A Mended Man (The Men of Halfway House Book 4)

by Jaime Reese

  "He wanted to make sure we kept you updated. He was…insistent. He said you would storm in there waving a gun at us if we didn't," she said, slowly raising a thinly tweezed, judgmental eyebrow. "He'll need some support to get through this and the recovery. I'll make sure to keep you updated once he's out of surgery." She squeezed Aidan's arm in a comforting gesture then smiled before finally walking away.

  Aidan blew out a deep breath and plopped himself on one of the stiff plastic chairs, resting his head back against the wall and stretching out his legs.

  He closed his eyes and sat there as the time passed, hyper-aware of each voice and step in the room, hoping the pain in his chest would lessen.

  Aidan sat in the hard plastic chair with his arms crossed, staring at the closed doors, waiting for Emma to return with an update. Over three hours and he hadn't heard a peep from the staff.

  "You can go." At the brink of losing his shit, he didn't need an audience to witness his inevitable shutdown.

  He sensed it—the helplessness creeping through and weakening his protective shell.

  Julian rubbed his shaved head. "Not if you need me to stay."

  "Really, please go."

  Julian watched him closely then nodded. "Keep me updated. If you need me back here, just text me. Okay?"

  "Thanks. And please thank Matt for letting me steal you in the middle of the night."

  Julian half smiled and stood. He touched the tip of his fingers to his temple and gave a two-fingered salute before he turned and exited the hospital through the sliding glass doors.

  Aidan leaned his head back against the wall and stretched out in the hard chair, anxiously awaiting the next update. He closed his eyes, the exhaustion and stress starting to wear him down. He needed to see for himself that Jessie was fine. What the hell was taking so long?

  "I received a call about a patient who came in via emergency," a man's voice echoed to his left.

  Aidan opened his eyes, casually observing the older man with the dark hair graying at the temples, fidgeting with a pen at the nurse's counter. There was something about him, something familiar yet different. He stood tall, Aidan guessed at just under six feet in height with broad shoulders.

  "The patient's name is Jessiah Vega," the man said.

  "And you are?" the nurse asked.

  The man cleared his throat. "I'm his…father." He withdrew his wallet from his back pocket and presented his identification. "Why was I instructed to come here?"

  The nurse tore her focus from the computer monitor. "All our satellite hospitals share the same database and are networked and updated real-time throughout the state. We have you on file as a parent. He's in surgery and we may require a decision to be made if he's unable."

  "I would appreciate it if the records were updated, unlinked, or whatever you need to do. I refuse to have a say-so in a decision affecting him."

  "Yes, sir," the nurse quietly commented. "We'll need you to fill out this form." She handed him a clipboard then resumed tapping away at her computer.

  Aidan bit back the surge of anger boiling his blood. He didn't need to hear anything more to know this was the reason Jessie never spoke of his father. He once mentioned his mother and that she had passed away when he was barely a teen but never his father other than a passing comment of "we don't stay in touch."

  He stood and paced the room, needing to let off some of the simmering rage rising inside him. Son of a bitch.

  The older man handed over the clipboard. "Can I go now?"

  "Yes, sir," the nurse said, in a tone much more polite than the bastard merited.

  The man turned to walk out the door but hesitated, instead making his way to the restroom.

  Aidan shoved his hands into his pockets, fighting the urge to race into the bathroom and beat the shit out of that son of a bitch.

  The man exited the restroom a few moments later, and Aidan stood in his path, blocking his exit. The man startled and inched his gaze up at Aidan. "Can I help you?"

  Aidan took a deep breath and focused on leveling his tone. "You're Jessie's father?" There was an unquestionable similarity in his eyes. The shade of crystal blue, bright and unmistakably familiar but everything else was off. Jessie's nose was thin and smooth while this man's was wider and slightly askew from an obvious break. Jessie's eyes were bright with life and mirth while this man's held a darker undercurrent. Even the shapes of their faces were different.

  The older man cocked his head and observed Aidan with the same scrutiny a biologist would inspect a specimen. "And you are?"

  "I'm the detective who brought him in."

  The man raised his chin. "Did he cry?"

  "What did you say?" Aidan asked, planting his hands on his hips.

  "I imagine someone hit him. Did he cry?"

  Hit him? Hit. Him. Aidan bit down so hard his molars began to hurt. "How about we play what-if?"

  "Excuse me?"

  Aidan took a deep breath and tried to keep his rage in check. "What if it was the middle of the night and you were awakened by someone who attacked you, breaking bones in your body and hitting you so fucking hard your vision blurred…" Aidan stopped and clenched his jaw, taking a step closer to the man who threatened his ability to stay in control. "What. Would. You. Do?"

  The man looked at Aidan firmly. "I'd fight back like a man."

  Aidan straightened to his full height, taking advantage of the few inches he had over the man. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Then I guess the two of you are more similar than you think."

  The older man raised his head slightly as his lips twitched into a sneer. "He is nothing like me. The only reason I'm here is because the hospital was on my way home from work and I received the annoying call to come over. I have no interest in being here or what happens to him." He withdrew the keys from his pocket, turned, and walked away. "The world's probably a better place without him and his whining."

  Aidan stood stock-still, observing the older man as he walked past the reception desk and exited the hospital through the sliding glass doors just as Cole ran inside. Cole stopped for a moment and turned to look at the man as he exited, then glanced back at Aidan, scowling as he walked over to him.

  "Shit. Was that Jessie's dad? He looks like Jessie doped up on some serious steroid and fertilizer."

  "No. Just some fucking asshole."

  "Those were his same ice blue eyes, man," Cole said, but didn't push the point further. "You look like you need to get off your feet." He steered Aidan back to the plastic chairs in the waiting room. He pulled his cell phone from his back pocket and pressed a few keys. "Is that Jessie's blood on your shirt?"

  Aidan nodded, not wanting to think about it or look down. "What are you doing here? I thought you guys had a show up in Orlando?" He absently looked at his watch. He was due a damn update already and how the hell… "How did you get here so damn fast?"

  "Your badge earns me some respect," Cole said, waggling his eyebrows. "It's like a get out of jail free card. Totally awesome."

  Aidan sighed and blew out a breath.

  "I'm kidding. We were careful driving. Traffic was light and we drove straight here."

  "Where's Ty?"

  "He's parking the car. I texted him to bring you a shop shirt from the show swag we brought back. So give him a couple of minutes, he needs to sift through the trunk."

  He stared at the emergency room's sliding glass doors, waiting for his brother to enter. "Thanks for calling your sister and Julian."

  "Did anyone else call you?" Cole asked.

  Aidan turned to face Cole slowly. "Who else did you call?"

  "I didn't call anyone else," Cole said with a shrug. "How's Jessie doing?"

  Aidan shook his head, too exhausted to deal with anything other than the stress of Jessie's current situation. "I'm waiting for an update."

  Ty entered through the sliding glass doors, quickly walked over to them, and handed Aidan a black T-shirt before pulling him into an embrace. "We got here as qui
ck as we could."

  Aidan screwed his eyes shut and tightened his hold on his brother. "Thanks," he whispered. "Give me a sec." He escaped into the restroom and emerged seconds later with a fresh Calloway's T-shirt on, thankful to finally be able to take a semi-deep breath without getting a whiff of the metallic scent of Jessie's blood.

  "Now how about you tell us what the hell happened?" Cole said.

  He tugged on the new shirt and took a few more breaths, trying to assemble the right string of words to provide just enough information without causing another fissure in his already beaten state of mind. "He was…attacked. It's…bad…it's…" Fuck. He didn't know what else to say.

  When Cole sprang forward, Aidan turned to see Carmen coming down the hallway toward them.

  "He's out of surgery and in recovery," Carmen said, then paused with the collective sigh from her audience. "So far, we were able to do everything we could on the operating table. However, he sustained blunt trauma to the head and he has some cerebral contusions that seem to have caused cortical blindness. Right now, that's our greatest concern."

  Cole was fidgeting. "Fucking. English. Please."

  "His brain is bruised."

  "How bad?" Aidan asked.

  Carmen turned to Aidan and her brows knit together. "There's a lot of swelling but, thankfully, minimal bleeding. His pupils are responsive, so it's not an injury to his eyes. It's the swelling that's causing him to have trouble with his vision. We need the swelling to resolve or we'll need to step in and relieve some of the pressure in his head."

  Aidan took a deep breath and clenched his hands to stop the shaking. "Can I see him?"

  "We're closely monitoring him for the next few hours in the recovery area so you need to give us a little time first. I'll sneak you in when I can, but he's going to be sedated."

  Aidan ran his hand through his hair. "I just…need to see him." He managed to squeeze the words through the suffocating tightness in his throat.

  Carmen reached out and grabbed his shoulder. "I know. I've got to get back in there." She hugged her brother quickly and gave Ty a chaste kiss on the cheek before jogging back down the hallway.

  They sat for another hour before Emma appeared and stole Aidan away from an overly anxious Cole and Ty. "I'll try to get you a minute with him, but that's about it until we can move him to the Intensive Care Unit," she whispered.

  Aidan nodded, thankful for the chance to see Jessie. All the reassurances in the world hadn't been enough. He just needed a glance. Emma ushered him down a series of hallways and pushed through the doors leading to the recovery area. He stepped in and obediently stayed by the door, anxiously waiting as Emma walked over to the half-moon nurses' station to the right to speak to the sole nurse on duty. Two rows of patients in various stages of recovery lay in beds—no walls between them, and a consistent beep and series of chirps echoed in the otherwise silent space. Everything was white and freakishly sterile, except for the faces of each patient lying in bed or the hand resting at the patient's side that hadn't been covered by the white bedsheet.

  He scanned the room and crossed his arms, fighting a sudden chill. Jessie didn't belong here. He had entirely too much life and fire within him to be in a place so cold and colorless. Emma continued her exchange with the nurse at the station, her arms animated yet her volume hushed enough where he could only catch a few random words—detective, kin, friend, partner. At this point, he'd say and do anything to be near Jessie. He switched his weight from one foot to the other, his breath catching in his throat when he spotted Jessie's bed in the second row.

  The nurse nodded at Emma then turned toward Aidan. "We have a strict no-visitor policy while patients are in this recovery area." She looked over to Emma then back to Aidan. "But I'll give you a moment with him." She directed him toward Jessie's bed then walked away with Emma to check on the other patients in the room.

  He rubbed his palms on his thighs and blew out a deep breath. He walked to Jessie's bed and leaned over, reaching out and hesitantly brushing his thumb along Jessie's cheek. Bruises had bloomed across his entire face and the swelling had worsened. His arms and legs were held in soft splints and he was heavily bandaged all over. Tubes and wires ran from his body to machines that beeped in tandem.

  Steady and strong. Just like Jessie.

  Aidan ran his fingers through Jessie's dark hair—a stolen caress he craved, hoping the contact would calm his nerves. He swallowed heavily and gasped a few shallow breaths, battling the emotions that tried to claw their way to the surface. He couldn't stand this. His instinct was to hurt and maim the bastard who had done this. He leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on Jessie's forehead. He closed his eyes as his trembling lips pressed against Jessie's fair, bruised skin.

  "Please don't leave me," he whispered in Jessie's ear before stepping away and finally exiting the room.

  "Have you gone home?" Cole asked.

  "No," Aidan responded, still sitting in the waiting room, with arms crossed, in those stupid connected plastic chairs that numbed his ass. Jessie had been in recovery for a few hours before finally being transferred to ICU. After almost a full day there, the machines started going apeshit and in the midst of the chaos, they sent him back to the waiting room until they stabilized Jessie.

  Twice.

  He took a deep breath, trying to control all his circling thoughts and avoid spiraling into the abyss. He had to focus on Jessie and the strength Jessie used to always seek the positive in the world. Jessie was strong, far stronger than most people could imagine. Aidan somehow needed to put himself in that same mindset and think positively.

  God, please.

  He needed something to keep him going. Aidan called headquarters for an update on whether they had caught the Michael Johnson bastard. Nothing. He struggled. He wanted to be at the precinct to work the case and ensure they caught the son of a bitch, but there was no way in hell he could will his body to leave Jessie. The bastard could wait. Jessie was his priority.

  His body hummed, and not in a good way. The urge to snap at someone tickled his senses.

  "It's been almost two days. You need to shower," Cole said.

  Maybe his self-proclaimed future-brother-in-law would be a convenient target. He sat and stared at the closed doors, waiting for Emma or Carmen—or anyone at this point—to emerge with any new bit of information. He'd only received a sprinkling of vague updates during the last forty-eight fucking hours.

  We're monitoring him.

  We're keeping an eye on him.

  He's still the same.

  Blah blah blah.

  "And you need a shave. You're starting to wolf it."

  Cole was begging for it now. Aidan had already managed to block out all the panicked families cycling through the waiting room, he could certainly tune out Cole and his attempt to bait him.

  "Aidan, you need to take a break."

  He turned to face Cole, ready to attack, stopping only when the worry in those mismatched eyes stared back at him. "No," he said through clenched teeth, returning his focus to the doors. "I'm not leaving him."

  "At least eat something."

  He heard a rustling beside him. "If you don't want the sandwich I brought you, at least have one of the candy bars."

  He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall.

  "If you take the candy bar, I'll shut up and won't nag you for a bit."

  Aidan sighed. Cole's tone carried the same concern Ty's had before he'd left a few hours ago for a doctor's appointment.

  "Please."

  He pivoted his head toward Cole. If eating something gave him a little silence while he waited, he'd eat a fucking candy bar as long as he wasn't expected to leave the room for more than the time it took to take a piss. "What have you got?"

  Cole immediately withdrew three candy bars from the bag and two protein bars. "Pick two. One for now and another for later so you don't have to go to the vending machine downstairs."

  Aidan held out his hand to
Cole, palm up. His mind was so focused on an update he couldn't decide what to eat. And quite frankly, he didn't care.

  Cole grabbed one of the protein bars, opened it, and shoved it into Aidan's hand. "Eat this one now. You need the boost." He opened Aidan's jacket and slid the chocolate bar into his pocket. "Save this one for later."

  Aidan took a bite then scowled. "This tastes like shit."

  "I'm not a connoisseur of fecal matter, but you're eating that for the energy boost not the taste."

  Aidan chewed the crappy excuse for sustenance, refusing to comment further on Cole's special brand of humor.

  "Have you heard anything?" Cole asked.

  "I thought you were shutting up?"

  Cole shrugged. "I was quiet for a whole minute before I asked."

  Aidan took the last bite. Cole snatched the wrapper from his hand and shoved it into the bag before withdrawing a bottled water and handing it over to Aidan without another word.

  He uncapped the bottle and threw his head back to chug down the contents.

  "Aidan…" Cole whispered.

  He followed Cole's line of sight, straightening when Carmen pushed through the doors. He launched forward and met Cole's sister in two strides. "How is he?"

  Carmen crossed her arms and lowered her brow. "He's not improving and we're worried about the swelling in his brain. We're going to have to medically induce—"

  Aidan swayed. He didn't need to hear the next all-too-familiar word. A strong hand grabbed his bicep, holding him steady and returning his focus to the conversation.

  "Why do you have to put him in a coma if he's not in one? You're supposed to make him better, not worse," Cole said.

  "It will make him better." She looked at Aidan. "I need you to trust me. This is not like Ty's situation. This is us putting him in this state with sedatives to help him. It's not his body giving out on him. This will allow him to recover from all the fractures and internal damage without the sensation of pain. But most importantly, it will relax him and not force his brain to do more than it needs to so it can work on healing itself. And right now, that's what we need to happen to get the swelling down. We're going to closely monitor him for the next few hours. Once he's stable, we'll move him from ICU to the special care floor in the new hospital wing. It's similar to ICU but for rehabilitation and long term care. It's more private than ICU and he'll have a room. The nurse to patient ratio is small so he'll have both the privacy you'll want and the close monitoring he needs."