Sweet Harmony (Harmony Falls #1) - Elizabeth Kelly Page 0,101
hospital and not a damn jail cell. Move your asses, now.”
* * *
“You should have called me earlier, Gideon.” Connor could hear Kira’s voice even over the noises in the ER.
“He didn’t want me to,” Gideon protested.
The curtain whipped open and Kira hurried to the bed, staring down at Connor’s hand. “Oh, Connor.”
He stared at the ceiling as Kira pressed a kiss against his mouth. “Honey, your poor hand.”
“It’s fine,” he said.
Kira glanced at Gideon who said, “Pretty sure it’s broken. He had an X-ray about twenty minutes ago. We’re just waiting for the results.”
“The results are in.” Jack ducked behind the curtain and Connor’s throat tightened as the ER doctor gave him a grave look.
“Is it broken?” Kira asked.
“Spectacularly,” Jack said. “You’re gonna need surgery, Connor.”
“Fuck,” Connor spat.
Kira squeezed his good hand as Jack said, “If it makes you feel any better, that firefighter’s nose may never be the same.”
Kira stiffened. “What firefighter?”
When Connor didn’t reply, she glanced at Gideon. “What’s going on?”
Gideon sighed. “Connor and Daniel got into a fight. Connor punched Daniel in the face.”
Kira stared at Connor. “Why did you punch him?”
“He pissed me off,” Connor said.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay. We’ll circle back to this later.” She glanced at Jack. “When will he have surgery?”
“Lucky for him, the orthopedic surgeon had a cancellation tomorrow morning.” Jack stuck Connor’s chart into the holder at the end of the bed. “We’ll keep you here overnight, fast you and prep you for surgery.”
“I’d rather go home and come back in the morning,” Connor said.
“Yeah, well, I’d rather be sitting on some beach with a drink in my hand, but here we are,” Jack said. “We’ll move you to a room in about half an hour. Until then, sit tight.”
Jack left and Kira smoothed her hand over Connor’s forehead. “Can I get you anything?”
He shook his head. “No, you should go home.”
She frowned. “I’m not going home. I’ll stay with you until -”
“I’d rather you just go,” he said. “I need to call Grant and somehow explain to him that I won’t be able to do my fucking job for the next six weeks.”
“Connor, it’s okay. Grant will understand.”
“Please, I don’t want a pep talk right now,” Connor said. “Can you just go? I’m tired and in pain and don’t feel like being around anyone.”
Kira glanced at Gideon before nodding. “Yeah, okay. I’ll text you later.”
She pressed a kiss against his mouth. “Are you sure you want me to go?”
“Yes.” He couldn’t look at her. If he saw the hurt in her eyes, he’d ask her to stay and what good would that do? She didn’t need to watch him stress and panic over fucking up yet again. If she stayed, he might say or do something that would drive her away for good.
“All right. I love you.”
“Love you too.” He closed his eyes, only opening them when he was sure she was gone.
He stared down at his swollen hand, panic swooping through him and stealing the air from his lungs.
He really was fucked.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Panic.
Panic, thick and heavy in his belly like a stone.
He sat on the couch in his living room, staring blankly at the wall as Kira flickered in and out of his peripheral vision like a nervous butterfly.
Her soft hand lifting his cast up and sliding a pillow under it. Warm breath as she kissed his forehead before disappearing again. The muted sound of her voice as she spoke to him.
He couldn’t hear it. Not past the panic.
He dropped his gaze to his hand, the thick heavy cast concealing the sutures under it. Three pins and a metal plate in his hand. Six weeks in a cast, physical therapy afterward.
May lose dexterity.
May experience numbness.
The surgeon’s voice in his head egged the panic on. Made it bigger. Brighter.
“Connor? Look at me.”
Kira’s soft voice dampened the edge of panic enough for him to take a deep breath. Enough so he could almost think normally. Almost.
“Yeah?”
“Honey, is the pain really bad?”
He shook his head. It wasn’t. The pain meds had taken care of it. His hand felt numb, nothing more. Maybe that was the panic’s work though.
“I wish you would have come back to my place,” she said.
He shrugged. He knew what he had to do, and it would be easier on her if he did it here. He didn’t want to break her heart in her own goddamn home.
“Everything’s going to be fine,” she said.
He stared at Kira’s sweet face. She actually believed