Page 98 of Keeping Penny

“Love you too,” Pyro said.

“His blood pressure’s dropping,” one of the medics said.

Pyro barely registered the words. All he knew was that Bowie was safe and Penny loved him.

“Hang on, Kylo,” she said urgently.

Pyro felt her lips on his forehead. His eyes had shut once more, but he had no energy to open them again.

“And for the record, my answer is yes, I’ll marry you. Bowie informed me that she wants her name to match her Mommy and Daddy’s, and who am I to disappoint her? Don’t stop fighting, Kylo. We need you.”

Her words echoed in his head for a moment, before he finally gave in to the lure of sweet oblivion.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Penny couldn’t sit still. She paced the small waiting room in the hospital. She’d been there for hours. But she wasn’t alone. The room was filled with not only Pyro’s Night Stalker teammates, but mechanics, a few officers had come and gone, and other military men and women, both Army and Navy, who Penny didn’t know. They’d all heard what happened, what Pyro had done, and had come to support her while their friend was in surgery.

Bowie was at home in the apartment they shared with Zita, with Jen, Fred, and Edge watching over her as she slept. She’d been up since the middle of the night, and even the excitement of finding Pyro couldn’t help her keep her eyes open.

Edge had volunteered to take her back to the apartment complex, and Penny was grateful. She knew her daughter wanted to see Pyro almost as much as she did, but no one knew how long he’d be in surgery, so it was better for her to sleep. Knowing Edge and Jen were with her lifted one worry off her shoulders.

There hadn’t been any updates from the doctor in hours. When Pyro passed out on the gurney in that house, Penny had been crazy worried, but positive he’d be all right.

But the more time that passed, the more anxious she became. And when the doctor told her the extent of his injuries, she got even more concerned. He was having surgery to close the hole in his thigh—that injury had nicked a major blood vessel, which was why it had bled so much—and to repair the damage to his tibia. His knee was also messed up, but fixing that might have to wait.

Penny was worried his career would be over, but Casper reassured her that even though he’d be sidelined for a while, once his leg healed, he’d have no problem getting behind the controls of his beloved choppers.

Laryn, Mandy, and Zita were all at the hospital as well, and as much as Penny appreciated their presence, there was only one person she wanted…no, needed to see.

Pyro.

She insisted Casper tell her the entire story of what happened in the basement, what he saw when he went down there. She wasn’t allowed to see it for herself, for obvious reasons, and after hearing about the amount of blood and the aftermath of the fight that had occurred, she was glad.

Pyro was…he was her hero. There was no way around it. He’d not only protected Bowie like he’d vowed to do time and time again, he’d made sure the men who’d kidnapped her wouldn’t have a chance to do it again.

Her man was a badass, and Penny loved him so damn much. She just needed him to be okay so she could spend the rest of her life making sure he knew it.

The door to the private waiting area opened, and Penny spun, facing the doctor who appeared. His gaze was glued to her; it was the same man who’d briefly met with her before he’d gone into surgery.

“How is he?” she blurted.

It was so quiet in the waiting room, you could hear a pin drop, and Penny held her breath as she waited for his response.

“Good. Stable. He’s in a recovery room, and you’ll be able to go in and see him in an hour or so.”

Penny swayed on her feet. Thankfully, Obi-Wan was there to keep her from falling on her face.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“He’s tough. Full disclosure, his blood pressure dropped so low at one point, we thought we were losing him, but once we got some of the blood back into his body that he’d lost, he rallied. We fixed his leg, put a pin in the tibia to stabilize it, and closed the hole in his thigh. Also stitched up the other wounds he had as well. He’s going to be just fine.”

Penny nodded and closed her eyes. Obi-Wan steered her to a chair and she gratefully sank into it. Suddenly, she was exhausted. She hadn’t slept the night before, and the adrenaline that had been coursing through her veins for the last several hours was finally waning. She felt as if she could sleep for days.

But first, she needed to see for herself that Pyro was all right. Hear his deep voice, see his beautiful brown eyes looking into her own.

“A nurse will come get you when you can see him. Sorry, but only one person at a time for now,” the doctor said, eyeing the full waiting room.

“No problem. Penny will be staying with him, if she’s allowed,” Casper said.