His to Own (His to Own #1)

by Autumn Winchester

  “Go take a break,” spoke another male’s voice. “I’ll sit with her.”

  “I got it, Kent,” Jonas said, not moving from his spot. “I’m not leaving her side.”

  “You need rest, Carter,” Kent stated.

  “I’m not leaving. I made a promise to Zach to watch over her when he couldn’t,” Jonas stated, his voice going quiet.

  “You’ve been here for three days,” Kent sighed out as he walked farther into the room.

  “I’m not leaving,” Jonas barked out. “Someone was paid to kill her. They didn’t, which means someone else will be coming after her to finish the job. I can’t let that happen.”

  “Alright,” Kent said. I heard him take a seat on the other side of the room. “I’ll be staying too. Julia finally went home to rest a bit. Melio is staying with him. Not like he’ll be going anywhere.”

  “How’s he doing?” Jonas asked out. I wanted to ask that myself, but my body wouldn’t work with me. I felt like cussing it out.

  “Same. Doctor Jayne plans to take him off the sedative that is being used to keep him in a coma. No idea when he’ll wake up, but it’s a start,” Kent answered. “I’m surprised her brother has stormed down the place yet.”

  “He doesn’t know,” Jonas whispered out. “I don’t want Cody following him.”

  “That fucker is in hiding somewhere,” Kent said harshly. “He won’t be seen anywhere near this town. If so, he has a high price for his head. I’ll give Travis a call later. He should be here, too.”

  Jonas simply grunted at him before all went quiet again.

  ~oOo~

  The next time I became aware of my surroundings, it seemed to be darker than the last time. Time held no meaning to me.

  There was a hand still holding my own and what felt like someone laying their head on the bed beside me. The beeping was still there, loud and annoying. I didn’t seem to be in as much pain now, thank God.

  The thought of where my God could possibly be popped into my head. I was alive, so God was still here with me. But was I really safe?

  God, I hope so.

  I tried to shift my body, and pain instantly shot out from every nerve ending possible. I grunted out, not able to help myself. The person that was here with me now instantly sat up, saying my name in the process.

  “Hurts,” I cried out, clenching my eyes shut tight. My voice was weak. It was a wonder whoever was here heard me.

  “I know,” he soothed in a raspy, sleepy voice. “Don’t move too much, Vidie. Not right now.”

  I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. The pain was too much. Everything was too much.

  Chapter 44

  Avidya

  “Hey there, sunshine,” Travis said, giving me a smile as I opened my eyes. I had to blink them a number of times before anything came into focus.

  The first thing I saw was Travis as he stood up above me, looking down in concern at me. His dark hair was wild and crazy as though he had run his hands through it one too many times. His light brown eyes were shadowed by the lack of sleep.

  “Glad to see you awake,” he said, taking a seat beside me again. “The nurse should be back shortly.”

  Glancing around the room, I found it to be like any normal hospital room I’d see on TV before. White, clean, and with an attempt to make it feel like home. It was a long way from being anything like home.

  I was hooked up to an IV, the same hand that Travis took ahold of once more. My other arm was wrapped up in a sling against my chest, holding it still. The rest of me was covered by an ugly green hospital gown and white scratchy blanket.

  I was slightly afraid to see what other damage there was.

  “How long have you been here?” I asked out as I let my eyes slid closed again. It was too much work to keep them opened.

  “About a day,” he answered. “You have everyone worried.”

  “Sorry,” I mumbled out.

  “Oh, no you don’t. I’m not letting you go back to sleep yet,” Travis stated, his voice a bit harder than I was used to. It caused me to fight to open my eyes and meet his once more. “That’s better.”

  “How . . . how bad am I?” I asked out, fighting my eyes to stay open.

  “What do you remember?” he asked out instead of answering me.

  “Enough to know I never want to be in a car again,” I muttered out through a yawn. “I’ll just walk everywhere I want to go from now on.”

  “Well, walking may not be happening for another week or so,” Travis grimaced.

  I simply stared at him, waiting for him to explain to me why. It took too much work to talk too much. Thinking took too much work.

  “You got . . . shot in your leg,” he said, having to pause in the middle of his the sentence.

  “Oh,” was my brilliant response. I remembered the gun that was aimed at me, and it made sense on why my leg was pounding with each beat of my heart.

  “The bullet was lodged near the bone,” he said, his voice weakening with each word spoke.

  “Who was it?” I asked, not able to think of anything else to say. There wasn’t anything to say about it.

  “Whoever it was will be wiped out sooner or later,” Carlos said, entering the room carrying a yellow McDonalds bag with him, which was shoved into Travis’ chest as soon as Carlos was in the room. “Glad to see you awake.”

  “I’m not,” I muttered out as the pain began to increase along with the tiredness. Hadn’t I slept long enough already? Four days of sleep almost, and yet I felt like sleeping for another week.

  “I just don’t get why he didn’t kill them both. It would have been easy to do,” Travis said with a small shake of his head as he dug into the food.

  The food smelt amazing, but I had no energy to try to eat anything, let alone talk anymore as my eyes slowly slid closed. Where was that nurse with pain meds?

  “I don’t know either,” Carlos said. “But we’ll find him. I have men out looking. He won’t be hiding for long.”

  “He had a mask on,” I said with painful words.

  “I did get that off the footage I was able to dig up,” Carlos said as he moved something that was beside me. He then pushed the button that was next to me on the remote as I lazily watched what he was doing. I hadn’t even noticed it.

  “Just calling the nurse for you,” he explained with a soft smile. “Everyone will be happy that you are awake.”

  He then backed away, taking a stand at the window that was only feet away. The room was much smaller than I first thought as both men attempted to make themselves smaller and out of the way as a Hispanic nurse made her way in.

  I watched as she glared at both men before just ignoring them and focusing on me as she looked over my chart. Her black hair was pulled into a tight bun high on top her head, and her face was lined with wrinkles from the many years of hard work she no doubt put in here at this place.

  “Everything looks good,” she noted, a slightMediterranean tang to her words. “How’s your pain?”

  “She needs meds,” Travis said, not letting go of my hand.

  “I can talk,” I muttered out, but not really up to fighting to talk either way.

  “I’ll get you more pain relief. Since you are awake, I do need to check your leg. You two,” she pointed at Travis and Carlos in turn, “Need to be out.”

  “I am not going anywhere,” Travis seethed.

  “One of us will stay with her at all times,” Carlos said, pinning the nurse to her spot as he glared at her. I was glad that look wasn’t directed at me as she mentally turned to a pile of ashes.

  “Fine,” she huffed out.

  I was curious on what was going on, but my I wasn’t able to concentrate on it for too long as the pain began to become a bit more demanding with each passing second.

  “You will need to turn around, though,” the nurse stated, holding her hands on her hips as she waited.

  “I’ll step out,” Carlos stated. “He's seen it already anyhow.”

>   Seen what?

  “What?” Travis said with a shrug as the nurse now stared him down. I would have laughed seeing his frightened over a woman.

  “He’s fine,” I muttered out, wanting the pain meds sooner rather than later. The faster we could get all this over with, the better.

  “Alright,” she sighed out, knowing it was a losing battle.

  The nurse, who never did bother giving me a name, talked me through what she was doing step by step. Was she scared I was going to panic?

  She folded the blanket back over the left side of me, keeping my good leg covered. I couldn’t help but look down, seeing my entire thigh wrapped in white gauze. The rest of my leg was pale with a few bruises that were already beginning to fade. I had wondered what the rest of my body looked like. Probably about the same or worse.

  “Now, I’m gonna cut this off and replace it with a new gauze. It won’t take long. The wound will look red and ugly. The bandage has to be changed twice a day so infection doesn’t grow,” she explained as she took scissors to the white material.

  My eyes were glued to what she was doing as each snip she made. From my knee, up to almost my hip, I was covered in the material.

  Once the gauze was completely free, Travis squeezed my hand, reminding me most likely that he was still there.

  Once the patch of dark red padding that was placed on top of the wound was taken off, I wasn’t sure if I was more shocked or grossed out at the angry colors.

  A small round stitched spot, maybe as big as my thumbnail, was off to the side from the top of my leg. It wasn’t all that big, but the pain that radiated from it now with the pressure off was more than I was expecting. It was nearly black and blue a good three inches in every direction.

  “Looking good,” the nurse said, being careful as she cleaned up around the area.

  It didn’t take her all that long to wrap it back up and pushing a small button that was attached to the IV drip, instantly giving my pain medication.

  “Next time we’ll start you on oral form,” the nurse said. “And get you to eat a bit of something too. The doctor will also be in after bit to talk to you about the rehab process.”

  “Okay,” I said, fighting to keep my eyes opened as the pain medicine took over. It was a relief to not feel all the pain, but yet a bit disappointed that it made me so dang tired.

  She gave another glare at Travis, who simply ignored her.

  A thought hit me, and even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to fight the sleepy darkness, I still had to ask. “Zach?”

  “When you can stay awake longer, I’ll tell you everything,” Travis promised.

  That was enough of an answer before I let my mind fall back into the floating darkness where I’d no doubt wake up sleepy once more.

  Chapter 45

  Avidya

  Thirty-six hours after I had first woken up in the hospital bed, I was now nearly crawling out of my skin. I needed out of this room. I needed to see my husband-to-be.

  I wasn’t able to walk on my leg, and given the pain that any pressure that was put on it, I didn’t want to. Using crutches was out of the question with my broken arm, as was a shower.

  Man, I so wanted a shower.

  I was able to wash my hair, pretty good one handily if I said so myself. Jonas had been the one that had helped me dry and brush it out as Travis had been sent out to rest. Not sure what good that would have done. Travis would just go home. Maybe take a shower and change clothes, but he wouldn’t sleep.

  I didn’t want to sleep either, but the pain meds I was now on still made me tired. Not nearly as tired as the morphine, but tired enough I could easily sleep every single waking moment. That could also do to the fact that a nurse was constantly coming in to check my charts and IV.

  Today, the IV was removed, and about time. I was able to keep food down and learned how to move around somewhat with one arm and leg. Sucked I couldn’t get in and out of bed very well on my own, but at least in a few weeks, I’d be able to move around more.

  I had looked at my reflection in the mirror after going to the bathroom after my hair was washed. The tinted red in the water from my makeshift bath was enough to give me shivers. My hair was still stained red in spots from all the blood.

  A cut along my cheek was stitched with four black lines. My once bright eyes were dull and tired. Other parts of my body were also covered in bruises and cuts, but I would heal in the end. I was happy to be able to wear some real clothes that were more comfortable.

  Currently, I was wearing one of Zachariah’s shirts that buttoned up, knowing I couldn’t have gotten my arm cast into anything else too well. I also wore a pair of his boxer shorts so I could have some dignity while my leg was wrapped. It was better than wearing the hospital gown. Anything was almost better than that. It wasn’t like I was trying to impress anyone.

  “Ready for that walk?” Jonas asked out as he readied the wheelchair for me. He seemed way to happy, but I guess he’d been stuck in the same room as I had for the most part.

  Travis, Jonas and Carlos, and I guess in turn Kent, refused to leave my room without someone else there to keep watch over me. The car accident was staged, and so was the gunshot wound. The men weren’t sure why the shooter didn’t just kill us completely off, and there were no leads yet. But because neither Zachariah or I were killed, they were sure that someone would try to come finish the job. They took turns staying in my hospital room and Zachariah’s room.

  I had waited way too long to see him, but it wasn’t like he’d really realize it.

  Zachariah has been shot not once, but twice, along with getting a piece of glass stuck in his head. He had to have surgery due to a concussion, and he was still in an induced coma until the swelling went down on his brain.

  He certainly had it worse off. He’d live, but if there was brain damage wasn’t yet known. Travis and Jonas were both positive that he’d had much worse and survived, and he’d be the same after he healed.

  It did nothing for my own worry. Would he really be okay? How did he get hurt more than me when we were in the same car?

  Once I was as comfortable in the wheelchair as I possibly could be with a soft fleece blanket over my legs, Travis began to push me towards the ICU unit. I couldn’t help but fiddle with the edge of the blanket as I was pushed through the halls.

  It didn’t take too long to get to Zachariah’s room, as it was one of the first rooms in this part of the hospital. Julia sat there in the chair beside him, reading a book. She looked up when she heard us coming and was quick to come to my side and bend down to give me a gentle hug.

  Jonas nodded to both of the guards that were stationed at the nurse’s desk. The one guard that had been by my hospital room had been released at the same time.

  Julia had been staying with Zachariah most of the entire time he’d been here, which was what any mother would have done. Apparently, she’d asked Travis and Carlos hourly on how I was doing.

  “How are you?” she asked, her eyes a bit glossy as she looked me over with a frown.

  “Better now that I get to be let go,” I tried to joke.

  “You’re being released?” she said surprised.

  “About time,” I muttered out. “Yeah. I can move around on my own as much as I need. Sorta. Have to have a babysitter.”

  “Hey, am not a sitter,” Travis said quietly as not to disturb the other patients.

  “That’s good,” Julia stated with a small real smile.

  She looked tired, but we all did.

  “I’ll let you see him for a bit. I’ll head on home to clean up and be back around dinner time,” she said, looking between all of us.

  After she gathered up her book and purse, she gave me another hug before leaving us be. Jonas pushed me up right next to Zachariah’s bed, and I didn’t hesitate as I took his hand in my own.

  His head was wrapped in white gauze, a part of his hair shaved off from one side of his head. Even though he was sleeping, and would be for who k
nows how long, he looked tired.

  “Where was he shot at?” I asked, knowing that one of my followers would answer.

  “Right side of his chest, and one in the same arm,” Jonas answered for me. “The bullets didn’t go near as deep as yours.”

  “He was on my side when he shot,” I stated, not taking my eyes off of Zachariah.

  “Figured as much,” Jonas said. “I’ll stand out here. Let me know when you’re ready to head home.”