“ICU. You really worried us for a little while, but I’m pleased with your progress. Do you remember what happened at all?”
I started to shake my head, then changed my mind. “No. Just that I threw up a lot, and I’m not at work anymore.”
“You haven’t noticed the bruises all over your body and the lump on the side of your head.”
I touched my fingertips to my temple and winced. Now my pounding headache made sense. “Did I hit my head?”
“Among other things. There was a carbon monoxide leak where you were working. Your colleague noticed you didn’t come home and returned to find you. By then, the leak was quite profound and you were unconscious. He pulled you out, and very grateful we are too, or you wouldn’t be here. Your friend saved your life.”
“Is he okay? Have you seen him?”
“No. I didn’t need to. As far as I’m aware, he was treated in A&E before they discharged him.”
It was the same information the nurse had given me, but it still wouldn’t sink in. The gaps in my memory were obscene. The last thing I remembered was Billy storming out of the cottage. How could it be that I’d missed everything in between?
The doctor asked me more questions about how I was feeling, then instructed me to keep breathing the oxygen and sleep as much as I could. The only two things I was apparently capable of, as I didn’t stay awake long enough to hear him leave.
The next time I woke up, Mia was curled up in the brown leather chair. Her hair was a riot, and I mumbled out a laugh that made her shoulder sag with obvious relief. “Fucking hell, Gus. Do you think we could have six months without one of you boys ending up in this place?”
“Nice to see you too.”
“Shut up. If you weren’t so banged up already I’d kill you myself.”
Her spiky edges were as comforting as a hug. And I felt a million times better than I had when I’d last opened my eyes.
I sat up cautiously and held out my hand.
She took it and dug her nails into my palm. “You lucky bastard. You’d be dead if it wasn’t for Billy. You know that, right?”
“Yeah. The nurse told me, and the doctor. What happened? I don’t remember—” I broke off with a cough.
Mia brought a glass of tepid water to my lips and helped me drink.
It stayed down. For the first time in however long it had been, my stomach didn’t rebel. I drank some more, then lay back on the bed.
Mia rubbed my arm. “Are you okay?”
“No. I’m a mess.”
“You nearly died, brother.”
“I don’t just mean that.”
“I know.”
“You do?”
“I’m guessing, seeing as Billy is a mess too. Things really got on top of you two, didn’t they?”
“I think so. My head’s too fuzzy for me to explain it.”
“You don’t need to explain it. At least not to me. And definitely not the details. I don’t need a visual of what you and Billy have been doing to each other.”
Neither did I right then, but even a carbon monoxide hangover couldn’t stop the rush of warmth that filled my chest when I thought of Billy. It was as though I’d flipped a switch and erased the angsty week we’d just lived through, and we were still riding the magical nights we’d spent in my bed. “I need to see him.”
“I know. But he needed to sleep, and eat. He was sick all night too.”
“How bad?”