Say It Ain't So (SWAT Generation 2.0 9)

“And Hastings?” I asked.

She backed away and moved a curtain that separated my bed from Hastings.

“She’s right here. Still passed out cold from the shock.”Chapter 25

Live fast and eat trash.

-T-shirt

Hastings

“…hasn’t been sleeping well,” I heard Suzanne say. “We couldn’t give her sleeping meds because of the baby. She hasn’t been eating. I think I saw her take a few sips of tea today at lunch.”

I tried to open my eyes but couldn’t.

I didn’t want to.

“Baby,” the most beautiful voice I’d ever heard said. “Wake up, baby. I’m dying here without your eyes.”

Dying.

Dying.

I opened my eyes and knew that something had happened.

I was dead.

Because if I was seeing Sammy, then that only could mean one thing.

“I died?” I cried.

Sammy’s frown was ferocious.

“No,” he said. “You’re alive. So is our baby.”

I looked around the room.

It was unfamiliar to me.

We weren’t at a hospital, but we were in a room of some sort with quite a few people around us.

The men of the SWAT team.

Suzanne.

Miller and Mercy.

Sierra.

I looked back at Sammy.

God, even dirty and wild looking, he was beautiful.

“Did we go to heaven?”

He laughed then and dropped a kiss to my mouth.

“No, sweetheart.” He smoothed my hair back from my face. “We’re not in heaven. I’m alive.”

That’s when I realized that he was telling the truth. He was very much alive and looked like absolute shit.

He was dressed in a hospital gown just like me. He had an IV going into the back of one of his hands, and a big bag of something was pouring into his body that was now half-full.

His eyes had deep, dark circles underneath of them, and he had cuts and bruises on his face that looked to vary from days old to only hours.

My head hurt something fierce, and my mouth was so dry that I couldn’t even lick my lips.

“How?” I whispered, tears now starting to leak into my hair.

Sammy wiped them away with shaky palms, but more followed in their predecessors’ path.

“He said, ‘Won’t it be funny for you to die here where they have your funeral.’” Sammy’s voice cracked as he spoke. “And so he left me in the truck. I managed to work my hand free. I just thought he would be the one to open that door. So I used every last bit of my energy to launch myself out of the truck. I’m sorry I hit you. I just didn’t expect it to be you opening the door.”

I shook my head.

“Most pitiful punch I’ve ever seen him throw,” who I thought was Louis said. “I fixed it for him, though. Made him look not so bad.”

“Why didn’t you come? Why?” I asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“I couldn’t,” he admitted. “Patman knocked me out with something. I could barely stand to pick my head up off the ground for days.”

“Traumatic brain injury,” someone supplied from behind us.

I didn’t bother looking up.

“Every time I lifted my head, it would swim. I would barf, dry heave, or both. Then it would start a chain reaction that caused me to pass out. I was a mess for a long time.” He winced. “By the time I was shoved in his truck all over again this morning, it was the first time in days that I’ve been able to do more than roll over. But I haven’t been able to eat or sleep since he’s had me. Nothing to drink, either.”

“He’s severely dehydrated,” someone else said. “And he should really be eating.”

I gave him a stern look. “I’ll eat in a minute.”

That’s when I realized that of course Sammy wouldn’t be able to eat if he was dead.

I was dreaming!

“You’re dead.” I started to sob. “So are my parents and sister.”

“Your dad and Aurora,” Sammy confirmed, squeezing my hand between his. “They were in the car behind me. The truck landed on their car. I’m so sorry, baby.”

Somebody said something behind me, but I was crying too hard to hear.

It was only when Sammy groaned with renewed pain that I realized what had been said.

“You… she had a heart attack?” Sammy asked.

“Yes.” I heard that part. A woman.

“Fuck,” Sammy whispered. “Oh, baby.”

I cried so hard that I fell asleep all over again.

Luckily, this time, it was to Sammy’s sweet voice telling me he would make everything okay.Chapter 26

Fuck off. Fuck off. Fuck off. Fuck off. Go fuck yourself.

-T-shirt

Suzanne

I looked at my best friend in her man’s arms and felt the belt around my heart start to loosen.

She wasn’t going to be alone anymore.

Thank. God.

There’d been a few times over the last couple of days that I’d worried that she might try to harm herself, and I’d already started making plans with my husband and son to stay here for a while.

Thankfully, now that Sammy was there, I wouldn’t have to worry about her.

She would be okay.