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But the second his eyes found mine, and I knew he actually saw me, every bit of strength I had been holding onto disappeared. I lowered my head against his hand and cried. Not the quiet tears I had been wiping away all day either. My shoulders shook as everything finally came out of me at once. Malik’s fingers weakly curled around mine. That only made me cry harder.

“I thought I lost you,” I managed to whisper.

His thumb barely moved against my skin, but I felt it. I lifted my head and looked at him through blurred eyes.

“You scared the hell out of me, Malik Browne.”

The faintest change touched the corner of his mouth. It wasn’t quite a smile. But it was enough. I laughed through my tears, leaned down carefully, and pressed my lips against his forehead.

“I love you.”

His eyes slowly closed again. Exhaustion was already pulling him back under, but his hand remained around mine.

BLEEK

The ice water might’ve been the best thing I’d ever tasted in my life. I know it was probably just hospital tap, but it tasted like it came from Lake Minnetonka or some shit. Eternity held the cup while I pulled slowly from the straw, letting the cold water sit in my mouth for a second before swallowing. My throat still felt raw, and even something as simple as drinking took more effort than it should have. After a few sips, I released the straw and leaned my head back against the pillow.

“Enough?” she asked.

“For now.”

She placed the cup on the table beside my bed before reaching over to wipe a drop of water from the corner of my mouth. I looked at her but didn’t say anything. She had been doing shit like that since I opened my eyes. Adjusting my blanket. Asking if I was comfortable. Watching the monitors every time one of them made a sound she didn’t recognize. Every few minutes, her hand found some part of me to touch, and I knew why.

She needed the reminder that I was still here, and truthfully, so did I. Pieces of what happened had been coming back to me since I woke up. Some moments were clearer than others. I remembered Maliah driving. I remembered the sound of the first shot and realizing what it was before I even had time to process where it came from. After that, everything happened on instinct. Things played out exactly how they should have because, at the end of the day, if it ever came down to me or any one of my kids, start making the obituaries because I was prepared to go. Sha and Tori had come in along with MJ. Once everyone laid eyes on me, I could feel the weight they all had hanging over them just leave. It felt good to not have nurses probing and asking a million questions. Shit, the police had even come up in this bitch and had questions of their own.

Luckily, their little interview was quick. For one, I couldn’t remember the face of the man who had done this, and secondly, even if I did, telling them would be the last thing on my mind. Whenever I found whoever was responsible for this shit, it was for me to handle it, and trust me, the law getting involved was completely off the table. I pulled away from my inner thoughts when there was a knock at the door before the doctor walked in. He greeted us as he approached the bed, and I noticed the shift in Eternity almost immediately. She sat straighter in her chair, and all the attention she’d been giving me had moved to him.

Tahari was sitting farther across the room. He had been quiet for most of the time he was there, which I appreciated. I didn’t have the energy for a room full of people talking over each other or asking me how I felt every five minutes. This was the man I was waiting for. I had drilled nurses with questions about my recovery, and they all danced around my questions and advised that anything I had to ask was for the doctor. He moved closer to the bed.

“How are you feeling, Mr. Browne?”

“Like I got shot.”

Eternity gave me a look. The doctor smiled slightly.

“Considering the circumstances, I’d say that’s a pretty accurate description.”

I shifted against the pillow and immediately regretted it when pain pulled through my body.

Whatever they had me on was doing its job, but it wasn’t doing enough for me to forget what had happened. The doctor looked over the monitors before turning his attention back to me.

“Now that you’re more alert, I want to go over your injuries with you and talk about what we expect moving forward.” He paused and looked around the room. “Did you want privacy for this conversation, or is everyone in this room privy to hear?”

I looked around the room and saw nothing but family. Tori, Sha, Eternity, Maliah, Tahari, and MJ. This was the little village that would help me through whatever the fuck he had to tell me. I nodded for him to continue.

“You sustained three gunshot wounds. One to the shoulder, one to your side, and the third entered through your back. We were able to address the immediate injuries during surgery, and right now everything we’re seeing postoperatively is encouraging.”

I listened without interrupting.

“The injury to your back is the one we’re going to be watching most closely. There’s significant swelling around the affected area, and right now that swelling is interfering with the function and communication of the nerves responsible for movement in your lower extremities.”

My eyes dropped toward the blanket covering my legs. I had known something wasn’t right. Since waking up, everything below my waist had felt strange. Heavy in a way I couldn’t explain. I had blamed most of it on the medication because my entire body felt like it belonged to somebody else, but judging by the direction this conversation was going, there was more to it. I needed to hear the shit in black and white.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

The doctor took a moment before answering.

“It means that right now, you’re experiencing significant weakness and loss of mobility in your legs. As the swelling decreases, we’ll have a better understanding of how much function returns on its own and how much assistance you’ll need from rehabilitation.”