Survival ( Book 2: Stronger Series )

42. Spark

The following day, I woke up to find Nurse Ginsby fiddling with something at the kitchen counter. It looked like she was preparing me another smoothie, the irritating sound of the blender confirming my suspicion. I groaned in protest, wanting nothing more than to disappear back into the blankness of my sleep. I didn't even dream. There was just ... nothing. Quiet, peaceful nothing.

"Oh, good." The nurse turned to me with a smile. "Sorry I had to wake you, but it's time for you to eat again since you didn't eat much yesterday."

I wasn't even close to hungry. Just tired, groggy, and achy as hell. I wanted to go back to sleep, especially since I was sure Darren's stupid ass would be visiting me today. Ginsby checked my monitor and my vitals before placing the smoothie cup into the holder by my face. I took a few sips here and there, tasting pomegranate, cherries, and raspberries ... and fuck if it wasn't amazing.

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad is the pain today?" Ginsby suddenly asked me.

I brought my left hand up, exposed five fingers, and then flashed her two more. I surprisingly didn't feel as much pain today as I had yesterday. It must have just been the initial shock of things.

"Okay," she said, nodding as she pressed a few buttons on my monitor. "We'll up your pain meds just a little bit."

She then returned to the fridge and brought back another bottle of water, cracked it open, topped it with a bendy straw and placed it in the other holder. I took a few sips of that, ignoring the pain in my jaw from the suction.

"I've been informed to tell you that Mr. Davis will be here to see you within the hour. He landed on the island late last night, but you were asleep then."

Like that'd stop him.

I was sure Darren had already visited me last night; I just wasn't awake to know it and thank God for that. If I saw him a hundred years from now, it'd still be too soon. The nurse then grabbed a small tablet and set it on the table beside my bed.

"If you need to tell me anything specific, you can use this. There are also several apps on there for games, movies, and reading. No web browsing, though, I'm afraid."

Of course, not.

"Is there anything else you need right now?" she asked me.

Oh, the things I needed right now ...

The list was way too long and impossible to accomplish, so I gave her a small shake of my head and she nodded.

"Okay. Just push this button if anything changes, okay?" she said, pointing to the small red button on the left side of my bed. I nodded at her and she went on her way, picking up a book on the table and sitting down to read.

For the next thirty-five minutes, I laid there, absolutely bored out of my mind and completely disinterested in the tablet. I didn't feel like playing a game, watching a movie, or reading. I wanted my body to heal so I could get the fuck out of here. Sid came by for a few minutes to check on me, but he didn't have anything useful to say. Just that I needed to rest and cooperate.

I spent quite some time analyzing my room and the world outside of the windows. I could hear birds; they sounded different, but I liked it. I could hear the ocean, so it didn't sound like we were too far from the beach, but that was literally all I could hear. No cars, no horns, no people, just nothing. I had been isolated all over again.

A few minutes later, I heard the door to my left open, and I closed my eyes in anguish knowing it was Darren. I could feel him before he even opened the door, my body so well-tuned to his dominating presence.