“No. You didn’t tell me? I have a key. Uh…I have a room.” He did. Beckett started searching his pockets. “Oh. That’s not a key, that’s…that’s Skyler’s ring.” He sighed. “Oh. Key. Here.” He handed it to Parker.
“Key. Glad you got the ring. You can give it back.” Parker only dropped the card twice before muscling them both in.
“There are…oh, here.” He handed Parker a can of Pringles. “Pringles. I’m addicted. I have to pee.”
“Uhn. Pringles. You rock. I love the pizza flavored ones. Don’t fall in.”
“I’m too big to fall in.” He laughed. “Much too big. Very, very big.” Jesus, he had to pee; it felt better than sex. Or he thought so, it had been a long time since he’d had sex.
Damn, he was a depressing son of a bitch drunk.
“I’m totally not going to be depressed,” he said in his own defense as he left the bathroom.
Parker was barefoot, shirt off. “Good. Depressed sucks. It’s like falling off a lot.”
“You look too skinny.” It was a bull rider thing. Sky did it too. He followed Parker’s lead and tugged his shirt off, then sat on the edge of the bed to take off his shoes.
“You got to stay lean. Sky’s tinier than ever. Can you tell?” Parker handed him the Pringles can and helped him with his shoes.
Oh, awesome. Bending over would be bad. Spinny. “I don’t know, he does look tiny in that bed.” So tiny. He ate a handful of Pringles and flopped over backward.
“Uh-huh. Teeny.” Parker leaned against his legs. “Lord have mercy.”
“Don’ fall ’sleep on the floor, Park. You’re tolly safe. ’M a married man. Bed’s big. Chair rolls out too. I’m gon’ sleep.” God, he was drunk. A little voice tried to remind him to drink some water, take some Advil…but his whole body was made of lead.
“’Kay.” Parker crawled up next to him and sighed. “Night, Mister Sky’s man. Don’t forget the demon kitty.”
“Mhm. Night. Don’ wan’ cat.”
Asshole.
4
Turn up the lights. Sky frowned when he didn’t manage to hear himself.Turn up the lights.
Yeah. Okay. Okay, he knew thebeepsandboops. He knew them.
Turn up the motherfucking lights!
Oh, that sped the beeping up. That would get some asshole’s attention.
“Doc?”
Doc. Good.
“That means he’s waking up.”
“So it’s good?”
“I believe it is.” He heard shuffling feet as Doc’s voice came closer. “Sky. Son, take it easy.”
Easy. Right. Turn the fucking lights on. I feel like I deep-throated a longhorn. Twice.
“Listen carefully and stay calm, or they might decide to sedate you again. You’re in the hospital in Baltimore. You made the buzzer and you won, son. Maybe you remember. But you got caught up under that bull right after, and you’ve got some healing to do. You’re in the ICU.”
“Can he understand all of that?”
“What did I tell you, Beck? He can.”