The thick charm and sob story worked its magic on the kind nurse. She gave me the room number the Jane Doe had been takento.
After wandering the halls and getting turned upside down more times than I could count, I finally found my destination. I stood outside the woman’s room, staring through the window as she lay in her hospital bed, still unconscious. She was mostly covered by a white blanket, but what was exposed of her body was bruised, scraped, and swollen. I didn’t know what to do. Standing there like a damn fool, I felt helpless. The desire to sit by her side and hold her hand was overwhelming, but the fear of freaking her out when she came to kept my feet rooted in the narrowhallway.
“How’s she holdin’ up?” Jaxon had finally found me. I turned slowly on the heels of my boots to look at him as he made his way to my side. The bags under his dim eyes were turning purple fromexhaustion.
“I don’t really know,” I admitted, following him to a row of gray plastic seats just a few feetaway.
“You gonna hang out here until she wakes up?” he asked, probably already knowing theanswer.
I ran my fingers through the long bristles on my chin and neck. “It just don’t seem right leavin’ her here all alone to wake up in a bed hooked up to machines. That ain’t fair toher.”
Jaxon nodded, leaning back farther into his seat. “You know she’s gonna be freaked when a burly ass biker strides into her room claiming to be her knight in shining armor, don’tya?”
Leave it to Jaxon to not sugarcoat his feelings about the situation in the slightest. “It’s better than the alternative.” I looked over at my number two as he narrowed his gaze atme.
“And what’s that?” Hequestioned.
“Walkin’ away.” I let my head fall back onto the coolwall.
Jaxon shoved up from his chair. “This isn’t gonna bring Abel back. You do know that,right?”
His sharp words cut through me. “I know,” I muttered. “It ain’t just about that. It’s about doin’ the rightthing.”
“For her or foryou?”
I ignored his questioncompletely.
“Coffee?” he asked, already walkingaway.
“As long as you make it Irish with that flask I know you got hiding in your cut,” Ireplied.
He glanced over his shoulder before turning the corner to head toward the cafeteria. “Aye,brother.”
* * *
Jaxonand I must have dozed off for a few hours because I was startled awake by the blaring of an alarm a few rooms down from where we had parked ourselves the night before. Nurses and doctors rushed past, flying into the room to save thepatient.
I stretched out my stiffened back before nudging Jaxon awake. The low light of the sunrise was coming in through the windows giving the stark hospital a goldenglow.
Through a yawn, Jaxon muttered, “Gah, damn it. What the fuck time isit?”
I shrugged. “Too fuckingearly.”
It took me a few seconds to remember why we had been sleeping in uncomfortable plastic chairs in the middle of ahospital.
I leapt to my feet. “She’s awake,” I whispered as I tiptoed toward the young lady’s room. She was sitting up, staring blankly at the television in the corner of her room. The droning of a news report was my soundtrack for walking in and startling the poor girl half todeath.
She let out a piercing shrill as I knocked on the open door and her dainty hand flew to her chest. Clearing my throat, I continued to make my way into herroom.
“Ma’am, I’m Rudiger Beringar. I was the one who found you last night on the side of theroad.”
Her eyes were still wide. She was frozen. All she did was blink at me for what felt like alifetime.
To fill the silence, I continued, “Everyone calls me Bear, not that that makes a difference to you or anything. I just wanted to stick around and see for myself that you’re doin’ all right and that the docs here were takin’ good care of ya.” Rubbing the back of my neck, I shuffled my feet all the way to the foot of her bed. “I know you don’t know me from Adam, and I promise I’ll leave you alone, but I wanted to leave my business card with you. I had one of my mechanics pick up your motorcycle and bring it to our shop. I’ll personally take a look at it and make sure it gets fixed up good forya.”
I dug a card out of my wallet and set it on the bed by herfeet.
“All right then. I’ll leave ya to gettin’ some rest. I hope you feel better soon,darlin’.”