Beautifully Broken

“Where are you going?” Gretchen asks dropping her dishtowel on the floor.

“They’re pulling Piper out of her coma. I’ve got to go.”

I shove my phone in my pocket and reach for the handle, but Gretchen slips her hand on it first. I forgot the woman’s a damn ninja. “No.”

“No? There is no, no. I’m going.”

“Rexroth Anthony Montgomery, you are not leaving this house.” Gretchen gives me that look, the one that says she means business and not to cross her. “You look like shit and smell even worse. Go upstairs and take a shower.”

I groan. “I don’t have time for a shower!”

“And those doctors aren’t going to let you see her like this. Look at yourself! There still flakes of dried blood in your hair. Not to mention you smell worse than your hockey bag, and that says something.”

I sniff my pits and wince. She’s right. I smell terrible. Stress sweat with no deodorant is a toxic mix. But it’s not like I was thinking about personal hygiene when I rushed out of the hotel room this morning. I hang my keys back on the hook and take a step back. “Okay.”

“Good boy.” She pats my shoulder. “You get cleaned up. I’ll pack this food in some containers. I’m sure Piper’s family hasn’t left her side and are hungry too.”

My shower takes longer than anticipated, but the warm water felt too good to leave, melting the tension from my muscles. Almost an hour passes by the time I reach the hospital again. The ICU waiting room is smaller than the surgery waiting room we were in. There’s a handful of people waiting on loved ones, but the only person around I recognize is Cooper.

“Hey, Man,” I sit in the god awful waiting room chair next to him. The fluorescent lights make Cooper’s sun-kissed skin a sickly color. I try not to think about Piper, lying unconscious, and how her ivory skin is probably comparable to a vampire’s under these lights. A vampire who drinks blood. There was so much blood. “How is she?”

He shakes his head then leans back in his seat. “I don’t know. Mom’s back there now. They took Piper off the coma drugs, but she hasn’t woken up yet.”

“What?” My voice bounces off the white walls around us, waking some lady across the room. She shushes us then attempts to go back to sleep. It’s late, if I wasn’t so stressed out, I’d be tired too. This woman has hopefully received some good news, allowing her the comfort of a good night’s sleep. I wish I was her. I hold up my hand as an apology, but I’m pretty sure she’s ignoring me. “Why not? What happened?”

“I don’t know. I’m not a doctor.” Cooper snaps. He’s irritated, and I get it. It’s been a long day, for both of us, but he doesn’t have to be a dick. He crosses his arms and closes his eyes, trying to find the same peace the lobby woman has. Good luck with that.

I get up and walk to the nurses station. A tiny blonde who looks like she still belongs in high school sits behind the counter, typing away at her computer. “Excuse me?”

She looks up, bright-eyed, with a smile. “How can I help you?”

“I was wondering if you could give me an update on Piper Lovelace?”

Her face twists together, almost apologetically. “Are you on the release form? I can’t tell you anything if you’re not.”

“I…” I scratch the back of my neck. Am I? I don’t remember filling out any paperwork, but it’s been such a long day I might have. I hope I did. “I don’t know. Can you check?”

“Sure!” This girl’s too chipper for this time of night. She needs to lay off the coffee, or maybe I need some. “What’s your name?”

“Rex Montgomery.”

She types something, each key on the keyboard clicking. “Yup, here you are. What do you want to know?”

I let out a breath of relief. Mamma T must have added me to the form knowing I’d be asking questions. Fucking woman is a saint. “Everything. Tell me everything.”

“Okay,” The nurse scrolls through Piper’s file, which feels miles long by how long she’s quiet. Finally she says, “As I’m sure you’re aware, Piper was shot in the shoulder.”

“Yup, I was there for that,” I say. The girl looks up at me, eyes wide then quickly looks at the screen again. “What else?”

“Looks like the bullet nicked an artery and she fractured her humerus. On the bright side, they were able to pull it from her subacromial space with minimal complications.”

Speak fucking English! I’m not a doctor, I don’t know what half that shit means, woman! “Why did they put her in a coma?”

“Hard to say. Probably because of all the blood she lost. I’m not a doctor, so that's just my guess. But they did pull her out of it a little over an hour ago which is a good sign.”

“How long until she wakes up?”

The nurse shakes her