Always Him (Always #1)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Jasper

    A week later and Sadie was still asleep. Her heartbeat had steadied; her vitals were good. Her bruises had begun to fade, leaving behind the beautiful face I'd fallen in love with. Hair brushed over her forehead; I wanted to brush it away but was too afraid I'd accidentally move one of the tubes and hurt her.

    Some of the needles had been removed. She was slowly beginning to look like herself again.

    The doctor had come in and told us she should be waking up any day now. He'd checked her left thigh, made sure the wound was healing nicely. It was. He'd told me it was the only decision they could make; her leg wouldn't have been able to be reattached. It had been nearly severed entirely in the car.

    I'd been sitting on the couch next to her bed for days. Ant and Nora had taken up residence on the other hospital bed that had been in the room. Two at a time would leave to shower, eat, change, but we all ended up back in the room.

    With my working in the engineering sector of the hospital, I'd managed to keep busy while waiting for Sadie to wake up. Lounging on the couch with a tablet resting on my knees.

    Since finding out that Sadie had lost her leg, I'd put myself to work trying to design a flexible prosthetic leg. I wanted it to be as comfortable for her as it could possibly be. I wanted it to help her feel like she'd never lost a leg in the first place. To keep her feeling as normal as possible. It was the least that I could do.

    Design after design, I kept them coming. I wanted her to have options, and I wanted her to have the most comfortable adjustment; I wanted her to feel happy even though I knew she'd be the furthest from happy when she found out about her leg missing. More than anything, though, I wished for her to forgive me. I was the reason she was here; I was the reason I was designing a prosthetic leg for her.

    If she didn't hate me for causing the accident to happen, she'd hate me for this. I hoped she did hate me, yet I also wanted her forgiveness; I'd do anything for her forgiveness. But I wanted to hear her say she hated me, wanted to feel the pain that I was putting her through now.

    My brain was a circus. One thought after another, one about her, one about the leg, another about Blaine, another about my parents and how they're doing since I never went to them.    

    My mother had called after I didn't show up shortly after my plane should have arrived. I had told her about the fight with Sadie, what had happened after. We didn't talk til after the accident had happened after we got into the room with Sadie. She had understood. My mother was an understanding and kind person.

    It turned out that my father had gotten in over his head with the new business he had. Construction. Some renovations had gone wrong, and he wanted my help to fix them. He'd told my mother it was an emergency, so that's what she had told me. It was far from a crisis. What happened with Sadie was a real emergency. I was needed here, not there.

    I had told her that my father would have to wait or figure it out himself. I didn't want to be rude to my father; he'd raised me never to be rude to anyone, and for the most part, I'd kept true to that. This was an exception.

    He'd talked to me after I finished talking with my mom. After hearing everything about Sadie, my father instantly understood. He told me to be the man he knew I was and stay here with her. That wasn't up for debate on either side. I'd agreed to see them once things here calmed down, and I knew Sadie would be alright.