Chapter 60

Jason was back before the doctors. He handed me a cup of coffee and sat down next to me. For a while we both sipped at our coffee and were in our own minds.

“I thought he was a little bit mad when I first got to know he was interested in you, his son's ex-wife. Some kind of mid life crisis or something,” Jason said out of nowhere. It hurt a little, but I wasn’t surprised. Both me and Hunter had struggled with it before deciding we didn’t care about what our relationship to Simon was.

“I get that,” I told him.

“Not so much because of the ex-wife thing. That son of his is a… let’s go with idiot. I think it was the age difference at first.” I hummed at his words. It was meaningless to deny there was an age difference. I hadn’t done the maths, but it was definitely more than the conventional ‘half plus seven’. But I didn’t care, and funny enough, I didn’t care if Jason had an issue with it either. “But then I noticed how he talked about you, I saw how he changed and how he acted around you. And I actually think you have been good for him,” Jason added. I turned my head and looked at him. “I know, who would have thought it? Right? But he is happier with you around, he actually leaves the office for more than three hours a day. The fucker even smiles at random times. Not going to lie, that's creepy. But still. He is better off with you around, that makes you family,” he concluded.

“Thank you,” I said. I was moved to the point of feeling my eyes watering. But I tried to hold back, I had cried once today already. But Jason’s words ment a lot to me. Strangely enough they made me feel a part of a family more than I had done during my years married to Simon. We went back to sit in silence until we were approached by a person in scrubs. We both stood up and I took Jason’s hand. I didn’t know if it was to calm myself down, or him. Maybe it was for both of us.

“The family of Mr Gardner?” the man asked.

“Yes,” Jason replied while I just nodded.

“I’m doctor Santos, I have been operating on Mr Gardner. There is an infection in the shoulder, but nothing severe, we caught it early. It’s been cleaned and stitched. The head wound looked worse than it was. We have glued it to keep it from reopening. He will get a slight scar, but nothing worth calling in a plastic surgeon for. The biggest concern is the blood loss at this point. We have given him four bags of plasma and he is holding stable. We will keep an eye on it. But for now he is in recovery and two or three of you can go and see him if you want,” the doctor said.

“Thank you,” both Jason and I said as one. He nodded to us, described how to get to Hunter’s room and then left.

“Let’s go then,” Jason said and offered me a smile.

“You don’t think some of the men want to come?” I asked. I didn’t want to take someones spot even though I was desperate to go to Hunter.

“No, they will be heading back to base to rest. Except for the ones who came with you. They will stay and make sure both you and Hunter are safe,” Jason told me. He let go of my hand and placed his hand on my back to urge me forward. I let out a sigh of relief and hurried towards the room. Hunter was in a hospital bed. He was breathing on his own, but there were tubes going everywhere and monitors beeping. They had cleaned the blood of him, but it just made him look pale. I walked up to his side and took the hand that only had a clamp on one of the fingers into both of mine. I leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek.

“I’m here, so you can just keep resting,” I whispered to him. Jason stood by the foot of the bed for a moment. Then he walked to the corner of the room and got the armchair and placed it next to me. “What about you?” I asked.

“I’ll take that one,” he said, indicating a small sofa. I was about to object as it couldn’t be moved like the armchair and I didn’t mind standing or sitting on the edge of the bed. But Jason had already gone to the sofa. He sat down and put his feet on the small table in front of it and pulled out his phone. I smiled and moved the armchair into a position I liked and sat down. I kept Hunters hand in one of mine at all times. When I was reasonably comfortable, I checked in on Hunter again. He was still sleeping and I stroked a lock of his hair from his forehead. I spent some time just looking at him, feeling happy that I could. Then I took out my phone and texted Wictor to let him know Hunter was back and that he should enjoy his Sunday. Then I put the phone away and let myself relax. There was nothing we could do now but wait. Hunter was back with us, he was getting the care he needed and that was all that mattered at the moment in my world. As I relaxed I felt sleepy. I still had too little sleep in my system and as the adrenaline slowly wore off alongside the effects of the coffee it took its toll. I leaned forward and rested my folded arms on the bed, still holding Hunter’s hand. My head found a good spot to rest on top of my arms and before I knew it, I was asleep. I woke up by someone caressing my hair. I opened my eyes and saw that Hunter was awake, he was looking at me with a smile.

“Hi, sweetness,” he said. He was whispering and his voice sounded rough, like if he hadn’t had enough to drink.

“Hunter,” I answered with a smile of my own. My voice didn’t sound much better after my nap. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Jason was sound asleep.

“He needs it, and I prefer talking to you,” Hunter said as he saw what I was looking at. I nodded and straightened up to get a better look at him. He looked a little better, but he was still pale and looked tired. “How are you holding up?” he asked me and caressed my cheek. I tried to stifle a giggle.

“I think I should be asking you that,” I pointed out and took his hand in mine. It was his bad arm and it made me nervous when he moved it too much.

“I know how I am. But I need to know how you are. Were you hurt? Did they come after you?” he insisted. As he looked to be working himself up, I relented.

“No. I’m fine. Not a scratch on me. You kept me safe. Jason had a car picking me up so quickly I don’t think anyone ever got a chance to think about coming after me. And since then I have been in your office. Well I did help Chef a little. Both him and Jason have been taking care of me, they are really sweet. Jason even managed to get me some new clothes,” I told him and I stood up so he could see my outfit. He chuckled.

“You even look sexy in the company clothes,” he said. “But don’t get too sweet on the guys, you will make me jealous.” I leaned over him and placed a soft kiss on his lips.

“No need for that, I only have eyes for you,” I told him and he grinned. “So, now that you know how I feel, I think you should tell me how you feel,” I told him. “Fair is fair,” I added when he was about to object. He sighed and nodded and I saw him struggling for a moment. “Hunter, honey, you don’t have to always be the strong one. I know I have leaned on you, a lot, from the day we met. But I can be strong as well. It’s okay to not be okay and to tell me that,” I told him. He looked at me and then let his smile fall.

“I feel pretty beat up. They are giving me the good kind of painkillers so I’m not in any serious pain. But my body feels stiff. I’m not as young as I was when I was on active duty. Then this would have been a walk in the park. Aksakov told me something that I probably needed to hear,” he said and then paused.

“But you wished you hadn’t,” I helped out. He nodded. I used my free hand to rake it through his hair and he sighed again and leaned his head back on the pillow with his eyes closed. I made sure to avoid the head wound and the area around it that was turning different shades of purple and yellow. “You can rest now. There are men outside that will keep us safe. And we don’t have to deal with any of the other things now. We can take a couple of days and rest.”

“That sounds nice. You will be with me, right?” he asked.

“Of course. You won’t get rid of me that easily. I will stay until you tell me I’m getting on your nerves,” I assured him and kissed the back of his hand.

“That will never happen, sweetness.”

“For fuck sake. Can you two ease off the sleaziness? I’m slipping into a diabetic coma over here,” Jason complained.

“Shut the fuck up and go back to sleep,” Hunter told his friend. As if on cue, Clair walked in with a smile.

“I thought you all needed something to eat. I could hear from down the corridor that the boss and Mr Jason are getting cranky,” Clair said. She shoved Jason’s feet off the coffee table and put a bag on it. From it she took out some of the sandwiches I had made and bottles of water. As I watched her, I realised I hadn’t eaten anything since Hunter and I had dinner. My stomach growled and I heard Hunter chuckle. Jason just looked highly amused. “I talked to the nurse, boss. You are okay to eat, as long as you go slowly. No over indulgence,” Clair told them.

“Thank you Clair,” I said.

“No worries. I hope everything is tasty. I practically had to fight the entire field department to get it. Rumor says it’s the best sandwiches we have ever had. I need to get back, but you can text me if you need anything.”

“You’re not staying?” I asked.

“No time. I have seen the boss and he looks to be alive. So I know my job is safe. That means I need to get things going. It was nice seeing you, boss,” she said.

“You too, Clair. Thank you for stopping by and for the food,” Hunter told her.