Doc was right, though. Beckett had seen Sky set his jaw and hold on to a bull that made eight seconds seem like eighty. And Sky had worked through dozens of nasty injuries. If anyone had it in them to figure this shit out, it would be Sky.
“Thanks, Doc.”
“He knows you’re here. He can hear you.” Doc looked him right square in the eye. “If you need to tell him good-bye, that’s your option, but I’m not telling him he can go. Not yet.”
He searched Doc’s eyes for…something. An answer. The right answer. “He trusts you. If you’re not, I’m not.”
Doc nodded and suddenly he saw how exhausted the doctor was, how much this hurt. “He can hear you. Folks might tell you he can’t—that’s a lie.”
When he was still watching Skyler ride, Doc’s opinion had mattered. There was no reason that should change now. He gave Doc’s shoulder a squeeze. “Okay, Doc. I’m going to stay with him. You look like you could use some sleep.”
“Yeah. I’ll be back in a few hours to speak with his case manager and figure out what our plan of care is.” Doc sighed, then reached out and shook his hand. “Glad to see you here, sir. Oh. Oh, here.” The old man handed him an envelope. “They took this off Skyler before the swelling got too bad.”
He took the envelope but didn’t open it. He could feel what was inside and he wasn’t ready. “Get some rest, Doc. I’ll make sure someone calls you if you need to come back sooner.”
“Good night.” Doc went to Skyler, put one hand on him. “Please Lord, protect this man through the night, and if you have to take him, keep him close.”
Then, like a ghost, Doc was gone, leaving him alone with Sky.
Beckett puffed out a breath and looked at the envelope in his hand. He tore it open and pulled out Skyler’s wedding ring, holding it in his palm, trying to understand why Sky still had the damn thing on after all this time. When he started second-guessing his own decision to take his off, he stuffed Sky’s into his pocket. All that was useless right now. Useless to him, and even more useless to Sky.
He stepped close to the side of Sky’s bed and curled his hand around the two fingers that weren’t bandaged up. He had to say something. He’d promised Doc, and Sky needed to know he wasn’t alone.
“I’m here, Skyler. Doc swears you can hear me. It’s Beck, in case—I mean, it’s been a while and my voice is kind of shot so”—he snorted—“yeah, I know. That’s stupid, you know it’s me.”
He swallowed and looked Sky over. “You’re in pretty bad shape. They have you drugged into a coma, so you can’t answer even if you want to. It’s okay.”
Beck swore that Sky’s fingers moved. Just a little. It was probably a twitch, but…they moved. He gave them a gentle squeeze.
“Doc thinks you can do this, Sky. So whatever you do, don’t give up. He knows a thing or two, right? Rest and heal. I’m going to stay right here.”
For better or worse.They’d both said it. If he’d wanted to break that promise, he should have stayed in Vermont. Whatever happened next, he couldn’t walk away now; he was in with both feet.
3
“Dude. Dude, are you going to let me see him? How the fuck is he?” Parker looked like he’d been on a week-long bender, which gave Beck a fierce sort of pleasure.
He’d be better if he hadn’t ridden that bull.Beckett ignored Parker and kept walking, knocking into Parker’s shoulder accidentally on purpose.
“Fucking bitch.” Parker followed him like a frigging dog. “I want to see him, dammit. I’ve been his best friend for years. I care!”
“You did the right thing calling me, Parker.” It had only been two days, and Parker was grating on his last nerve. Beckett went and got a gown and cleaned up without looking back. He didn’t have the energy to argue. The possibility that the guy had been fucking his husband was only one of a laundry list of reasons why he had no use for the kid.
He ignored Parker calling after him and went into Sky’s room, not really surprised to find Doc there.
“Hey.” He shook with Doc. “What’s new?”
“Looks like the internal bleeding is better. They’re going in to set his hip and femur in the morning before they have to rebreak them.” Doc gave him a bittersweet look. “I don’t think he’ll ride again, friend, even at my most optimistic.”
He knew Sky would probably be heartbroken, but he wasn’t too upset about that. He hadn’t wanted Sky to be riding anymore anyway. He nodded to Doc, not knowing what he could say about it that would be honest without sounding cold.
“I wish I could see…him. You know? His face. His color.”
“Okay.” He stood there, shocked as hell, as Doc walked over and pulled up gauze, just like he had the right to. The right side of Sky’s face was recognizable, familiar, but the left? That wasn’t his husband. That was a pile of meat.
“Jesus, Doc. Put it back.”
He paced a couple of steps away and then came close again. He supposed it was good to be shocked; it shouldn’t be easy to see, but he hadn’t imagined it…quite like that.