Heart Beats (Joker's Sin #3) - Davidson King Page 0,46
an eye on you. I know you probably don’t care or don’t want it, but after that gift and too many questions up in the air, no one wanted to chance it.”
“Fine,” I snapped and put the car in park.
“I’m sorry.”
“I said I wasn’t mad at you, Shane. I’m mad at this mess, this fucked-up situation I don’t seem to have any control over. I’m like a puppet, and the person pulling the strings hasn’t decided if they’re going to cut me free, light me up, or play with me a bit longer. It’s not feeling much like my own life right now.”
Shane reached across the middle and grabbed my hand. “You’re not alone, and no matter what, we will figure out who is doing this and stop it. You will have your life back, I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you don’t know you can keep.” I knew Shane was trying to help and I wanted to believe him, but it wasn’t easy. I got out of the car and started toward the hospital. Shane followed silently.
We didn’t talk as we walked into the hospital, or up the elevator to the ICU. When we got to the nurses’ station, the same nurse from the day before was there, smiling.
“Good morning.”
“Morning, can I go see Ziggy…err I mean Jason?”
“You sure can. Good news. He opened his eyes a couple of hours ago. Doctors have been in there. So maybe seeing your face will give him a jolt in a better direction.”
I turned to Shane, who was smiling. “He’s awake!” I was excited and my voice rose a few octaves, but I didn’t care. Shane laughed and shook his head.
“I’m standing right here. I know. Go, shoo, go see him. Give him a hand-squeeze for me.”
“Okay, I’ll be back. You sure you’re okay?”
“Me?” He waved me off. “I’ll read some fanfic in the waiting room. Take your time.”
Shane walked away and I eagerly followed the nurse to where Ziggy would hopefully still be awake. I needed to see his face, look in his eyes and see the spark that lived there.
“Oh, look at this, your handsome visitor is here,” Roma said, and while I heard her, all I could see was Ziggy. He was sitting up, had oxygen in his nose, and while he still looked like shit, he was awake.
“Zig,” I whispered and ran to his bed. “I was so fucking worried.”
He gave me a small nod and opened his mouth. “Tri…Trinity?”
“Do you know?”
He nodded. “She’s…dead.”
“Yeah, I need to know what happened, but I want you to rest. You have to—”
“No,” he whispered and swallowed. When he flinched, I knew he was in pain.
“Zig, please, rest.”
“Danger, Ledger, need help.”
I looked up at the nurse who shrugged. “Sweetheart, you’re in pain. You need to sleep. We’ll figure it all out soon.”
“Don’t…go.” He slapped his hand atop mine, no energy behind it. “Talk.” His eyes shut and he was sleeping.
“Sometimes when patients have a traumatic injury, it plays in their head on a loop. He has a very serious concussion and as you can see, speaking isn’t coming easy for him.”
“Yeah…”
“He’s going to be out for a while. If you go to the waiting room, I’ll have the doctor come and speak with you.”
“Thanks, Roma.”
As I walked back to the waiting room, everything in my being told me Ziggy wasn’t replaying what happened to him. He knew something and was warning me. I just needed to find out what he knew.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Shane
When Ledger came into the waiting room, I knew the reunion with Ziggy wasn’t what he’d hoped.
“What’s wrong? Is it Ziggy, did something happen?” I went over to him and was relieved when he made eye contact.
“He was awake, and he spoke, but…”
“But what? Ledger, you’re freaking me out.”
“Let’s sit,” he said as he took my hand and we sat by the window on the small sofa. “The doctor will be coming in to talk to me in a little bit; Ziggy is sleeping.”
“Is that what has you so worried?”
He shook his head. “Zig was able to speak, but not well. I don’t know how permanent that is, or if it’s the drugs, but that’s not what has me upset. It’s what he said.”
I wanted to give Ledger time, but I wanted him to spit it out also, so I gave his hand a light squeeze.
“What’d he say?”
“He said, ‘Danger, Ledger, need help,’ he said ‘talk,’ and that he didn’t want me to go.”
“Do you think it was the drugs affecting him? Maybe