Fin shuffled on his side of the car, knocking his head in the window, and then cursed.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He didn’t answer, and I shook my head. Why did I even bother? Men were such babies when their pride took a hit.
“Well, if you bump your head again, we might need to line your side of the car with a pool noodle to keep you safe,” I said.
“I’m not in the mood, Zoey,” he said, his voice low and gravel laden.
I shifted to look at him, even though every single inch I moved rocked pain through me. “No one is ever in the mood for me. I stopped taking it personally a long time ago. But that doesn’t tell me what crawled up your ass.”
“No,” he said.
“No, what?”
He refused to look at me, continuing to stare out the window.
“No, we aren’t going to talk about this right now?” I asked. “Or, did you mean, no, I’m going to hurt your feelings and even though I’m livid with you, I don’t want to say something either of us will regret?”
He didn’t get to blame any failings he possessed on me. Especially when I told him over and over we shouldn’t have walked into that forest. Damn it. I wanted to rage and throw things, but thanks to the fucking ambush we had in the woods, I could barely move for fear of fucking dying.
I glared at him. “When I can stand up straight again, I’m going to kick your ass. No mats, no stupid sparring. I’m going to straight up punch you in your too proud chin.”
“Keep it civil, boys and girls,” the captain said from the front seat.
Fin twisted around to face me, fire in his eyes. “I’m proud?”
This was the first time I’d truly seen him angry, and of course, he directed it my way. It was only a matter of time; it always was with the people in my life.
Instead of answering him, I lay my face against the frosty glass and closed my eyes. This time, the captain didn’t shout at me.
I dozed in and out until the SUV finally stopped outside Fin’s house. I stared at the door handle and then the driveway through the window. Even the thought of moving shot pain through my system.
I considered it for too long. Fin opened the door, and I whimpered as I fell out the door.
Fin caught me easily, lifted me into his arms, and carried me toward the manor.
We ended up on separate gurneys in his office. The doctor bustled around the room, readying an IV and a tray of instruments. Fin stood off to the side, eyeing both me and the captain laid side-by-side in matching blue hospital gowns.
The doctor looked at me first, declared my stitches adequate, then wrapped my ribs in a thick gauze and tucked me under a warming blanket.
“Is this necessary?” I asked, lifting the reflective material toward him.
He narrowed his beady eyes at me. His moustache twitched. “While your teeth are chattering, yes. I also warmed the IV. Lay back and let it work.”
I huffed but did as instructed, ignoring Fin’s presence when he hovered closer and closer.
He stepped up to my side and stared down at me. Some irritation had leached from his features, but there was still a hard set to his jaw I didn’t like.
“Feeling better?” he asked.
“I think that doctor slipped some pain killers into that IV as well,” I said, my words slipping as my focus did on his face.
Fin clutched my hand to his chest. “You could have gotten yourself killed. All of us killed. What were you thinking?”
I blinked a few times at him. “Are you really confronting me, while I’m doped up and can’t defend myself?”
“Maybe for once you’ll listen when you can’t drop a wisecrack.”