The sterile smell is the first thing I notice when I wake up.
The next thing I realize is Dax holding my hand. And my mom's on the other side of me, asleep.
His face is faced away from me, so I'm not sure if he's asleep or not, but I'm hoping he is finally getting some sleep.
That's when the headache hits.
I moan quietly in pain and reach for my head. I'm surprised when I feel the rough bandage around it.
Dax's head jumps up and looks at me apologetically. "Hey, beautiful," He says and puts his hand on my cheek. "How ya feelin'?"
I smile at him and grab his hand. "Fine,I guess," I answer. "Where am I?"
"The hospital," He verifies what I thought. "Do you remember what happened last night?"
I think about Tristin. And the way he was there for me, then how he pushed me. I touch my head where the bandage is. Then look at Dax, he nods, that's when I feel a tear silently make its way down my cheek. "But........................... What happened to him last night?" I ask. All I can remember is Tristin almost raping me, then Dax throwing him at the tree. I wince as I hear the crack in my head again.
"Well," He shrugs at me, as if it isn't important.
"Dax. Seriously. Tell me, now."
"Okay, okay," He says, and sits on the side on my bed. He brushes my hair out of my face and he kisses me on the forehead, before telling me.
"After you blacked out, I lied and told him you were dead, because I honestly just wanted to kick his ass. Then we fought a little till I clamed down a bit, then we tried to talk about the reason he hates me so much. I tried to hiim to talk about it, Lane, but he refused to, so I told him he could either talk to me about it... or I'd rip his head off and we might not find out." He looks at me for a reaction, like I'm supposed to feel sorry for the jerk of a guy, but all I do is scoff as my mouth falls open then I giggle.
I wait for him to continue, but he's trapped in his thoughts. "Dax," I ask. "What-"
That's when my mom stirs in the chair next to my bed. Dax and I both look at her as she opens her eyes. "Hey, mom." I give her a small smile.
"I'll just go tell the nurse you're up." Dax says and gets up and walks out of the room.
My mom hugs me and kisses me on my nose."How ya doin', sweetie?"
"I'm okay, mom." I reassure her. "Do you know what happened?"
She presses her lips into a thin line and nods. My heart practically stops because I think she knoes the truth. But I thank God when she says, "You walked away from Dax in the park, because he said... something to you that didn't make you very happy. You walked a little further, and turned around to yell at him, and you tripped and fell forward onto the sidewalk." She glances down at my blanket, then staightens it out. She kisses my forehead right under my bandage.
A large, short black woman comes into the room and picks up the clipboard at the end of my bed. She gives me a forced smile as she "checks my vitals" and jots some more stuff down. "How are you feeling?" Her voice is very worn out.
"Fine, I guess. My head really hurts." I tell her.
She nods, "It will for the next few days, maybe even a few weeks." She forces one more smile, places the clipboardback at the end of the bed, and leaves out of the room.
My mom tells me she'll be right back and leaves the room. I glance back up at the doorway, seing Dax looking at me. I ask him silently what he did to Tristin. His head drops to his shoes, and he starts walking towards my bedside. He sits on the side, and gives me a long drawn out kiss. Taking my breath away, and making my head spin even more. When he releases my mouth, my stomach drops. "What the hell did you do to him that was that bad?"
He chuckles at my response. "I wanted to hurt him, Lane, you have no idea how much I did. I went after him, but when I turned around and looked at you. Lying there on the ground, face covered in blood... it hurt me to know that that was my fault. That I could have stopped that from happening to you... and instead of making me want to hurt him, it made me hate myself. And right then you were laying there, and.... I couldn't take it. I walked to you, picked you up and ran you up here. xI called your mom as soom as they took your name."
I smile, because I know that his natural instinct told him to fight- not flee. But he did. He rescued me, and if he hadn't... I... I don't know... "Stop that."
I look up to see tears in his eyes. "Please don't think that way. I have to hear that, Lane."
I look back down at my hands and play with the blanket."Sorry." I mumble.
His hands moves under my chin, and he lifts my head. "Hey, you're here, right? That's the the important thing."
I look back into his deep brown eyes. "Only because of you." I put my hand behind his neck and pull his head colse to mine, feeling his smile against my lips. "Thank... You..." I say against his lips.
"Anytime, babe." He, his breath hitting my lips, and throwing sparks through my body. And I know my touch is doing the same to him, because I feel the hair standing on end on his neck, and the goosebumps all over his arm.
I wrap my arms around his neck, and lay my head on his shoulder. His hands lay on my hips and I smile ass his smell encases me. He puts his chin in the crook of my neck, and I know he's smiling.
We sit like this for a while, it feeld like seconds, but Iknow that it is a lot longer than that because when I open my eyes again, my mom's back in the doorway. I pull back and give her a smile. I can tell by the look that's on her face, she's surprised that I'm this close to DAx, but it's already hit her that I've spent the night together. I'm sure I'll here about that later.
Dax gets off the bed and moves to the seat on the right side of the bed. My mother comes and sits back in the chair she had been sitting in.
All of the sudden a wave of naseua washes over me and I lean over the left side of the bed and... you know into the trash can. "Sorry," I say.
My mom puts her hand on my back and pats it comfortingly. "The nurse said that that's normal with a concussion," She says.
"Oh," I say, dizzy again. "I'm going to go back to sleep." Turn on my right side and curl my legs up close to my body, suddenly feeling cold.
I look into Dax's eyes as he sits on the other side of the room in his chair, and I tell him through my mind I love you. I know by the smile on his face and the nod of his head he's saying it back. I smile and close my eyes.
That's the last thing I can remember before I black out.
