Cage's Misconduct (NHL Scorpions #3) (16 page)

“Huh?” If it was possible, I felt even worse than the last time I woke up.

“I’m sorry to bother you, Mr. Booker, but we have a bit of a situation. The passenger in the car with you won’t stop asking for you. We’re afraid she’s going to hurt herself and she needs to lie still. Do you think you feel up to letting her see that you’re okay?”

That helped me come to full attention. “Yes, of course!” I tried to swing out of bed, but the damn tubes were still sticking out of me. In my true form, always lacking for patience, I grabbed the needle in my hand and pulled it out. “I don’t need this thing.”

To her credit, the nurse just shook her head, put a bandage on the entry wound, and handed me a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt that were obviously Jody’s, judging from their size. “I could have done that a little easier and with less blood, Mr. Booker.”

“Sorry. Give me one minute
,
please. I have to use the bathroom, and then
I’ll get dressed.”

“Sure. I’ll be right at the nurse’s desk. Try not to pass out in there. You’re weaker than you think you are.”

She was right about that. As soon as I stood up I experienced a vicious wave of nausea. The doorway to the bathroom was only a couple of feet in front of me, so I made a lunge for it and held on to the frame until the nausea mostly passed. I’d had concussions before, but I think I’d forgotten how miserable they were, and this one was a doozy. It took me longer than I would have liked to get dressed, but eventually I made my way out to the nurse’s station, and then on to Karen’s room.

I wasn’t ready for the sight that greeted me. Who would be? The cheerful girl I cared about was gone. In her place was a mass covered in bruises, bandages, gauze wrap and tubes. I felt the now all-too-familiar burning in my eyes again, but I pushed it back. It was damn near impossible, but I did it. I had to swallow twice before I could speak.

Visiting hours were long over, so the chair next to the bed was vacant. I took a seat, and as gently as possible ran my index finger over the back of her left hand. It was just about the only part of her that wasn’t covered with something. “Karen?” I whispered.

Her face was partially turned away from me and when she swiveled it to look my way, my breath caught in my chest. There was what looked like hundreds of tiny stitches making a zigzag pattern all the way down the right side of her beautiful face. They started at her hairline and ended at her chin.

“Cage. Thank God you’re okay. Stay with me?” Her voice was faint, and I had to lean over to catch her words.

I did my best to smile at her through the anguish of seeing her so battered. “Of course I will. Go back to sleep now.” Her eyes closed, but the frown never left her forehead. No matter how much pain medication they’d given her, it didn’t seem to be enough.

I gingerly sat back in the chair while she slept. My ribs were screaming and my head was pounding as I too tried to sleep. Sometime later, while it was still dark, another nurse woke me. “Mr. Booker? Let me take you back to your room now.”

“Huh?” I sat up slowly in the chair from my reclined position. God, my back was as sore as the rest of me. “I can’t leave. Karen asked me to stay.” We kept our voices at a whisper which made it hard for the nurse to argue with me.

She sighed and pulled a white cup out of her pocket. “I figured you’d say that. Here’s another pain pill for you.” She put the round white pill in my hand and stepped away to get me a cup of water.

I handed it back to her. “No, thanks. I hate these things. I wouldn’t say no to a couple of Advil, though.”

“Are you sure? I know you’re hurting.”

“I’m sure. Just some Advil, please.”

Shortly after she left, she was back again. After I took my pills, she dragged a stool in from another room. “Here you go. Now you can at least put your feet up.” She also handed me a pillow and covered me with a blanket before she walked out again.

“Thanks.”

***

A slight pressure on my fingers woke me up once again. I could see sunlight coming through the slats in the blinds as my eyes cracked open. We’d made it through our first night after that god-awful accident.

“Everything hurts.” Karen’s hand left mine and went gingerly up to her face. I grabbed her wrist before she could touch her bandages.

“I know. You have some stitches in your face. Don’t touch them.”

“Oh, God. Everything hurts so bad.”

“I’ll go get the nurse.”

Karen’s hand shot out to stop me. It bothered me how very weak her grip was. Her injuries were the worst I’d ever seen on anyone. I could have lived a lifetime without seeing someone so damaged. Especially her. “Wait.”

I sat back down and waited for her to talk again.

“Can I have a sip of water? Just a sip.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

There was a small cup of water sitting on the tray table on her other side with a straw in it, so I assumed it was okay for her to have some. “Sure. Just a sip, though.” I let her take two small sips before I placed the cup back on the table.

“Cage, what happened?”

“You don’t remember?”

“I remember some of it. I remember that truck running the red light, and I’ll never forget the look on your face, but that’s about it.”

I didn’t want to be the one to tell her she’d lost her ability to have a baby. How could I tell that to this wonderful woman? She would have made an incredible mother.

I gripped my hands together, not knowing quite what to do with them. Finally, I put them behind my back to keep my arms from touching my aching ribs and paced in front of the bed. “Well, the truck pretty much got stuck in your lap. You have some stitches running from your head to your chin, and they had to do some surgery to save you. You had a lot of internal bleeding.”

“What kind?”

“What kind?” I knew what she was asking and was stalling for time. That kind of news should come from a family member, or her doctor at the very least.

“What kind of surgery?”

“Let me go get the nurse, Karen. She can get a hold of your doctor and he can come talk to you.”

She tried to sit up, but was unable to. I rushed to her side to stop her, but it was too late. “No, stop! I don’t know if you’re supposed to sit up yet.”

All traces of sleep were gone, and she went back down flat on her back with a gasp. “Cage, what’s going on? I feel like I was cut wide open.”

I thought about not telling her. Or making something up, but I couldn’t do that. How could I do that? She was an adult and she certainly deserved to know what had happened to her body. “Cage. Just rip off the Band-Aid. Tell me.”

“Well, like I said, the truck crushed your midsection. Believe it or not, you don’t have any broken bones, but there was a lot of internal damage. You have torn abdominal muscles that will take a while to heal. The worst of it was from you hemorrhaging from a tear in your uterine wall or something. They had to do a total hysterectomy. I’m so sorry.” I reached for her hand.

And then she did the strangest thing. Her lips curled up, if only for a moment. “A hysterectomy. So I’m not paralyzed or anything like that?” She wiggled her toes and then tried to move her legs. “Ah, God. That’s why I hurt so much. I
was
cut open.”

“So, you’re okay with that?”

Her smile vanished and she shook her head as tears pooled in her eyes. “No. I’m happy not to be paralyzed though, and I’m happy to be alive.” She took a deep breath and gripped my hand harder. “Shit.” And then she cried with me stroking her hand. I wanted to pull her into my arms, but I couldn’t, of course.

“I’m so sorry, but I’m so glad you’re still here.” I didn’t know what else to say, so I just sat there and let her cry until she fell back into an exhausted, pain-filled sleep.

She was in the hospital for another couple of days before getting the word that she could be discharged. And then the fighting ensued.

“She’ll come home with us.” Jody and I were standing just outside of Karen’s room
discussing
the best rehab location for her.

“You have a new baby to take care of. I have nothing to do. You know my playoff run is over. I’m out for the rest of the season. I can give her one hundred percent of my attention. Plus, you have double the amount of stairs I have and you know she’s not supposed to use them if it can be helped.” I knew I had a winning argument. And I’d think about my playoff run being over later. I couldn’t even go there. Fuck.

“We just have to get her up the stairs once. My mother will be here in about a week and can take care of her then. I told her Lacey and I can manage just fine until then!”

“So you’re just going to leave her in her room until she’s able to move around better? That’s a great idea, Jody. She won’t go crazy at all.” I can’t imagine being forced to stare at four walls for weeks on end. She’d be much better off at my house where there were only four stairs to climb in order to get to the bathroom and bedroom. It was stupid to argue about it at all.

Jody’s voice was getting louder, but then mine was too, no doubt. “If I remember correctly, you only have one bedroom, is that right?”

“So what—you think I’m going to jump her while she’s too weak to fight me off, Jody? I know you don’t like me, but do you really think I’d ever do anything to hurt her? I have a couch. I’ll be fine there.”

Jody wasn’t backing down. As a matter of fact, he crossed his arms and took a deep breath, ready to go another round. “Look, Booker—”

“Guys? Do I get a say?”

I guess we weren’t being quiet enough after all. “No!” Our voices were even louder speaking at the same time. But hell, at least we agreed on something. Her chuckle was followed by a groan, getting both of our attentions.

“Are you okay?” I got to her first. “What hurts?” She was holding it together pretty well after her initial bout of grief about the surgery. She wasn’t over it by any stretch of the imagination, but she was a trooper and said she was determined not to let her mind linger on things that couldn’t be changed.

“Everything. Everything hurts, but laughing especially. Please don’t make me do that.” She looked up at me and tried to smile, but it ended up as more of a grimace.

“I can take care of myself if Jody and Lacey can just get me set up. My place is more like yours with just a few steps. I’ll be fine there.” Her eyes then focused on Jody. “And I can’t believe you told Mom to come out here! She’s supposed to be enjoying her alone time with Samuel.” She pulled the pillow she’d been holding closer to her in an effort to quiet the pain she’d caused herself by getting upset and talking too animatedly.

I felt responsible for that pain, too. I wished I could take it all away from her. “Okay, Karen. Just relax. Don’t worry about this. If you want to go to your place, then that’s where we’ll take you. I’ll just stay there with you.” There was no way I was going to leave her alone and helpless. What if someone tried to break in or the house caught on fire? Nope. Wasn’t going to happen. She was not staying by herself until she was healed.

“Are you nuts? We’re not taking her back to her place.” Karen had given up on the argument and slowly rolled over onto her side where she seemed to get the most comfort, holding onto her pillow like a floatation device.

“Just get me out of here, okay?”

Jody gently patted her hip. “Sure. I’ll go get the nurse to discharge you.”

I followed Jody out into the hall. “Hey. I already took a bunch of Karen’s clothes over to my place. And her girly books and stuff,too.”

“How the hell did you get into her place?”

Okay. This might sound a bit crazy. The day after I got out of the hospital, I rode over to her house. Making sure no one was around, I jimmied the living room window up. Funny thing was I thought I was golden after that, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t get the screen to budge, so I had to cut it. Then I had to go to the hardware store, buy a screen repair kit and redo the whole thing. Lucky for me I was quite the handyman. But was I going to tell big brother that? Hell no. “I took her keys.” In hindsight, that would have been much easier.

He finally gave in, although his voice was hoarse with frustration. “Fine. She’ll stay with you, but I’ll be checking on her around the clock.”

“I would expect no less.” I had to say, I felt like
the man
having won that battle against Jody. He wouldn’t have backed down if he didn’t know I could take care of his sister. Maybe he didn’t dislike me as much as I originally thought. Or he trusted me a little anyway. I’d take it.

Karen

Leaving the hospital was a relief, even though the journey to Cage’s house was a painful one. Never in my life could I have imagined having so much pain simply from trying to walk. The physical pain I had suffered at Freddy’s hands didn’t even come close to comparing to the pain from the hysterectomy and the other torn abdominal muscles. It affected every movement I made. There was simply no way to get comfortable. Thank God for Cage’s recliner. It was as close as I could come to getting even a bit of temporary relief.

He set me up with my iPad, books, glass of water, a couple of KitKats (I’m pretty sure Cage thought they could cure world hunger) and his TV remote before he ran to the grocery store. It was the first time I was actually hungry in days, and Cage was only too happy to feed me.

“Anything you want. I’m a good cook. What’ll it be?”

“A hamburger. I’d love a hamburger.” I knew I’d really have to watch what I ate until I could exercise again, but I just wanted a burger.

“How about a cowboy burger with sautéed onions, bacon, my home-made barbeque sauce and cheddar cheese?”

My stomach growled, giving him the answer. “That sounds heavenly. Could you grab me some Diet Pepsi too, please?”

“You got it.” He couldn’t quite hide his own discomfort as he bent to kiss me on the forehead before he left. His ribs were going to take a while to heal.

Aside from using the bathroom, it was the first time I’d been left alone since waking up after surgery. So, as any logical woman would do, I opened up my iPad, went into iTunes and played
Yesterday
by The Beatles. I followed that up with a little
In The Arms of an Angel
by Sarah McLachlan.