Friend-Zoned (Friend-Zoned 1)

This is not a good dream. Nik’s never injured in my dreams.

He smiles big and kisses my forehead. He asks, “Did you have sweet dreams, baby?”

I turn my tired, half-lidded eyes into his bright amber ones and beg in a hoarse whisper, “Don’t wake me up. ”

***

My eyes flutter and I press deeper into the warmth at my side.

Something tightens around my waist. I open my eyes and lean back.

Nik is in the hospital bed with me. Dressed in sweats and a tee.

Oh, god. I wasn’t dreaming. Nik is alive!

He smiles and his eyes search my face, he whispers, “Hey, baby. ”

I smile but an endless stream of tears fall down my cheeks. I mouth hey.

He wipes my tears away and says, “Well, this proves it…”

I frown and shrug.

He continues “Nothing will keep us apart. And we need to get married. Like, tomorrow. ”

I silently chuckle and mouth I do. The after a moment I mouth what happened?

He straightens and explains, “When Omarr shot you, I thought you were dead, baby. Never, in all my life, have I felt the way I felt that night. ” The light in his eyes fade and he focuses on nothing in particular across the room, he whispers, “So much blood. I was sure there was none left in your body. ”

Stupid hemophilia!

He goes on, “Then he shot me in the thigh. It didn’t look bad but he got a main artery so I was bleeding as bad as you were. And I thought to myself as long as I’m with you in life or death, I’ll be okay. I killed Omarr, baby. My last thought before I passed out was that I wasn’t able to save you. And that sucked. ”

He looks so pained.

I whisper, “I love you…and we’re getting married. ”

He smiles and teases, “You pinky swear?”

I silently chuckle and hold up my pinky. We link them together. I lean forward and place a soft kiss on his lips. We chuckle and hold each other.

My eyes heavy and I slip into a deep and restful sleep.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Making it official

One month later…

Just thinking about the past month makes me exhausted.

It turns out I was in hospital three weeks before I woke from my deep comatose sleep. I was shot just under the right side of my collarbone. The bullet went straight in and out, luckily missing all vital organs.

Nik was there every day with me, leaving Max in charge at The White Rabbit. My dad came down when I first got shot but Nik sent him back to Cali with a promise that if anything changed, he’d call. The day after I woke, my dad was there bullying me to get better which made me laugh.

My dad becomes even more abrupt when he’s hurting.

I spent another week in the hospital after I woke and upon leaving I asked to see the doctor privately.