can fucking do right now.”