Cracked Kingdom (The Royals #5)(52)

“Stop! What are you doing?” Seb attempts to swat me away again.

“Getting a professional in here. What do you think?”

“Where’s Sawyer?” he demands, looking toward the door as if he could will his twin to appear.

“Ella took him to get some food. The cafeteria is down on the first floor. Food there is terrible so I expect the food up here is going to be trash, too. Don’t worry. I’ll sneak stuff in for you.”

“Why would you do that? I’m going home.” He sweeps the sheets off his legs and slides them over the edge.

“Are you nuts? You’re not going home.” I whip his legs back onto the bed and pull the sheet up. Or try to. Seb gets his hands under mine and starts shoving. “This is ridiculous. Wait until the nurse comes.”

The door bursts open and in runs the on-duty nurse, her dark ponytail flying high behind her. “Move out of the way,” she orders.

I back off.

“Where’re you going, Mister?” she chides to Seb, who is trying to plant his feet on the floor.

“I’m leaving.”

“No, you’re not. Hand me the chart at the end of the bed.” She holds out her hand and I slap the metal clipboard in it.

Seb glares at the both of us as he struggles into a sitting position. “I want to go home.”

“Mr. Royal, you have been in a coma for two weeks. You will not be going home today or any day soon.” She slaps a blood pressure cuff around his arm and stares at her watch.

“What’s taking Sawyer so long?” my brother whines. “What a dick. I just woke up. He should be here.”

“Your twin wouldn’t leave the room unless we physically carried him out. He needs to eat or he’ll be taking your place here.” I scan for signs of injury but don’t know what I’m looking for. I inject as much casualness into my voice as I can muster so I don’t worry Seb. I don’t want to shock him back into a coma with bad news. “Everything okay?”

“All his vitals are looking good,” the nurse says. She jots a note in the chart.

My knees turn watery with relief. I grab the rail of the hospital bed. “That’s good news. Isn’t it, Seb?”

But Seb’s too busy staring at the nurse’s rack. I clear my throat. When he looks up at me, I make a slicing gesture across my neck. He needs to cut that shit out before the nurse jabs him in the nutsack with one of her extra-long needles.

He raises his middle finger and goes right back to undressing the woman with his eyes.

“Can you tell me where we are?” the nurse asks, thankfully oblivious to Seb’s behavior.

“I’ve already answered this before.”

“I know,” she tries to soothe him. “But we need to check your vitals each day to make sure that we’re providing the right treatment.”

“Just answer her,” I interject impatiently.

“We’re in the Maria Royal Recovery Center—you know, the place my dad built with his guilt money after my mommy OD’d on her prescriptions.”

The nurse’s pen jerks across the chart. Seb doesn’t miss her surprise. “Oh, you didn’t know that? I figured it was still common gossip.”

“Seb,” I admonish. “Let the nurse do her job.”

“What do you have under there? Thirty-six D? You look juicy.”

I groan and cover my face.

The nurse slaps the clipboard shut with a bang. “You must be feeling better, Mr. Royal. The doctor will be right in.”

My own nuts turn cold at the frost in her tone.

“You have a nice ass, too,” Seb unhelpfully yells after her.

“Would you shut up, man? What is your problem?” I move over to the head of the bed so I can smother him with a pillow if he tries to heckle his nurse again.

He scowls and crosses his arms. “I’m just having fun. Besides, I wanted to see if the equipment downstairs still works.”

I glance down and see a slight tent in the sheets. “Congrats. You can generate a woodie. I could’ve loaded some porn on your phone if you were that curious.”

“Don’t be so uptight, East. If you were lying here, you’d be doing the same thing.”

“Negative. I’ve seen your nurse’s arsenal of tools—the needles, the tubes, the bedpans.” I shudder. “I’ve got mad respect for her. Anyway, you hungry? Because for the last fourteen days, this is all you’ve been getting.” I tap the IV bag and read, “Total Parenteral Nutrition. Real tasty, I bet. Say the word and I’ll get you something.”

“Why don’t you bring me someone to suck my dick?” Seb snaps.

I know my brother has been sick and passed out for the last two weeks, but I did not expect him to wake up a sex-crazed asshole. “I’m gonna step outside and see where Sawyer is.”

“Probably fucking Lauren.”

Is that what this is about? Sawyer must not have relayed the bad news, which is understandable.

“I doubt it,” is all I say.

My brother’s mouth curves into a sneer. “A lot of good you are. Since you aren’t doing anything worthwhile, give my morphine bag a squeeze. I have a headache and you’re making it worse.”

“I’ll get right on that.” Reminding myself that Seb just woke up from a coma, I force myself to walk out without another word. I’m in time to see Sawyer careening down the hall with Ella at his side.