“I’m not staying in this fucking hospital,” he grumbles. His hair is a mess and he has scratches on his face along with something covering the eyeless part of his face.
“If you leave, you’re leaving against medical advisement!” the nurse shouts.
“Then I’m leaving.” The crutches clank against the floor as he heads toward us.
“Oh boy. It’s a good thing we have Pulse,” Boomer mutters.
“Sir, you really shouldn’t,” the nurse tries to say again.
“Daddy!” Kimmy cries, slamming herself into his side so hard his grunts.
“Squirt,” he says, closing his eye as he holds her.
“Not so rough. He has a few bruised ribs and a hairline fracture in his ankle,” the nurse takes Kimmy by the shoulder and eases her to me.
Quin lifts his head, opens his eye, and finally looks at me.
I melt under his gaze. “Quin.”
He hobbles to stand in front of me. His chest rises and falls quickly, and I lift my hand to place it on his chest, but I know if I touch him, I’ll lose any and all control I have. I drop my hand and he sighs as if he’s hurt.
“You’re okay. You’re alive.” A tear falls to my cheek, and he brushes it away.
I can’t help it. I lean into his touch. I’ve missed it. I’ve missed him.
“If you want to call it that, then yeah, I guess I am.”
“You need someone to take care of you,” the nurse interrupts again.
“He’s got us,” Boomer speaks up.
“Good.” She slaps Quin’s paperwork against his chest. “You can deal with him.” She spins on her heel and walks away, nose in the air.
“We should go before we aren’t welcome here anymore.”
“You got it, Prez.” Quin grunts as he bends down and kisses Kimmy on the head. “I love you, Squirt. I’ll see you soon, okay?”
“Can’t I come with you? Our time was cut short.”
“As much as I would love that, I’m sure your mom would like to hold you tonight after what happened today. I’m so glad you held on, Kimmy. I’m so proud of you.”
“You didn’t let go.” Her voice begins to tremble.
“I never would have. Ever,” Quin says, rubbing his knuckles down her face.
“Maybe… maybe we can stay with you tonight. We can take the couch in your room. I know Kimmy will want to be with the both of us tonight,” I offer, hoping I’m not pressing my luck.
“I’d love that. Let’s go then.” Quin begins to walk away, and I cover Kimmy’s eyes as quickly as I can when I see his bare ass.
Boomer snickers and Kansas runs up to Quin, whispering in his ear. Quin stops and clutches the back of his hospital gown together and instead of asking for help to tie it, he hobbles away, leaning his weight more on one crutch than the other.
“Stubborn man,” I say out loud and we all follow him out the door.
Arrow is giving him a tight hug and a hard pat on the back and stops when he sees me. “I’m glad you’re okay. You freaked us out.”
“Yeah, I never want to go on a Ferris Wheel again,” Quin replies.
“Yeah, me either. I’ll, uh, I’ll see you at home.” Arrow spins around and the leather of his cut creaks as he stomps toward his bike.
“I’ll meet you there,” I say as a truck comes to a stop in front of us. “My car is in the lot.”
“Sure,” he rasps. He looks like he is about to say something else but changes his mind as Warden helps him in the truck.
This isn’t a good idea, but I can’t be without Kimmy, and to be honest, I need to be around Quin too. It’s selfish and fucked up because he deserves to move on, but we are doing this for Kimmy, and isn’t that what matters most?
“Come on, baby. Let’s go. We will be there soon, okay?”
Kimmy yawns and that’s when I see a bruise on her arm. Five fingerprints are imprinted on her arm where Quin must have held on to her at some point today. He really didn’t let go.
“Does that hurt?”
“A little bit, but not as much as Daddy hurts.” She climbs into the backseat and buckles her seatbelt. “He held on tight.”
I skim my fingers over the bruise, connecting the dots, dots that are so familiar. I’ve had the same bruises, but they were made with different intentions. When my ex grabbed me, he’d pin me against the wall or fling me around. Anything he could do to inflict pain, he would.
But these bruises are so different. They are from a man that promised he’d never let go just so he’d protect her.
I never thought there would be a time where I’d consider bruises beautiful, but here we are. If these marks are the only things left after a fucking day like today, then I’m one lucky woman.
The ride to the clubhouse is short since the only image running through my mind is seeing them dangle from that damn wheel.
When I park, I take a shuddering breath and grip the wheel. The waves crash a few yards ahead against the shoreline and the moon is high, reflecting on the water’s surface. Crews are still working on cleaning up the rubble out of the water. I can barely hear the sound of the equipment moving, lifting hunks of charred scrap metal out of the ocean. I shudder. It sounds too much like the creaking of the Ferris wheel.
I turn my head to see Kimmy asleep with her head against the window. I unbuckle my seatbelt and get out of the car. The handle to the passenger side squeaks when I open it, but she doesn’t wake. When she sleeps, she’s out.
I pick her up in my arms and she mumbles, rubbing her cheek against my shoulder. Commotion comes from the main part of the clubhouse, but I don’t bother going in that direction because I know I’m not wanted.
The breeze picks up and I wrap my arms tighter to keep Kimmy warm. My shoes sink into the sand and a seashell taps against the front of my sneaker. The white noise of waves builds and crashes the closer I get, filling me with peace. For some reason, it feels like home.
I take a right around the corner. Each room has its own deck and Quin’s is the first one that comes to view. My tongue sticks to the rough of my mouth as I stare at the three steps that lead to his door.
My hair bristles against my face from the breeze sweeping in from behind me as if it is trying to give me the one last push I need.
Still.
I can’t move my feet.
The door opens and Bane comes out, giving me a cheeky grin. “We just got him inside,” he whispers, making sure not to wake Kimmy. “I pulled out the couch and the bed is made. So it’s all set.”
“Thank you, Bane.”
The footsteps bang as he heads down the steps. “Alicia?”
I pause when I get before the door. “Yeah?”
“Not all of us hate you. We know there is more to the story than pain. I think you two are good together and I’m sorry, for whatever reason, that you feel like you can’t be.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “I didn’t know how much I needed to hear that until right this moment.”
“I know we can be pretty brutal sometimes, but that’s just the exterior, okay?” Bane gives me a playful wink before shoving his hands in his pockets and leaving me by myself.
I let out a nervous breath and push open the door since it’s cracked. The sound of the bathroom sink running fills my ears. I open my mouth to tell him I’m here but remember Kimmy. She’s had a tough day. She deserves her rest after so much… chaos.