“What’s going on?” Nate asked.
“You guys need to come up...quickly. Something...happened,” Joey panted.
None of them said anything else as they went back into the hospital and back to Chantal’s room. All of them ran into the room, panting for breath.
The doctor stood there, beside Chantal’s bed.
“What happened?” Sky asked.
“I think you all need to sit down,” he told them all.
Sky sat beside Chantal, holding her hand, although she was sound asleep. Nate stood behind her, and Joey sat in the chair opposite her.
“What is it, Doc?” Nate asked.
“Mr. Grayson is alive.”
All of them gasped at the words that came out of the doctor’s mouth.
“How is that possible? You just told us he didn’t make it?” Nate asked.
“He was deceased on the operating table for over ten minutes. As they were moving him out of the room, his hand flinched. One of the nurses checked his vitals, and found his pulse, strong. We have sedated him. He needs rest, and to heal. The bullet that was in his chest actually would have killed him if it weren’t for the four broken ribs. The bullet had hit one of the ribs and lodged itself there.”
“Oh my God, this is amazing. I can’t believe he made it!” Skylar cheered.
“Is he going to be ok, though?” Joey asked.
“Yes, he will. The bullet has been removed; the ribs will take several weeks to heal as well as the broken nose. The bruising is going to get worse before it gets better. He will need to stay in here for about a week. Once we have him up and walking, then he can go home after that.”
“When can we see him?” Nate said.
“Only one person at a time. Give it about twenty minutes, then you can go in there.”
Nate walked over and shook the doctor’s hand. “Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll be back in here later to check on Miss Winters. You should all head home and get some rest after you see Mr. Grayson. There isn’t much you can do around here other than wait.”
“We will, thank you again.” Nate couldn’t help the smile on his face, his best mate had not died
“I can’t believe it. He’s alive, Nate,” Skylar sobbed.
“I know, baby. It’s a fucking miracle.”
“Jesus, man. So need a friggin’ stiff drink after tonight, and to celebrate as well.” Joey laughed.
“I’m with ya on that, bro,” Nate replied.
“Baby, I want you to go with Joey. I just want to go and see Dominic with my own eyes, and then I’ll be home. Ok?”
“I want to wait here for you. I’ll stay in here with Chan. I want to be here just in case she wakes up. What are we going to tell her?” she asked.
“We won’t tell her anything, yet. I’m sure when Dom is awake he will want to see her.”
“Ok. You go and see him. I’ll be here when you are done.”
“Joey, what are you doing, bro?”
“I’ll stick around and keep Skylar company. When you get back, we’ll head out and have that drink.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
Nate couldn’t believe what they were told; he had made it. The son of a bitch survived. He was going to hit the living shit out of him for scaring ten years off his life.
Making his way down the corridor, towards the room that Dom was in, he knew he was not the only one that was going to be happy about the news. He needed his mate to get better quickly so he could go and see Chantal. She wouldn’t believe him or the others if they told her he actually made it. She would need to see with her own eyes that he was alive. His night was so much better than what it was an hour ago.
C
hantal sat in her hospital bed like a zombie. She didn’t say much to anyone besides Skylar, but even that was limited. There was nothing she could say. The one thing she wanted most was gone from her life. She stared out the window as nurses came in checking on her, bringing food, medication, changing the drip and dressings to her wounds—she was so out of it that the nurses even had to shower her.
She couldn’t move to do anything; she was too weak. She hadn’t eaten a proper meal in close to a week. She would nibble on a piece of apple here, or a biscuit there, but nothing too large. Her injuries were healing nicely as to what the doctor said, and she was due for release this afternoon.
Nothing was ever going to be the same again. Everyone really tried to talk to her, but she just ignored them, especially when they mentioned Dominic’s name. Nothing was going to fix the hole in her chest from losing him.
Skylar walked in with a new bunch of flowers. She brought one every day for her and she loved her for it. Yesterday’s were roses, and today she brought tiger lilies. They were her absolute favorite. It was one of the only kinds of flowers that Dom had ever given to her. She sobbed quietly. She wiped the tears off of her face before Skylar saw, and smiled the best she could when she glanced her way.
“How are you today, Chan?” Skylar asked, as she moved to sit down.
“Better, the doc said I could go home today.”
“That’s great news. Are you going to be staying at my place?”
“I think its best I stay at my own place, Sky. Andrew and Bryan have both been charged and are awaiting trial. So, I shouldn’t see either of them for a long time. But I feel really bad for Sherrie and the kids. She had no idea what Bryan was like.”
“None of us did. People come across normal until something tips them off. I can’t believe it was him that sent you all that stuff, it still socks me, though,” Sky said.
“Me too. To tell you the truth I thought it was Dom at first, but when it started getting weird, I really had no clue who sent them.”
“Well, I’m glad it’s all over and you can move on with your life, now.”
“Yeah,” she replied. She couldn’t though. What was she going to do now? She had absolutely no idea how she was going to move on from Dominic.
“Everything is going to work out, Chan.”
“How do you figure that, Sky? Dom’s gone and nothing can bring him back. My life is over, finished. I have no reason to be here if he isn’t. Do you understand? I have fucking nothing,” she sobbed.
“Chan—”
“Don’t, please. I can’t deal with it now. I just need some time to myself,” she whispered.
“Okay. I’ll leave you alone for a little while, but Nate and Joey will be here soon.”
She leaned over and hugged her. She felt bad for biting her head off, but no one understood what she was going through. She hated being like that but it hurt and she didn’t know how else to react.
“I’m sorry, Sky.”
“I know you are, Chantal. Get some rest, the boys will be here soon.”
She watched as her best friend left her where she was, giving her the space she needed.
Her eyes closed minutes later. She was too tired to think about anything else right now. She really needed to have a good night’s sleep. Nearly every night, she relived what had happened that night with Bryan and Andrew. But mostly, she had nightmares about watching as Dominic slowly died in the back of the ambulance.
******
N
ate and Joey laughed as they walked towards Chantal’s room. He had spent several nights in Dominic’s room, going over the event that had happened, and the way that Chantal had been acting. He was edgy to see her, which he totally understood.
He told him that he had died on the table and that Chantal since didn’t know that he was alive. He wanted to surprise her himself when he could walk. He was a stubborn son of a bitch. He made life hell for the doctors and nurses looking after him, and he would have done the same damn thing.
Today was the day that Dom was finally going to see Chantal. Joey was going to meet her in her room so he could help Dom walk down. He didn’t want to be wheeled around in a wheelchair. He wanted to walk on his own two feet.
“I’ll see you soon, Nate,” Joey said as he walked off towards Chantal’s room. They were all unsure as to how she was going to react at seeing Dom standing in her room, still breathing.
Walking up the hallway, he passed the nurses’ desk and stopped at Dom’s door. Opening the door quietly, he stepped in.
“Jesus man, how long do you want to take next time?” Dom growled.
Nate laughed. “I’ll take my sweet ass longer next time,” he teased as he moved over towards the bed.
“Yeah, whatever. Just help me up so I can go and see her.”
Nate stood near the side of the bed, holding onto him as he stood.
He hissed as stood, “Fuck, remind me next time not to get shot.”
“I doubt that Chantal will ever let you leave the house again once she gets a good look at you,” he said.
“I don’t plan on leaving for a fucking long time, and neither is she,” he groaned as they walked out and towards her room.
Today was going to be a great day. His best mate was alive and back to his normal self. Chantal was going to get the shock of her life once she saw him. Least this would pull her out of whatever place she was in. He didn’t like seeing her the way she was, and never told Dom about it either. He would see it all for himself, very, very soon.
******
C
hantal had a shower while Joey waited out in the room. She couldn’t keep doing this to herself or any other person. She wasn’t like this and if Dom ever had seen her like this, he would spank the shit out of her ass for it. She had stopped crying over him last night. There were no more tears left to shed for him, and although still upset over losing him, she needed to pull herself together and start working out what she was going to do.
Once she was dressed, she made her way back into the room. She also had to stop treating her friends like crap as well, so she was fixing that right away.
“So Joey, how is the bar going?” she asked as she went through her bag.
“Good, the new bartender has been doing a great job, but also driving me up the fucking wall. There’s something about her that is familiar but I can’t quite put my finger on it.”
“Really, I need to meet her. I can’t believe there is someone that is doing that to you, I might need to give her some pointers.”
“She is doing fine all on her own and she doesn’t need any advice from you,” Joey groaned.
“Fine. But she does sound nice. Maybe you should hook up with her.”
“I don’t think so, she’s kinda young and she wouldn’t go for someone like me.”
“Really? You’re going to sit here and say some girl is too young for you and that there is something wrong with you? Joey, I’m younger than you and I’ve been with you, several times. I know for a fact that has never bothered you, so what is the real reason?” she asked as she stood near the end of the bed, facing him.
“Ok, ok. It’s like I know her. Like really know her. Her eyes are really familiar to me, and I could never forget them. But I can’t know her, she just moved her from up north,” he said as he frowned.
“Maybe she reminds you of someone else, Joey.”
“Yeah, she might.”
She heard someone mumbling outside her door, but she didn’t turn around since there were a lot of people walking in the hallway. She was about to say something else to Joey, when he stood and smiled at her.
“What?” she asked.
“Come here,” he said.
“Why?”
“Will you just get your ass over here?”
“Fine. If you’re going to do something stupid, be prepared for me to kick your ass, Joey.”
She stopped in front of him, face to face, and he was still grinning at her.
“I see you still can’t do what you’re told.” She froze at the voice behind her.
She looked up into Joey’s eyes. “Turn around, Chan.”
She shook her head. “I know you want to,” he whispered to her as he held on to her hands.
She turned her body around and gasped. How was it possible? Dom stood there, holding onto Nate in the doorway to her room.
“Chan,” he croaked.
“Dom,” she cried out.
******
S
he let go of Joey, ran to him, and threw herself into his arms. He grunted as she climbed on him as much as possible, and she sobbed as she kissed him everywhere she could.
“Oh, my. I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Believe it, baby girl. You could never get rid of me that easy.”
“I thought I lost you, Dominic,” she cried.
“You will never, ever lose me, Chantal. I’m yours for eternity.”
Dom moved with her still in his arms and sat on the spare chair in the room. His hands never stopped touching her, and hers were all over him.
“The doctor told me you died.”
“I did, baby. I kept thinking about you, and prayed for them not to take me, and here I am. You are the reason why I am here, baby. The only reason I want to be on this earth alive, is because of you. Nothing is ever going to part us, ever. And if it ever decides to do that, I’m going to fight with my last breath to have you back in my arms,” he told her.
“I love you so much, Dominic Grayson,” she whispered against his lips.
“And I love you, until my last breath and the last beat of my heart, baby girl.”
“Well, since we are all reunited, let’s get both of you guys home. I’m sure you both have had enough of this hospital, because I sure as hell have,” Nate laughed.
“Sounds good to me. Let’s go home, baby girl,” he said to her.
Nodding, she stood from him and wrapped herself around him the best she could. She was never going to let him go and he was ok with that, because he was never going to let her going, ever again.
She was his life. The reason his heart beat. The reason he could breathe, She made him smile, laugh, and even cry. She was the main reason for his existence. His soul mate.
I
t was a full house at the bar tonight, and Joey was at boiling point with the feisty crowd. The new band that he had organized had drawn a large crowd. He knew they were good, but looking around the room, it was ridiculous. Kristen was barely keeping up with the customers, as she was hounded left, right, and center. Bradley was holding it barely with orders from the kitchen, and the other new girl he hired—well, she wasn’t going to be able to keep her job if she could not handle a crowd like this.