In the morning, the sunlight brought me fully awake. I had spent the night getting woken up for vitals every few hours. But it was still a safe sleep, just like Nurse Mayborn had promised. At seven in the morning, she introduced me to the next nurse on shift, Nurse Quay. She was much younger, but still on the ball.

“Hey, pretty! Great news. I bet we get you out of here today.” She took my vitals again. “Everything is fine. How are the hands?”

“Sore.” I carefully rolled my wrists.

“I bet. They said you did CPR with your hands bound, so soreness is going to linger for a while.” She checked my bandages, too.

The whole scene flooded back, clear and brutal. Endgame’s last breaths. The terror of waking in a warehouse.

Nurse Quay frowned a bit and came closer. “It’s going to take time. And healing—of more than just your wrists.”

I was guessing a lot of nurses did this: their job with emotional support sandwiched in. After turning on my TV, she clicked to the menu channel.

“Just order what you’d like from here, and that’ll be up in about an hour. Your doctor has a few surgeries today, but she wants to stop in before then to do her rounds. Sorry to get you rocking and rolling so early.”

“Thank you. You guys are kick-ass.” I used the TV remote to pick a light breakfast. After that was settled, I texted Austin. I was betting he was still asleep.

ME: How was your night?

AUSTIN: It hasn’t ended yet. How was yours?

ME: Exhausting. They poke you so much here. They are super nice. I’m worried about you.

AUSTIN: Says the lady in the damn hospital.

ME: Are you in your apartment?

I hated the thought of having to go back and clear out Endgame’s things. It had to be horrible if he was there alone.

AUSTIN: No, I went to Tinsley and Parker’s place.

A picture beeped through of Axel, tongue lolling out between Austin’s legs.

ME: My big baby. They are so sweet for taking care of him.

I set my phone down. Texting was doing a number on my hands.

AUSTIN: Parker is obsessed. He wants to buy Axel buttons so he can communicate better.

I pressed the microphone so I could use voice to text on the phone.

ME: He will ask for food one hundred percent of the time. And maybe to play fetch a couple of million times.

AUSTIN: Parker thinks Axel is a genius that hides his intelligence so he can get more out of us.

I smiled for what felt like the first time in a billion years. I touched the microphone icon again.

ME: I miss you.