Breathe(61)

He grinned, and my heart fluttered as usual.

“Hello,” he said softly.

“Why are you here?” I asked, but I slipped my free hand up to my throat and that’s when I noticed I had tubes in my hand. I stared at him, confused, because now the fact he wanted to get the nurse made sense. I was in a hospital.

“I’m here because the reason I get up each morning, needs me as much as I need her, obviously.”

I closed my eyes, trying to understand what he meant.

“Please don’t close your eyes again,” he begged softly.

I opened them immediately. I didn’t understand his urgency and worry. And why he appeared so tired.

“Why am I here?” I asked, despite my mouth and throat being as dry as a desert.

He sighed and kissed the hand he held. “You exhausted yourself and passed out while riding your bike. You hit your head so hard it cracked your skull. You were not found right away.” He stopped and seemed to be struggling with his words. “By the time they got you here, you were unconscious, and they couldn’t tell me if you would ever come back to me.”

He struggled with the last part, and I squeezed his hand as tight as I could. “I did.”

He smiled and laid his head against our joined hands for a moment. “I know you did, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t died a thousand times since Ms. Mary called me a week ago.”

A week ago! I had been unconscious a week. And then I remembered Sam. I started to sit up. Jessica couldn’t take care of Sam a week. He might be...I didn’t want to think about it. I just needed up.

“Whoa, what are you doing? You can’t get up. I still have to get the nurse in here.”

I shook my head, and it began to pound. “Sam.” I spit out through my panic. Jax firmly held me in the bed.

“Sam is with Ms. Mary and is just fine. He is even sleeping nights now.”

How did Sam end up at Ms. Mary’s? I stared at him, needing answers, but my dry throat had about reached its limit.

“Jessica is getting help. She is sick, Sadie. It is called postpartum depression, and she has a very bad case. She is at the best clinic money can buy, and when she comes back to you, she will be just like new. I swear it.”

I sunk back against the bed, and I realized my head hurt fiercely. I flinched.

“Hold on, I’m getting the nurse now. Do not close your eyes, please, keep them open.”

I nodded and watched him walk out to the hall where he yelled, “She’s awake.”

He immediately turned and came right back to my side. “The nurses and doctors will probably kick me out in a minute, but I am not going anywhere. I am going to stay outside at that door, and if you need me, I will be right there.”

I nodded, and my heart raced when he leaned down and his breath tickled my ear. “I’ll never be able to leave again. I’m not that strong.”

The doors opened and in came faces I had never seen before.

“How long has she been awake?” A large lady with dark brown hair, cut in a spiky style, asked as she rushed over to my side.

Jax winked at me. “Um, a few minutes.”

She shook her finger at him and said, “All right, pretty boy, that singing of yours must have done some good, but now I want you out of here. Her heart rate is all over the place. What were you doing to her, the girl has been in a coma.”

“I said not to use that word,” he interrupted her in a hard voice that surprised me.

She sighed and shook her head. “Sorry, I forgot. She has been ‘unconscious’ for a week. She doesn’t need you in here making her heart race.”

He seemed worried, and I wanted to send the lady away because she upset him.

“Will it hurt her? Is she going to stay awake?”