I love you,I think, the words sitting heavy in my chest. I want to say them out loud, want to tell her before something else goes wrong, before I lose another chance. But the words stick in my throat. I've never been good at this—the vulnerable shit, the admitting how I feel part.
I reach up, brush a strand of hair back from her face. She leans into the touch, eyes closing briefly like she's memorizing the feeling.
"Stay," I say, not caring how desperate it sounds. "Tonight. Tomorrow. As long as they'll let you."
"I'm not going anywhere," she promises, but there's something in her eyes when she says it. Something dark and haunted that wasn't there three weeks ago. Something that tells me whatever happened at the Vipers changed her in ways I don't understand yet.
"What aren't you telling me?" I ask quietly.
She tenses against me. "Nothing."
"Val—"
"Xavier, please." She looks at me with those haunted eyes, and I see fear there. Real, bone-deep fear. "Can we just—can we just have this? Just for tonight? No questions. No club business. No Vipers. Just us."
I want to push. Want to demand answers. Want to know what put that look in her eyes. But she looks so fragile, so close to breaking, that I can't bring myself to do it.
"Okay," I agree softly. "Just us."
She settles back against my side with a shaky exhale. Her fingers trace absent patterns on my chest, and I close my eyes, letting the steady rhythm of her breathing ground me.
The door swings open without warning.
"Alright, alright, break it up," Zay says, his voice carrying that easy humor he uses to cut tension. "Hospital visiting hours don't include conjugal visits."
Valentina jerks up, face flushing. "We weren't?—"
"Sure looked cozy from here," Asher adds, following Zay into the room with two cups of coffee and something that might be a sandwich. "Should we come back? Give you two some privacy?"
"Fuck off," I mutter, but there's no heat in it.
"He's awake for three hours and already telling us to fuck off," Zay says to Asher, grinning. "That's our fearless leader. Definitely still Xavier."
"Did you check the legs though?" Asher asks, deadpan. "Make sure they didn't swap his brain while they were in there?"
"I will throw this IV pole at you," I threaten.
"See? Definitely still him," Zay confirms, dropping into the chair beside the bed. "Grumpy, violent, and deeply ungrateful for our concern."
Valentina laughs—a real laugh, surprised and genuine. The sound makes something warm bloom in my chest. I hadn't realized how much I needed to hear her laugh until this moment.
"You two are idiots," she says, but she's smiling now, some of the darkness clearing from her eyes.
"Yeah, but we'reyouridiots," Zay says, pointing at her with his coffee cup. "And speaking of which, when's the last time you ate something that wasn't from a vending machine?"
"I'm fine," she says automatically.
"That's not an answer," Asher says, holding out one of the sandwiches. "Eat."
"I'm not hungry."
"Didn't ask if you were hungry," he replies. "Asked you to eat."
She takes the sandwich with a sigh, and I watch as Asher hands me the other coffee. It's exactly how I like it—black, two sugars.The fact that he remembered something so small after three weeks makes my throat tight.
"So," Zay says, leaning back in his chair with exaggerated casualness. "Now that the emotional reunion is over, we should probably talk about the fact that the club thinks you're still unconscious and Valentina's been running things solo for three weeks."
"The club can wait until morning," I say firmly. "Right now I just want to know?—"