by Mandy Rosko
Don’t go. Don’t vanish again. You don’t have to leave this time.
When he woke up again, he was finally able to open his eyes, and when he did, he wished that he hadn’t.
Fuck, who would’ve thought sunlight could cause such a terrible, burning pain in the back of his retinas?
He shut his eyes and groaned, but that groan caused a vibration in the back of his throat that hurt like a bitch. Or like Bobby’s long teeth chomping down on his skin. That was a pretty good comparison.
There was a scramble next to him. The sound of paper falling and other little tools clattering on the tiled floor.
The warmth was right there beside him, the one he’d been craving whenever he felt it so close to him.
Alice’s voice. He didn’t even know what she was saying, but he was glad to hear it. He smiled and turned his head so that he was at least facing her.
He forced his eyes open again, but there must’ve been a light source somewhere behind her head. Either a lamp, or the sun coming in from the widow, because he could hardly make out any of her features. It seemed to make her face look like she was under a shadow.
He shut his eyes again and smiled, content to just be facing her.
She hadn’t run away this time. Good. He was worried she would leave again when he hadn’t told her to. Now he could really get some proper rest.
When Jake woke up again, the light didn’t hurt him so much, and he felt more mobility in his body. Alice wasn’t beside him when he turned his eyes to look, but there was a chair pulled up there, and it had her sketchbook and the book on anatomy, the ones he’d purchased for her at the bookstore.
Seeing them there calmed him somewhat. He could relax easier, knowing she was around, or even if she wasn’t, that she’d left her things here.
It meant she was planning on coming back at some point, and he could live with that.
Jake reached his hand up to touch his throat. His arm felt slow and sluggish, but not nearly as bad as it felt in his dreams, when he’d still been going up against Bobby.
That stupid asshole had better be dead. Jake rarely wished for people to die, but Bobby was definitely one of them, and if he wasn’t dead, then he better be staying behind bars for the rest of his life. Knowing Bobby, that would be a fate even worse than death. That man couldn’t stand being caged up.
Jake looked around. His room was a private one. There wasn’t another bed in here. Royal treatment for him. Yay. Must be Rickman’s way of apologizing for leaving them with an incompetent escort.
The door to his room opened, and a woman in a white doctor’s coat entered holding a clipboard.
She noted the way Jake was looking at her, and she smiled. “Oh, good. We thought you’d wake up today.”
“Where—” Jake had to clear his throat. Holy shit, was that scratchy-sounding voice his?
He touched his neck.
“Don’t worry, you’re still healing. It’s only been a month, but you are making good progress.”
A month? That was it?
The surprise must have shown in his eyes, because the good doctor took the time to explain everything to him. His progress, what had been damaged, and what they were still working on.
“Your friend, Alice, had been here every day for as long as visiting hours would allow,” the doctor said. “The staff is starting to get attached to her, especially when she brings in coffee to bribe the nurses into an overnight stay.”
Jake looked over at her sketchbook.
“Don’t worry. We just convinced her to get a quick shower and a change of clothes. She’ll be back.”
Jake believed her. Alice would be coming back. He sighed and let the good doctor go over the finer points of his recovery before she called Rickman for him.
He got bored of everything pretty damned quick. After Rickman came in, a big smile on his face as a sort of congratulations-on-surviving-that-shit kind of expression, he apologized for the actions of his officer.
The man had been questioned and removed from his position. Jake wasn’t too interested in pressing charges after he’d heard what Rickman had said to him.
Apparently, the man had a change of heart and helped Alice get away alive. Bobby had been threatening his family, and Jake was pretty sure Rickman wasn’t the sort of man who would make that shit up just to make himself and his department look good.
It didn’t matter what Jake thought anyway. Whatever happened to the officer in question was out of his hands, as he expected.
A judge and jury would decide what happened to him for what he’d done. Jake felt bad enough that he might consider putting in a good word for him, though it depended on if Rickman’s story checked out with Alice. If it didn’t, well, fuck them all. Either way, he was done with this town.
Everything felt stiff and sore, and the nurses assured him that such a thing was normal after spending the better part of a month unconscious.
Ugh. He couldn’t wait to get out of here.
He was just about to nod off, despite the fact that Rickman was still speaking with him, when the door to his room opened.
He barely opened his eyes and looked up when Alice rushed toward him. She stopped, her hands reaching out, but then pulled back, as if she was afraid of touching him.
He smiled at her. “Come on. I won’t bite you.”
She blinked those big, watery eyes at him, and then she laughed a short, sobbing noise before finally leaning in, putting her soft hands on his rough cheeks, and kissing his mouth.
He couldn’t taste too well. Jake was fairly certain the staff around here had to be taking care of his basic needs, but after a month of not brushing his own teeth, he couldn’t imagine that kissing him was a pleasant experience.
She did it, though, and she didn’t pull away from him. She kissed him with enough force, her lips moving quickly and passionately, her tongue trying to push into his mouth, that he almost had trouble breathing.
At least it was making Rickman uncomfortable. That was sort of amusing.
Eventually, Rickman cleared his throat. Then he had to do it again.
Jake wanted to lift his hand and maybe give the guy a shot of his middle finger just to shut him up, because he was enjoying himself too much to stop, but as quickly as Alice had leaned in, she backed away.
The way her entire neck and face turned red was beautiful.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I just kinda had to do that,” Alice said, smiling nervously and apologetically at Rickman before beaming that bright smile at Jake.
As bright as she was, her eyes still shone like she had tears fighting to come through.
Jake could always tell the difference between happy tears and depressed, sad tears. It was kind of uplifting to see that someone cared about him enough to cry happy tears that he’d just opened his eyes.
He’d wake up for her every day if it made her that happy. But as he thought that very thing, he knew he had to have her beside him in order for that to work.
He needed to get Rickman the hell out of here as fast as possible, because Jake was either going to doze off again—because blinking and breathing and talking were so exhausting, apparently—and he needed to speak with Alice. She’d hung around for a month to make sure he woke up and wouldn’t remain in a coma or something for the rest of his life, but that didn’t mean she’d be here for much longer.
Thankfully, Rickman seemed to get that he wasn’t needed around here anymore. It must have been the misty-eyed look Alice was giving him, or the way Jake glared at Rickman and sent him mental signals to get the hell out.
He wasn’t a psychic, but he would take the fact that Rickman wanted to make himself scarce as a win.
“I’ll be just outside. I’ll give you the rest of the details when you two have caught up.”
“Great, talk to you later,” Jake said.
Hurry up. Go. Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.
He finally left, taking the nurse with him on the way out. He c
losed the door behind him, giving them some semblance of privacy, and it was nearly silent in Jake’s hospital room, with the exception of the light beeping noises from the machines and the muffled sounds from outside the door.
Alice stared at him like he was a piece of art in a museum. She held her hands together in front of her, as if to keep herself from touching him.
He smiled up at her. It probably looked weak and pathetic, but it was all he had in that moment. “Got to say…the way you’re biting your lip right now makes me want to bite it for you.”
Alice laughed, that bubbly sad laugh. “I hope so,” she said, and then her face seemed to soften as she leaned forward again. “If I told you to bite me, you think you could make it feel good?”
Jake clenched his teeth, a tiny groan coming from the depths of his throat. “Definitely.”
Then it was more of that amazing kissing.
Her lips didn’t exactly rejuvenate his strength or anything, but for the moments when her plump lips were pressing against his, it kind of felt like that. It felt like he had a rush of energy or health pulsing through him. He was that guy in the soda commercials on a painfully, hot sweaty day who finally got to drink an icy Coke. This kiss was just as relieving as that, maybe even more so.
And despite that, it was kind of sad that he still managed to pass out while being kissed so spectacularly by a beautiful woman.
Alice stayed by Jake’s side for as long as she could. When he’d stopped kissing her back, when his mouth had become slack and his head fell back into the stiff hospital pillow, she had gotten worried enough to call the nurses back in.
Jake was fine. Still just too exhausted, and apparently, Alice had nothing to worry about.
It was just more of the waiting game as she sat beside his bed and practiced sketching just to have something to do.
She wasn’t too bad at it. It had been years since she’d messed around with pencils and paper, so she was happy to see that her talents, as minuscule as they had been, were still there.
Though, it would take years before she would be skilled enough to become an illustrator. But she was free now to pursue that, to go to school and learn wherever she could about art and sketching and comics, color theory…whatever she wanted.
And it was all because of Jake.
She looked back up at him and smiled. At least now it looked like he was sleeping instead of being completely unconscious to the rest of the world. That was something to be happy about.
Jake slept for another thirty hours, and in that time, the nurses managed to convince Alice to get something to eat, have another shower, and even sleep for a bit. Thanks to the immense fuck up from Rickman’s police force, Alice was being given the royal treatment.
All the damages that had been done at the inn were being paid off, including her bill for the time she had spent there, and she was being given a free week’s stay for the next time she went.
The town was also going to provide her with a new computer, and some coupons for clothes from the local stores. She had yet to go get any new clothes, because she didn’t want to leave the hospital, and as far as she was concerned, the best perk by far was being allowed to stay in the hospital beyond visiting hours. She was practically living here with Jake.
So when he opened his eyes and turned his head, looking over at her, awake for the second time, it was kind of a shock.
The best kind of shock.
It was late, and the sky outside was black and starry.
“I’ll call the nurse,” she said, and got up to press the button above his head.
“No.” Jake reached his hand up, grabbing onto her wrist. His grip was soft, and he hadn’t been particularly fast in stopping her, but Alice halted immediately.
“Why?” she asked, then immediately felt stupid for letting the question even leave her lips. “Someone needs to check on you.”
Jake reached his hand up and rubbed his eyes before he looked to the window. “How long was I out for this time?”
Alice looked to the digital clock on the wall and told him the time. “Nearly thirty-one hours.”
Jake’s chestnut eyes widened. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah,” Alice said, the word bursting free a little louder than she meant it. “Why would I joke about that?”
“Fuck me,” Jake groaned.
Alice stared at him as he rubbed his face some more. He definitely seemed more alert this time, and how was he still so handsome after sleeping so much?
When Alice slept in for ten hours, she woke up looking ten years older and kind of like the walking dead. Jake just happened to look like Sleeping Handsome, the bastard.
And she wanted to kiss him again, so that was what she did.
Apparently, after holding back for so long, of not having him with her because of the dangers and the running and hiding, just to wait another month for him to wake up, well, it made it difficult for her to keep her hands to herself.
This was going to become something of a real problem if she couldn’t stop, but for now, Jake didn’t seem to be complaining.
Those big brown eyes widened again when Alice’s hands cupped his still scratchy cheeks. The stubble from his beard scratched the area around her mouth, but Alice didn’t mind. She only wanted his lips.
The kiss was long and sweet. Despite how long he’d been sleeping, he was warm and inviting, and better still, he didn’t pass out again. That clearly meant he could handle whatever she threw his way, right?
So she tested out just what would happen when she slipped her tongue into his mouth.
Jake immediately pushed her back. His strength still wasn’t entirely there, but he was able to do that much. His cheeks were a healthy shade of pink as he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, partly laughing, but mostly it looked as if he was trying to hide his embarrassment. “I don’t think you want to be kissing me like that right now.”
It was easy to not be offended when he looked as cute as he did, and after being unconscious for so long, she understood.
“You want me you bring you something?”
Jake released a moan akin to what Alice might hear if she had been kissing him a little farther down his body. “A toothbrush and some mouthwash would make you the most amazing person in the world right about now,” he said.
Alice shook her head, smiling at him.
Because he’d been on the road to recovery and had woken up yesterday, the nurses had pulled out most of the tubes that had been keeping him hydrated and whatnot, but he still had some pretty important things strapped to his body that Alice was too worried about touching or messing with.
If Jake wanted to get up and brush his teeth in the bathroom, then he was going to need a nurse to help him. Alice loved this man, and knew Jake loved her back, but she was pretty sure he didn’t want her help with a catheter.
When Alice explained her position on the situation, Jake quickly came around to her way of thinking. She called the nurse for him then stepped outside just so he could have some privacy.
Alice wanted the intimacy of a long-term relationship, but after ten years apart, it might be best to go with baby steps. And the nurse knew what she was doing.
Alice was called back in ten minutes later, and by that time, she’d run downstairs to the snack shop and picked up some sandwiches and drinks.
Jake noted the food and apple juices in her hands and moaned. “I love you.”
Alice’s face flamed up in the best possible way. The nurses left with little smiles on their faces. Alice wasn’t even sure if they were supposed to be letting Jake eat food like this yet, after all the time he’d spent asleep, but if they didn’t say anything, then she wasn’t going to ask.
“Your favorite, meatball sandwiches,” she said. “Though I don’t know how well this place can make a meatball.”
She’d been eating the turkey clubs and ham and cheeses, and even those hadn’t been the best.
Jake blinked at her. “You remembered my fav
orite?”
That heat in Alice’s cheeks turned up a notch. She’d be hot enough to fry an egg on her face soon enough if she couldn’t get a grip. “I guess it was just…you know, easy to remember. Not like meatballs and cheese is hard to forget.”
Jake shrugged. “That’s true. How was I eating before?”
“You don’t wanna know.”
Both of Jake’s dark brown brows lifted, and he nodded. “Fair enough. I won’t ask. I’ll just eat.”
He grinned as he bit into his sandwich. It was an enormous bite, probably bigger than what he was capable of swallowing.
“Usually, I’m the one with squirrel cheeks,” she said.
Jake tried to laugh through his food, but he seemed to be having some trouble. It was interesting watching his face change as he continued to chew. When he swallowed, he was silent for a few seconds. Alice laughed at him.
“No good?”
“They have a way to go before they can make a good sandwich,” he said.
Alice agreed, but food was food, especially when she was hungry. She only needed to eat half her sandwich and drink the small bottle of apple juice before she was full. Even though Jake had complained about the food, he finished off his sandwich, and Alice gave him the rest of hers. She had to get up and bring him a glass of water when he polished off his juice, too.
“You sure you feel okay? That’s the first solid food you’ve had in a month,” she said.
“If I’m going to be sick, I’ll be sure to do it when you’re not looking.”
“That wasn’t exactly what I meant,” Alice said.
“Yeah, I know.”
It was quiet suddenly. They both just looked at each other. Alice was overcome with the urge to once again go over there and just kiss him senseless. Her fingers itched to touch him, and her legs twitched, wanting to get up and move closer to him.
She stayed put right where she was. She had to put her hands in her lap just to give them somewhere to be, other than where they wanted to go.
“Now I know you’re worried about something,” Jake said.
She looked up at him. “Huh?”
