“Not sure. Groggy.” With an undertone of pain. He listened to Rae when she told him to try not to move, mostly because once he’d done it, it had spiked a sharp pain from his shoulder. “Yeah, okay,” he said, trying to work through the haze, blinking a rapidly a couple times. Rough situation could me a hell of a lot. But he remembered getting shot, so that’s probably what she meant, right?
He took the bottle, giving her a brief, strained smile. At least the arm that worked was his left this time. Small favors. Something twisted in his chest seeing Rae so emotional. And fuck, three days. Longest he’d been out in a long time. “Sorry,” he apologized after he’d downed over half the water bottle.
And he sighed in relief when Rae didn’t leave, when she listened to him and stayed. He didn’t want to be in this room on his own. Other than feeling a little out of it and the pain, he felt okay. She didn’t need to go searching out a medic just yet.
Levering himself a little higher in the bed, he winced at the way his shoulder pulled. Stitches. But that didn’t dampen the way he smiled against her lips. Too bad he didn’t have much more energy than that though.
“Couldn’t just let Brandon take it,” he mumbled, searching her hand out and twining his fingers with her. “I’m sorry.” He hated that he’d made her worry, and he squeezer her hand a little tighter. “I couldn’t lose someone else. I’m sorry.” He hadn’t been thinking about anything other than that when he’d stepped in the way of the shot, when he got Stone clear of it. He wasn’t willing to lose another friend.
He hadn’t been thinking of what it might do to Rae. Or how there might have been a different way to avoid Brandon getting the bullet. It had been instinctual.