Page 53 of Deacon

I nodded because I heard the boundary inside it. She had drawn the line carefully, and every part of me wanted to lean against it just enough to see whether it moved.

“Everything look alright?”

Her attention returned to the monitor, and I could almost feel her relief at having something safe to discuss. “Everything looks fine. You’re stable. Which would be easier to maintain if certain people in this room stopped baiting you into acting like an idiot.”

Nomad looked offended. “I baited nobody. He came wired that way.”

Ledger lost the battle and laughed again.

Lila shook her head before looking at me. “I’ll stop by tomorrow after shift if I can.”

It should have been enough.

Where she was concerned, I was learning nothing ever would be.

“I’ll be lookin’ forward to it.”

Her lips parted slightly, the reaction so quick I might have missed it if I hadn’t spent half my life watching her. Then she gathered herself again and put all that softness back behind the wall she had been building since I woke.

“Get some rest, Jackson.”

She turned before I could say anything stupid enough to keep her there.

At the doorway, she paused and looked back at Nomad and Ledger. “And if the two of you rile him up again, I will absolutely find the meanest nurse on this floor and make you both regret it.”

Then she left.

The door shut behind her, and silence held for a beat before Ledger released a low whistle.

Nomad leaned back, looking far too satisfied with himself. “Mean little thing.”

I kept my eyes on the closed door. “Yeah. Always was.”

That sharp, stubborn fire had survived everything I had missed. She was angry with me, wary, and exhausted enough to be running on fumes, yet she had walked into the room and filled it simply by refusing to let any of us push her around.

My mouth pulled into a small grin.

She was still Lila in every way that mattered.

And God help me, I wanted back in worse than ever.

14

Deacon

Lila had been gone less than a minute, and the room still felt full of her. Laughter broke loose after the door shut, low and rough and a little disbelieving, like none of us trusted what had just happened enough to touch it too hard. Nomad remained in the chair by the window looking altogether too pleased with himself, while Ledger stood near the bed with one hand braced on the rail, shaking his head like I’d somehow become more entertaining by nearly dying.

“She was meaner when she left than when she came in,” Ledger said.

I shifted carefully against the pillow, my ribs protesting immediately. “That’s because Nomad doesn’t know how to mind his own damn business.”

Nomad leaned back farther, arms crossing over his chest. “No, that’s because she still cares enough to get mean.”

That earned him a look. “You always this smug?”

“Only when I’m right.”

Ledger laughed again, and I made the mistake of joining him. The sound escaped before the pain did, a sharp pull through my side that had me wincing and reaching instinctively toward my ribs. Nomad watched with all the sympathy of a man enjoying himself far too much. “Better watch it,” he drawled. “You have too much fun, your little nurse is gonna come yell at you.”