Smolder (16 page)

I
sat the rest of the night in the chair next to her, holding her hand and I
never left her side. The doctor said that there was a good chance she would
make it through this but until she opened those eyes of hers, I wasn’t going
anywhere.

Forty-eight
hours later, Sadie’s condition was still the same. Earlier in the day her
doctor had ordered her to be taken out of her medically induced coma but she
still hadn’t woken up and I was beginning to freak out. Logically I knew that
it would take time for that to happen but the longer it took the more terrified
I was.

At
that point the only ones that had been in to visit Sadie were Everleigh, Danni,
Jessie, Kris, and Ryder. None of the Eternal Down guys tried to come back to
her room (especially not Jagger even though he was chomping at the bit to get
into her room) but kept a steady presence in the waiting area, waiting to hear
any news. Beau was being the most difficult when it came to visitation. I knew
that he was her brother and had every right to come in and see her but he was
refusing to come in if I was there. There was no way in hell I was leaving her
alone knowing that she could wake up at any moment and I might miss it.
Everyone tried to reason with him but he was being stubborn…this was obviously
a family trait.

It
was close to ten o’clock at night and I was about to doze off in my chair when
I heard a faint knocking at the door. I opened my eyes and turned my head to
find Danni standing there holding a brown take-out bag and wearing a weak smile
on her pretty face.

“Hey
Jude,” she said and I lifted the corner of my mouth in a defeated smile.

“Don’t
make it bad,” I sang back to her.

She
grinned and we both sang in unison, “
Take a sad song and make it better
.”

She
smiled a little wider and shifted her feet around. “Is it okay that I’m here? I
know it’s late,” she stated.

“Of
course it’s okay, come on in,” I replied. “Is he with you?” I asked, peering
behind her and looking for Beau.

She
shook her head sadly and answered, “No, he’s home with Harlowe. Ev and Ryder
offered to let her and Max have a sleep over tonight so he could come but you
know him, stubborn as a damn mule.” She walked across the room and pulled a
chair closer to where I was sitting. Before she took a seat she moved a little
end table close to me and started pulling different kinds of food out of the
bag. “I figured you hadn’t eaten much since Ev brought you breakfast this
morning so I took a chance.”

She
sat in the chair and I watched as she began to unwrap a burger. “Danni, I’m
really not hungry.”

Frowning,
she continued to unwrap the sandwich and replied, “Jude, you need to eat
something. Sadie could wake up at any time and you’re going to need your
strength when she starts asking questions and finds out that you spilled the
beans.”

“I
said I’m fine, Danni. I don’t want anything but thank you anyway,” I replied as
I saw the disappointed look on her face.

Sighing
in defeat, she placed the sandwich on top of the wrapper and sat back in her chair.
“Well, it’s there when you’re hungry, I guess. So, did the doctors say how long
it might take for her to wake up?”

I
shook my head and answered, “Not really. They said each patient is different
and it could be any time. I’m just going crazy. This waiting bullshit is
driving me fucking insane.”

Danni
placed her hand on my forearm comfortingly and said, “She’ll wake up, Jude,
just be patient and have faith.”

We
sat in silence together for several minutes before I asked, “So, how is he
really doing with all this?” I didn’t know why I asked but as hurt as I was, I
knew that he was hurting too. He might be acting like a dick but he was still
my brother and I cared about him.

Danni
frowned and replied, “He’s not good, Jude. He’s terrified for his sister and rightly
so but I really think he’s being an asshole about this. We’ve actually been
fighting pretty hard core.”

“Aw
hell Danni, I’m sorry,” I apologized, truly feeling bad for her. “I didn’t mean
for all of this to hurt everyone as bad as it has. I just love her so much
and…”

“It’s
not you, Jude. Yes, it was a huge shock to know you and Sadie got married but
that’s not what we’re fighting about. If, God forbid, something happens to her
Beau is going to regret not being able to see her just because he’s mad at
you,” she said and I saw a tear glide down her cheek. “I hate this so much.”

I
hung my head and was about to apologize again but before I could I heard
Sadie’s cardiac monitor start to beep a bit faster and a weak voice croaked
out, “Trust me, you’d hate a massive fucking headache even more.”

My
head shot up and my eyes locked on Sadie’s weary-yet-breathtaking brown eyes. In
that moment the weight of the world was lifted off of me.

Danni
gasped as I flew out of my chair and moved close to her. Taking her face gently
into my hands, I exclaimed, “Sadie? You’re awake, thank God,” and kissed her
lips.

“I’m
so thirsty,” she muttered, her voice filled with gravel.

Danni
stood up and stated excitedly, “I’ll get a nurse to bring you some water,” and
ran toward the door. She was pulling out her cell phone as she left the room
and stated excitedly, “I’m going to call everyone!”

“What
happened?” Sadie asked me as she tried to sit up.

“Baby,
don’t move yet, okay? Let’s just wait and see what the doctor says first,” I
softly said, smiling like an idiot at how happy I was to talk to her. I
honestly didn’t know if I’d ever hear her voice again.

“Fine,
I’ll sit tight, but at least tell me what happened. The last thing I remember
is you and Jagger arguing before everything went black,” she said weakly.

Smiling
at my stubborn, beautiful wife I replied, “Later, okay? I want the doctor to
check you out and then we can talk.”

Sadie
frowned frustratingly at me and groaned, “Jude…”

I
shook my head and kissed her lips. They were a little dry but I didn’t care;
they were still the sweetest lips I’d ever kissed in my life. “God it’s good to
see those beautiful eyes of yours staring at me, princess.”

“Well
I’m about to roll them at you because you are pissing me off,” Sadie said just
as Danni came rushing back in with a doctor and two nurses.

“Welcome
back Mrs. Miller,” the doctor greeted. Sadie’s eyes went wide at the mention of
her last name as she looked from me to Danni and then back to me. “Looks like
you took quite a tumble. How are you feeling?”

“I
don’t know,” she replied, her voice laced with irritation.

“How’s
your pain on a scale of one to ten?”

Sadie
narrowed her eyes at me and answered, “About a seven but I’m sure there’s
someone in this room that will be feeling a ten
really
soon.”

I
knew that I should’ve been worried but at that moment I didn’t care. My
beautiful, tough-as-nails wife was awake and threatening me and I was pretty
sure that there wasn’t a mother fucker alive that was happier than I was.

The
doctor started examining her right away and even though I wanted to stay in the
room, he insisted that I wait outside with Danni so he could examine Sadie. He
probably didn’t want me hovering over him and I can’t say that I blamed him. I
could imagine it would be hard to do my job when I had a dude as scary looking
as me hovering close by.

Once
we were in the hall, Danni hugged me tight and said, “I’m so happy that she’s
awake. We really needed some good news.”

“Did
you call him?” I asked her and she nodded her head as she wiped away a few
stray tears that slid down her cheeks.

“Yeah,
he’s dropping Harlowe off at Ryder and Ev’s house and he’ll be here,” she said,
hopefulness in her voice.

“What
about everyone else?”

“When
I called Shona, she said she was going to pick up Kallum at Jessie and Kris’
place before going over to Ryder’s house to watch all the kids. Everyone’s on
their way here.”

“Good.
She’s going to want to see her family,” I replied.

“And
she’s going to need them when she finds out everyone knows that you two are
married,” Danni stated.

I
hung my head for a moment but was still smiling when I answered, “I know,
Danni. I also know she’s going to be furious at me for God knows how long but
you know what? I’m so fucking happy that she’s awake that I don’t care.”

Danni
wrapped an arm around my waist and I hugged her into my side.

“Well
I’m happy if you’re happy. I know it’s not going to be easy but there’s a lot
of healing that needs to happen all the way around…with
everyone
,” she
said, giving me a stern look. “You and Beau need to make peace with all of this
and we both know how stubborn he is, especially right now. You’ve got to be the
bigger man.”

“I
am, always have been,” teasing her and even though I could tell she wanted to
smile her face was still stern.

“I’m
serious here, Jude. For the band, for the family, for your wife, for
your
friendship
, you’ve got to fix this.”

“I
will, Danni. I’ll make it right,” I promised and she eased.

“Good,”
she breathed, sighing in relief. “I really hope so.”

The
door to Sadie’s room opened and the doctor stepped out and told us we could
come back in. I immediately walked back inside and went to her bedside. She was
shooting daggers at me with her eyes and had her hands balled into fists. I was
going to answer all of her questions but first, I had to know what the doctor
said.

“Hey,
doc, how’s she doing?” I asked him as I placed my hand on Sadie’s. I thought
she might pull away from me but she flipped her hand over and laced her fingers
with mine. I tried to ignore the fact that she was gripping me so tight that I
thought her fingernails might break through the skin of my hand.

“All
of her vitals are normal and everything looks great. At this point I’m very
optimistic,” he replied.

I
let out a sigh of relief and leaned in to kiss her forehead. Judging by the
evil death glare she was shooting at me I didn’t dare try to kiss her lips just
yet.

“Thank
you so much, doctor,” I said, reaching out and shaking his hand. “Thanks for
taking care of my wife.”

“You’re
welcome, Mr. Miller. I want to keep her here another twenty four hours for
observation and if everything still looks good after that, she can go home.”

“Thank
you,” Sadie said. “I don’t mean to be rude but I’d like to have a minute alone
with my husband.” The doctor nodded at her and followed Danni out of the room,
who mentioned that she was going to check and see how close Beau was to the
hospital.

Once
we were alone, Sadie turned her beautiful eyes to me and demanded, “Spit it out
Jude. Now.”

“Sadie…”

“No,
you need to tell me right now why Danni knows that we’re married and didn’t
even bat an eyelash. Tell me what happened, Jude,” she insisted.

I
let go of her hand and pulled a chair close to her bed. Sighing, I leaned close
to her and started telling her what happened.

“Well,
right after you fell and blacked out, you were rushed here to the hospital and
immediately brought back. While I was in the waiting room waiting for any news
and trying not to tear the walls down, everyone showed up and Beau and I got
into an argument. He blamed me for what happened to you along with Danni and
Harlowe coming close to dying and-”

“Wait
a second…” she interrupted, but I cut her off.

“But
Danni jumped in and ripped him a new asshole. As if that wasn’t bad enough, all
hell broke loose when the doctor came out and gave us an update on your
condition. He told us that only immediate family was able to come back and when
Beau insisted on seeing you first, I had to tell him he wasn’t technically your
immediate family anymore. I didn’t want to miss you waking up or risk him
stressing you out if you did so I had no choice but to tell everyone we were
married.”

“Oh
no,” she whispered softly, her eyes glistening with tears.

“Yeah,
as you can imagine it didn’t go well. I took a nice right hook to the mouth
from Beau before he ordered me to stay away from you.”

“Jesus
Christ,” she exclaimed as she ran a hand through her hair.

“Yeah,
then he said if I didn’t give you up then I was out of the band. I told
everyone that I was sorry that we let them down but that I’d always choose you
no matter what. I haven’t really talked to anyone other than Danni, Ev, and
Jess since it all went down. I don’t know if I’m actually out of the band or
not at this point.”

“Shit!”
she snapped and then winced in pain, placing a hand to her head.

“Sadie,
baby, calm down,” I ordered softly, trying to get her to relax.

“
Calm
down?
Jude, this is a nightmare! My whole family is falling apart,” she
said, tears pouring down her cheeks. “I should have listened to you and told
everyone sooner. Keeping this secret has destroyed everything. This is all my
fault.”