Benny
Coming back hurt enough that for several seconds I seriously considered going unconscious again.
My mouth felt like somebody had packed it with cotton, my side burned beneath layers of bandaging, and every breath tugged somewhere deep under my ribs. A monitor beeped steadily beside me while another machine made a quieter noise farther away, but underneath both of them I could hear two familiar voices arguing in low tones.
“You need to sleep.”
“I have been sitting here.”
“That is not the same thing.”
Nixx and JJ.
Of course.
I forced my eyes open.
The ceiling came into focus slowly, followed by fluorescent lights, the edge of a privacy curtain, and eventually the two people sitting beside my bed.
Well, one of them was sitting.
JJ was curled awkwardly into a chair with a blan
