We stayed like that for a few minutes. Dad stepped back. “He’s going to be fine.”
I lost it.
Tears streamed down my face, my body wracked with sobs. Alec wordlessly pulled me to his side. “Can we see him?”
“Not yet.” My dad looked from Alec to me. “We had to induce a coma so he could heal. We’ll pull him out of it when I think he’s out of the woods. He has four broken ribs, and a bruised spleen. His left wrist is completely shattered and one of his lungs was punctured. He has a mild concussion, and his face is severely bruised. His right cheek bone is fractured but other than that he’s doing just fine.”
Yeah, other than his entire body being broken. I could feel Alec tense next to me. I knew what he was thinking. His brother was okay, but he could have died. He’s also left-handed, meaning he wouldn’t be able to play guitar for quite a while. I knew enough about Demetri to know music was his only escape. I shuddered to think of what he would turn to if he didn’t have his music.
“Sir?” Alec’s voice cracked. “Thank you. I don’t know what to say. Other than I owe you everything.”
My dad smiled genuinely and patted Alec on the back. “It was my pleasure. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go check on our patient.”
Guilt stabbed my chest. I had always thought my parents didn’t care. Was it possible that they actually did? For my dad to do what he did, to embrace me, and then be so genuine with Alec. Confused, I just kept my mouth shut and allowed my brain to replay images of my past.
“Nat,” Alec whispered next to me. My head snapped up. “Thank you, for taking care of things, for the calls and—” He shook his head and licked his lips then looked back down at the floor. “I honestly don’t know what I would do without you.”
I hugged him tight. “I’m sorry, Alec. If I could have known, maybe—”
“No.” Alec jerked back and glared. “Don’t even think about blaming yourself for this! We all go through crap, Nat. That’s life. It’s how you react to it that defines the person you grow into.”
“Wise words from a nineteen year old. I wonder if you listen to your own advice?”
Alec cursed. “My situation is different, believe me. What I did, it was unforgiveable. I’m lucky my brother still talks to me.”
“It’s not different.”
“The hell it isn’t!” He yelled, his eyes widening, his mouth tense.
“Fine.” I snapped. “How is it different? How is what you did any different?”
“I caused this!” Alec bolted from his seat and began pacing in front of me. “Do you even know the type of guy Demetri was before all this? Innocent little virgin who wouldn’t even touch alcohol if someone paid him to! I protected him from everything and—”
Alec stopped talking.
“You sheltered him so much that he never learned how to deal with stuff on his own,” I said. I knew Alec would be mad that I was butting in, but it was the truth. “Alec—” I got up and walked toward him. “You were the older brother. Yes, it was your job to protect him. But…” I shrugged. “Sometimes you gotta let people take the hit. How do you think a quarterback learns how to deal with the fear of getting hit?”
Alec snorted and looked away. “He gets the crap beat out of him at practice.”
“Exactly.” I reached up and brushed the hair away from his forehead. “Alec, you tried to protect Demetri from everything, and the minute things took a turn for the worse, how did he cope with it?”
“He didn’t.”
I kept talking. “So, then you tried harder, you changed your whole life, you coddled him even more, removed him from your old lifestyle, put him in counseling, tried to fix him, and then something else happened, and what was his reaction?”
Alec sighed. “The same as before, only this time he nearly killed himself.”
“Alright then.” I wrapped my hands around his head, pulling it down closer to mine. “I know I’m not perfect and we both know you aren’t.”
That got a laugh out of him.
“But, Demetri needs to grow up. He needs to learn, and hopefully this will be the start of that.” I decided not to add in the part that Demetri was most likely facing criminal charges and would probably have to spend time in court over this escapade, nor the thought that he may not wake up at all. It hurt too much to think about.
Alec sighed. “You’re right.”
“I’m what?”
Glaring, Alec pushed me away with a laugh. “Don’t push it, Nat.”
“Alec?” A small nurse approached. “You can see your brother now. He’s in ICU, but he’s stable. I’m sure the doctor has informed you that he’s in a medically induced coma, but you can still talk to him.”
Alec clenched my hand.
“Sorry.” The nurse looked between us. “Family only.”
“She is family.”
The nurse didn’t looked convinced. Alec cleared his throat. “She’s my fiancée.”
Had I been any more alert I may have given away his little fib by gasping, but I was too tired to react. Instead I smiled and laid my head on his shoulder.
The nurse nodded. “Okay, this way.”
Chapter Twenty-four
I fought back tears as we walked into Demetri’s room. A tube was coming out of his mouth, his face was bruised and bandaged. I choked back a sob when Alec fell to his knees next to his brother’s bed. I didn’t know what to say. What do you say? All of us were hurting, all in different ways. I did all I knew I could do. I put my hand on Alec’s shoulder and watched a man, a very strong man, cry silently as he looked at his only remaining family, in a coma, in a hospital bed.
My fault, is all that ran through my head. The treacherous thoughts screamed at me! Why did I go for Demetri when I knew my heart belonged to Alec? Why did I drag both of them through this? I loved them both, I truly did. I was never one to understand people when they asked if you could love two people at one time. I thought they were stupid and selfish to even think of such a thing. But my heart was broken for the boy in the bed in front of me. I wanted to take his place. I wanted to remove the bandages one by one and kiss the bruises away.
My knees felt weak, so I walked over to the nearest chair and sat down. Alec didn’t move. He grabbed his brother’s hand. “I’m so sorry,” he croaked.
The nurse came back in and told us it was time to leave.
I thought it would take ten men to get Alec to leave his brother’s side, but he nodded his head and put his arm around me as we walked out.
“You need food,” I said once we got back to the lobby. It had been hours since we had eaten.
“I never thought I’d see the day when you would be force feeding me,” Alec joked. Tension released in my shoulders.
“Let’s go grab some overnight stuff and some food and we can come back here.”
“You sure you want to stay the night at the hospital?”
I exhaled. “I’m family, remember?”
“I won’t ever forget.” Alec kissed my cheek and we walked outside hand in hand.
****
The next three days flew by. I refused to go to school even though Alec was irritated with me for staying at the hospital. I couldn’t leave Demetri’s side any more than he could.
Like he said, we were family. I felt like I was the only family they had. It was like another half of my self was in that hospital bed.
Each night I would go into Demetri’s room while Alec made phone calls to update his agent as well as his publicist. I was probably boring the poor guy to tears, but I kept reading from our senior lit class textbook as if nothing had happened. I’m sure inside Demetri was screaming for me to stop, which actually cheered me up when I got to the end of Hamlet.
The media had a field day with the accident. Some stations reported some really awful things, saying that Demetri had a drug problem, that he was high when he got into the accident. I was so angry most the time that when I walked out of the hospital and got a camera shoved in my face all I wanted to do was cry and lash out. Thankfully, Bob and Lloyd were lifesavers when it came to our security at the hospital. On several occasions I told them I wouldn’t be upset at all if they suddenly lost control of their firearms.
They laughed.
Alec was talking quietly in the hall. I reached out and caressed Demetri’s hand. His doctors had been slowly lessening the chemicals in his body. They figured he would be completely out his induced state over the next twenty-four hours. The bruises still looked dark and swollen across his face, but at least his lips had lost some of the swelling.
“Your brother told everyone I was his fiancée.” I caressed his hand. “It was the only way they would let me see you.” My chest clenched, I was too sad to laugh but I wanted to. “Trust me, I could have taken that tiny nurse. We all know how strong I am.” I bit my lip and watched Demetri lay completely still, making no movement. “Alec also told me that you used to pee the bed when you were little and that you were scared of birds until you reached the age of twelve.”
I laughed again and squeezed his hand. “Naturally, I thought the best way to get you out of your drug-induced state was to threaten you. So, I rented the movie The Birds, and if you don’t come out of your coma I’m just going to keep playing it over and over again until you wake up.”
“Cruel,” Alec said behind me.
“And in order to prove my theory, I also recorded a few bird calls on my iPhone. Did you know there was an app for that?”
I could feel Alec’s chuckle behind me as I pressed play. We both laughed, and then Demetri’s hand moved.
I thought I imagined it, but Alec’s hand froze on my shoulder. “Play it again.”
I pressed play again, this time it was a crow, and yes, it was beyond creepy. My eyes trained on Demetri’s hand. Nothing.
Frustrated, I pushed the play button again. His hand moved, just slightly. I raised my gaze to his face.
“His eyes are open! Get the nurse!” I yelled. Alec was already out the door yelling down the halls.
Demetri’s eyes widened as he looked around the room, his eyes filled with tears. “No, no, it’s okay.” I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “You’re fine, okay? Don’t panic. I need you to not panic right now, okay?” I felt warm tears slide down my cheeks.
Demetri didn’t nod, but his heart-rate went back to normal. I couldn’t blame him. If I was strapped to equipment I would be freaking out too. They had removed his breathing tube earlier that morning, but I knew from my dad’s stories that Demetri would have a severely sore throat for at least a week.
“Ice?” I reached for a cup of ice that I had set there in hopes that he would wake up soon. He nodded his head just slightly. I scooted closer and lifted the spoon to his chapped lips with trembling hands.
He opened his mouth just slightly, that same mouth I had spent endless days and hours kissing. I choked back another sob as he tried to smile and nod again. He liked it. He wanted more.