Page 30 of Grave Dissonance
I stand beside Connie as we death grip each other’s hands, waiting for the doctor to speak. Prayer has always been an unsettling practice for me, but I send out silent promises to God the doctor’s stern face is just how he looks and has nothing to do with the gravity of the situation.
“Ignatius is awake. He’s very lucky to have arrived at the hospital when he did. He suffered from hyperthermia, but his heart and organs are normal. You can see him now, if you’d like.”
“Marley,” Kaye yells as she rushes to me. I stare up at her, confused why her face looks so alarmed. Didn’t she hear Iggy is okay?
Two firm hands pull at me from under my arms. “Bro, you okay?”
Cain.
Why are they fawning over me? I’m fine. I stare down and notice I’d fallen, crashed right down to the linoleum below my feet.
Their voices seem distant. All I can focus on is Iggy. “I want to see him.”
CHAPTER 21
Iggy
The room is frigid, my hands are clammy, and I feel like an idiot.
“Once you’re better and out of here, I’m going to smack you up the head,” my mother shouts as soon as she walks into my hospital room. Her anger quickly dissipates, replaced by a tight grip on my hands and her uncomfortable sobs. “How could you, Iggy? You’re all I’ve got. How could you do this? Baby, don’t you know how much I love you? You’re my entire world.”
Guilt consumes me as I gaze at the pain laced in my mother’s tear-filled eyes. Knowing after my father died, she didn’t have amoment to mourn because she had me to take care of me. How she’d opened up her heart and home to anyone in my life. How she’d given the man I love safety, knowing I’d regret taking it from him. Yup, knowing I am the reason my mother is in pain is the worst feeling ever.
“I’m fine, Mom. I’m going to be fine.”
She lifts her bag and smacks me with it.
“Ow, what was that for?”
“For scaring me.” She bends down, her blue eyes so much like my own, glaring at me. “If I ever hear you took drugs again, I’m going to kill you myself.”
My lips twitch. There’s my mama. Beneath my mother’s loving smile and gentle demeanor lies a ferocious bobcat ready to pounce and tear apart anyone who threatens those she loves, even if the threat is from her own son.
“I’m not an addict, Mom.”
Another hit from the rectangular leather purse. “I didn’t say you were. I said if you ever take drugs again, you’ll have a reckoning.”
I laugh at her hysterics, forgetting for a moment they rushed me to the hospital, and I was about to die from the very thing she’s terrified of me doing again. The laughter dies as soon as I see him leaning against the door. He’s wearing blue jeans and a crisp white cotton shirt. Someone obviously brought him a change of clothing. Probably Kaye, she’d be the first call Marley would make.
“Hey there, handsome,” I say.
Marley’s hollow, sunken eyes well up with tears, his ashen face reflecting the weight of his sorrow. He says nothing, just stands there with a haunted look on his face as if he’s seen a ghost. Who knew just the appearance of sadness on bis face can make my heart plummet to the ground?
A heaviness settles in my chest as my mom wearily lifts herself from the chair, pressing a kiss on my cheek. She brushes her fingers against my shoulder, leaving me alone with the man that both makes my heart stop and beat. Marley Banks could make the heavens weep, gazing at his beauty. I’m gazing at the pierced, tattooed versionof David or any other inspiration that caused Michelangelo to carve perfection from marble. Even now, with misery and fatigue etched on his face, Marley Banks takes my breath away.
I reach my hand out for him, but he doesn’t move from his post by the door. Why is this man leaning against a doorframe so fucking attractive?
“You gonna come in or just stand there?” I ask.
“I’m scared if I come too close, I’ll burn.”
“Marley, come in,” I demand.
He takes a hesitant step forward before stopping, and gazes at me with profound misery. I can’t discern the look in his eyes, unsure what’s hiding in his steel gray depths. In all the years I’ve known Marley, I’ve seen him conflicted with all the emotions known to man except for this one. His lips pressed together in a thin line, his body stiff and unyielding, his eyes darting around anxiously. Marley appears horrified.
“How could you do this?” His tone is low and menacing. “How could you make me love you and then hurt yourself?” Marley’s by mybedside in two long strides. His hands tenderly cup my head as he presses his forehead against mine. “Fuck, I thought out of the two of us, it’d be me here. You got any idea how I felt when I thought I could lose you?”
I probably shouldn’t be a smart-ass at this moment, but— “No, why don’t you tell me?”