The One Worth Waiting For Read Online Free

I always suspected you boys had more lives than a cat.”
    “What do we do?”
    Suzanne’s voice, clear and steady. Garret wanted to turn toward it, but his mind still refused to connect with his muscles. The fire was back, licking closer. The heat, the unbearable heat, searing his skin.
    “We gotta get the fever down for starters and get some fluids into the man. What he hasn’t bled away he seems determined to sweat out instead. I want an IV, and I’m worried about his head, as well. That looks like a hell of a concussion, even for his thick skull.”
    “I can wake him every half hour.” Suzanne’s voice again, soft and steady. He could almost feel the rain against his cheek, cool and clean. “I’ll check for dilation of the pupils.”
    “I can do that,” Cagney interrupted curtly. “You shouldn’t have to be bothered with such things.”
    “You’ll do no such thing, Cagney,” she retorted promptly. “This man is lying in my guest bedroom and I know perfectly well how to take care of him. You’ve got yourself a new fiancée to go home to, so don’t you bother me with your presence, as well.”
    Her hands came down to rest on Garret’s forehead, and he fought bitterly to arch up against her cool palms. Soft and gentle against the crackling flames. He wanted so badly to speak. He had to tell them…The thought skittered away again, and the fire roared forward.
    “I really don’t like the looks of that,” Dr. Jacobs said, and Garret felt his hands replace Suzanne’s on his forehead. The old, callused fingers pressed slightly, and the pain exploded like skyrockets in his head.
    He jerked up, his eyes popping open with feverish clarity. He had to say, he had to say…
    Suzanne was in front of him, her hazel eyes round with shock as her hands pressed him gently back to the mattress. He locked his gaze on hers, fighting the flames, fighting the darkness, fighting anything to get the words out. He knew he must say, he must warn…
    “Vatra. Svagdje. Vatra!”
    “Shhh,” she whispered, soothing him with her hands. He could smell the faint scent of roses, and in his confusion he couldn’t understand how roses had ever grown amid all the rocks. The blood, he thought, but then he lost that idea, as well.
    “Mrtavi…”
    “It’s okay, honey,” she told him quietly, her palms cool on his burning cheeks. “Close your eyes again, Garret. Rest, darling. Cagney and I will take care of everything.”
    But they couldn’t because they didn’t know. Because he didn’t know. Oh, God, what was it he had to know? He had to…
    “Will he be all right?” Cagney’s voice, tight with the strain.
    “I don’t know. The next twelve hours will be critical. We gotta get this fever down before he cooks the few gray cells he has left. Someone had better take me back to my office for supplies.”
    “Fine. Anything, Doctor. Just tell me he’s going to pull out of it.”
    “I know, son. I know.”
    “What’s wrong with his forearm?” Suzanne asked. He could feel her fingers trace down his arm and in his feverravaged state, the motion pained him.
    Dr. Jacobs peered closer at the long, shiny scar running as a denuded zone along his black-haired arm. “Scarring, probably from a burn injury, by the look of it.” He shook his head. “You boys always did get into too much trouble.”
    Garret felt cool air as the sheet was pulled back to expose his leg and hip.
    “More burning on the legs,” Dr. Jacobs reported. “Not that old, either. Where the hell has this boy been?” Cage’s face gave nothing away, and Dr. Jacobs sighed with a shake of his head. He peered down at Garret’s gums, noticing the pale color and receding line. Then he felt out the distinct outline of the unconscious man’s ribs. Dr. Jacobs face grew grimmer. “Definite beginnings of malnutrition. You’d think he thought a body was easy to replace by the looks of all this damage. Crazy fool.”
    Crazy fool. The words penetrated the fire, echoing