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A nurse behind him comes around and pulls out a remote from the side of my bed. The bed starts to move to an upright position.
“Why—” I stop talking because it hurts too much. I point to the tube.
“Do you remember what happened?” the doctor asks.
I pinch my eyes closed and nod my head. I was shot. The bastard who took Addison from me shot me.
Addison.
I croak as I try and sit up farther. I need to find Addison.
A hand stops me, pushing me back against the bed. “Aiden, you need to sit back.” I look at the person who has a hand on each of my shoulders. I do a double take because the hands belong to a petite nurse. I shake my head. It must be the drugs making me weak because she’s practically holding me down.
I exhale quickly, whipping my head toward Katie. “Get Damon. Now,” I grate out in a whisper.
Katie stands up, watching me cautiously. “Aiden, I think you need to relax and focus on getting better. You’ve had a rough couple days,” she says softly, laying her hand on top of mine.
I shake my head. “Now or I get up myself.” I try to swallow the pain.
She twists her lips and rolls her eyes. “Such a brat. I’ll be right back.” I smirk as she walks out of the room. She’s never been able to win an argument; I’m not sure why she thinks she’ll start now.
“So I’m assuming you remember getting shot?” the doctor questions. I look at the doctor and nod once. “While we were removing the bullet from your chest, your lung collapsed, which is the reason for the tube. Once we determine that your lung can stay inflated on its own, we’ll remove the tube. This can happen anywhere from a couple days to a week. We need you to focus on getting better.” He gives me a pointed look. I get it, doc. It’s really not beneath me to roll my eyes, but instead I nod. If this tool thinks I’m going to sit back while Addison is in danger, he’s an idiot. I’ll be a good patient for now so I can get out of this place.
As if the doctor can read my mind he says, “Aiden, you’ll be here for at least one week, maybe two, depending on your recovery.”
I fist my hands thinking what could happen to Addison in those two weeks if we don’t find her. The beeping coming from the machine that is attached to me starts to beep faster. The beeping reminds me of something, but I can’t pinpoint what. I shake the thought from my head. My focus right now is Addison.
Only Addison.
The doctor blows out an exasperated breath. “Don’t make this more difficult, Aiden. Try and calm down. We’ll get you out of here as fast as we can.” He writes on my medical record and hands it to the nurse before he turns to leave.
“Alright, my pocket full of sunshine,” the nurse says, “how is the pain right now on a scale of one to ten?”
I take in a deep breath and release it, self-evaluating my pain. It’s not bad enough for pain meds. I need to be fully awake when I talk to Damon, so I hold up three fingers. It’s probably more a seven, but hell, I don’t need her to know that. Her eyes squint as she twists her lips.
“I don’t believe you,” she says, smirking as she adjusts a few things on the machine, “but when it gets to be too much, let me know. Tomorrow you’ll start respiratory therapy to get that lung stronger, so don’t use up all your energy this afternoon.” She finishes writing whatever she needs to and then walks out of my hospital room. Damon’s in the room before the door closes.
He pulls a chair up to the bed. “I guess I should skip all the ‘I’m glad you’re okay’ and ‘you fucking scared us’ bullshit,” he says with an eyebrow raised. “I know you want to get right to business.”
I nod and clear my throat. My fists are still clenched. “I know who took her,” I whisper. Whispering is a hell of a lot less painful than me trying to talk.
Damon’s eyes go wide. “Thank God, because we’ve hit a dead end. Who?” His voice is rushed.
I slowly blow out my cheeks. I need to decide real fast how much to disclose. Addison is in a lot of danger, but having it known that she is Travis’s daughter could be even more dangerous.
“Get Max.” Damon angles his head. Max has been my best friend since elementary school. We joined the FBI together, but he didn’t care for rules, so he opened his own security company, Shaw Security. His team is filled with ex-military and ex-law enforcement. Maybe with Max we can keep it under wraps about Travis. Damon is still staring at me intently. “There is stuff about Addison that I need to keep a lid on right now.” I swallow to wet my throat before I continue. “We need Max and his team on this.”
“You know as soon as the cops know you’re awake, they’ll be in here asking questions,” he says.
“So fucking hurry up and get Max.”
Not even five minutes later, Max and Damon stride into my room. Max smirks. “Good to see you alive, brother.”
“Good to be alive,” I reply.
“So, I hear you have some things to tell us. You know I already have my guys on this,” he says. “We’ll find her.” It doesn’t surprise me to hear that Max is already involved. Max grabs a chair and straddles it, leaning forward against the back with his arms crossed. Damon sits in the chair next to my bed. Both guys stare at me, waiting.
I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose. Here goes nothing.
