Challenge: A Contemporary MMA Romance: Oni Fighters Book 3 by Natalie Gayle

quickly opened the bottle and offered the straw to him. He took a couple of small sips and I watched him wince in pain as the water slid down his throat.
    “Still sore?”
    He gave me a subtle nod and a “yeah.” Or at least what sounded like that.
    Xander was looking at Seth and probably unconsciously shaking his head slowly, almost in disbelief. “Mate, it sure is good to have you back with your eyes open and you with it.”
    I wasn’t sure I’d go as far as saying he was “with it” yet however, he seemed to be understanding and responding appropriately which was so good.
    One of the male nurses came in. “Ah, you’re awake, Seth. I’m Steve and I’m looking after you for the moment. How do you feel?” Steve started doing observations and writing notes in the folder.
    “Shhhit!” Seth managed to get out around a grimace.
    We all chuckled a little, not in malice but rather with him.
    “I’m not surprised. You gave yourself a hell of a whack on the head, fractured your pelvis in a few places, and managed to put a little puncture in your bladder. You’re going to be our guest for a while.”
    I watched Seth’s eyes go wide in surprise or horror, I couldn’t tell. It was obvious that he had no idea he’d been so badly hurt.
    Then, he looked agitated. And I couldn’t quite figure out what he wanted.
    “What is is Seth?”
    “Waallk…”
    We all tried to figure out what he wanted. Then, I realised. Oh God, no wonder he suddenly looked terrified. “You want to know if you can still walk?” There was a slight nod.
    Steve jumped in. “You’re not paralysed in any way as far as we can tell, Seth, just badly banged up. That’s going to take time to heal. The doctors have put a plate in your pelvis to stabalise it. You’re going to be in pain. So you need to let me know if it gets too high. We’re running pain meds but there is room to up them if you need more. Don’t be a hero. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
    Seth gave another slight nod.
    “Moving at the moment is going to be tough. Just try to lay still and let the drugs work their magic. The physios will be wanting to get you moving soon enough. Go back to sleep if you feel like it. The more you rest at the moment the better.”
    That seemed to satisfy him. His face relaxed and his eyelids started to drift south again. Sleep quickly took him again.
    Steve turned to us. “He’s going to do a lot of that over the next few days. It’s the strong pain meds. Once the doctors are more sure of the head trauma situation, we’ll have more of an idea.”
    I liked Steve. He gave more precise and direct answers.
    “I gave him a couple of sips of water just before, in case you need to record that.” I knew they were monitoring all of his fluid intake. That’s why they wanted me to only give him water from the bottle.
    “Thanks. I’ll note it.” Steve flipped the pages and recorded the information.
    “So, what happens next?”
    “The doctors will run more tests tomorrow. Another MRI that sort of thing most likely. Once they decide how he is, the next step is getting him out of ICU to a normal ward. Then it will be recovery and pelvic fractures are so hard to predict. Some take a few weeks, others take months or years.”
    Xander, Eden, and I took it all in. It was a lot. The road was going to be long. It was becoming more and more evident, only time would tell on how Seth came out of this.

8
    Seth
    T his time when my brain woke up , my eyelids actually functioned—my vision was clear. It had been a very disconcerting feeling to be awake but not awake . It felt like I’d been floating in nothingness for an indeterminable period of time. Not scary, just weird.
    I was still way woozy, however my brain felt more like it wanted to process information and actually take note of what was going on around me. That was something. How long had I been absent?
    I tried to roll a little as my whole body felt stiff and heavy. A sharp pain in my pelvis