Chapter 280
Before I came completely conscious, I had a little trouble remembering where I was or what had happened. For a moment, I thought when I opened my eyes, I should be back in my bedroom in Shenandoah. I was hopeful it was Saturday and I didn’t have to go to school, and that my alarm wasn’t about to go off. But while my eyes were still closed, it all came back to me, and I took an inventory to make sure I was okay. My arm felt normal, like nothing had happened to it at all, which was a relief. I knew I could trust Jamie, but in that sort of situation, you just never know what to expect.
Like how I wasn’t expecting to see Brandon standing next to me when I finally did open my eyes. I was confused again, and I blinked several times, staring at him, wondering why he was there.
“Hey, there,” he said quietly, a smile on his face. I could tell he was relieved I was awake.
I hadn’t forgotten that I was angry with him or why, but I certainly didn’t feel like debating right at that moment. So I decided to try to be civil at least. “Hey. Where’s Jamie?”
“Oh, he said I could do the procedure. I took out your kidneys. Hope that’s okay.”
I had to give him a little bit of credit for trying. That was amusing. But I wasn’t in a laughing mood. I tried to sit up and felt a little woozy. He put his arms around me, but I didn’t really want his help, so I pushed him off of me.
I didn’t look at his face, but I knew he was hurt. He asked, “You feel okay?” as I swung around to sit on the edge of the table. My arm looked just like I would’ve expected it to. Not a scar, nothing.
“I’m fine,” I replied, rubbing up and down on my arm with my other hand. I even pushed on the muscle a little bit to see if there was any swelling or anything going on inside. “It doesn’t feel any different at all.”
“Good,” Brandon said, smiling at me. I didn’t smile back. He opened his mouth like he was going to say more, but before he could, Jamie walked in. I was glad. I didn’t want to talk to Brandon any more than I had to.
“How are you?” the Healer asked, coming over to the table. “Feeling okay?”
“Just fine. Doesn’t hurt at all.” I smiled at him, hoping he knew how much I appreciated his skills.
“That’s what I wanted to hear,” Jamie replied, stepping over to look at my arm. Brandon moved out of the way, his hands in his pockets. Jamie did basically the same thing I’d just done to myself, pushing on my arm a little. “Yeah, it feels pretty good. The operation went well. I was able to collect eight viable tissue samples. I closed, did a little bit of healing, and then packaged the samples up, and Christian moved them to storage. We’ll be looking at them in the next few days. He and I will each run some tests and see what we can figure out.”
“Great.” I noticed Jamie wasn’t wearing gloves, which I thought was odd. I wondered if he had worn them while he was operating. It wasn’t so much that it would’ve been gross or unhygienic as much as I knew he could heal anything he touched.
He must’ve noticed me staring because he said, “Oh, don’t worry. I had gloves on when I did everything but heal you.”
Feeling a little embarrassed, I said, “Right,” and felt myself blushing. I knew I was still a little woozy from the anesthesia. “Well, is there anything else?”
“Nope. As long as you’re feeling okay, I’ll let Brandon escort you back to my office.” I narrowed my eyes a little bit considering the conversation I’d had with Jamie before this procedure, but he either didn’t notice or didn’t care. “You can use my restroom to get dressed, and we’ll let you know what we find out.”
Brandon offered me his hand so that I could get down, and once again, I was looking at Jamie scrutinizingly. He actually winked at me, though I don’t think Brandon noticed, and I was tempted to elbow him. But I was good. I took Brandon’s hand just in case my legs weren’t quite steady yet, but as soon as I knew they were, I let go and moved away from him quickly. Realizing I was being rude to Jamie after all he’d done for me, I stopped and turned back. “Thank you, Jamie.”
“You bet,” he called over his shoulder, giving me a little wave and then turning back to the operating table.
Brandon opened the door for me, and I realized my audience was a little larger than I had previously thought. “How are you?” Cadence asked at the same time as Elliott inquired, “Doesn’t hurt does it?”
I managed to smile at them even though I didn’t really feel it. “I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt.” They both nodded at me, and I said, “I’m just gonna go get dressed and then go rest for a little while before I have to go train.”
“Okay, well, if you wanna skip today, I’m sure Aurora will understand.” Cadence was likely glad I wasn’t in any pain and that the procedure was over, even though she hadn’t wanted me to do it in the first place.
“I’m fine,” I assured her. I wouldn’t be skipping training over a minor procedure. I smiled at them both again and then headed off to Jamie’s office, Brandon behind me, but not right up on me, and I could tell he was trying to give me some space. I was really hoping he didn’t ask me why I hadn’t let him know I was coming over early because I had no answer for that.
I scooped up my bag from the chair where I’d left it and went into the bathroom without even glancing over my shoulder at Brandon. I heard the chair screech a bit as he pulled it out, and I imagined he sat down to wait on me. I was hoping he’d just go, but that would be too easy. I took my time getting dressed, trying to figure out what to say to him. I couldn’t come up with anything, so I decided now was not the time to have the discussion about why I was angry at him. I remembered the conversation I’d had with Jamie, and I knew it was stupid, but that didn’t make me any less mad at Brandon.
When I walked out, he stood, burying his hands in his pockets the way he does when he’s nervous or self-conscious. I didn’t look at him long because he’s too cute when he does that. I wasn’t ready to roll over just yet. “You feel like yourself again?”
I wasn’t sure if he meant from the surgery or just in general, so I shrugged and headed toward the door. “I’m all right.”
He was pacing me, walking backward, dodging the chair. “Cass, uh, is everything okay?”
I’m not sure why he chose to ask me like that considering our conversation the night before. Maybe he thought we were good after I messaged him earlier in the day. I kept my answer as barren as the desert I’d seen myself standing in in my dream. “No.”
He followed along behind me as I headed outside. “What is it? Is it something we need to talk about?”
I could hear the desperation in his voice now, like he’d spent all night and all day trying to figure out what he had done. I know sometimes boys do things and irritate their girls, and their girls think, “Well, if you don’t even know what you did then I’m not going to tell you,” but in this case, I didn’t expect him to be able to figure it out. Like I’d said earlier, my anger at him didn’t make any sense. It was stupid. Yet, it was there just the same. I shrugged for the thousandth time and said, “I don’t know.”
He wasn’t going to be quite as deterred that afternoon as he was the night before. “Well, when might you know?” he asked, walking beside me.
“I don’t know,” I said again. I thought if I said that enough times, maybe he’d catch on and just go away.
His breathing was loud and pointed, so I knew he was frustrated. “Do you just want some space, then?”
“Yeah, that would be great.” I gave him a look that couldn’t be misinterpreted and then broke into a jog, needing to be away from him until I could get my head on straight. I hoped he’d forgive me later when I came back to him, to let him know I was sorry for being stupid, but for now, I needed to get some rest so Aurora could kick my rear end later. And as much as it had helped to talk to Jamie, there was someone else I knew I needed to see if I was ever going to move past the way I was feeling right now. If anyone could set me straight about whether or not I was more Vampire than Hunter, I thought it was her. So I’d go see her later, even if I wasn’t supposed to.
