I whimper, the smell of everything that’s him making me finally feel safe. But now that the adrenaline is wearing off, I hurt.
“Careful, Banner. I think her wrist is broken. I was just going to look her over when you got here,” Stephenson tells him quietly.
Banner pulls back and cups my face, his thumbs gliding over my cheekbones as he takes me in. “Fuck, I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
“Me too,” I admit. The sound of my broken voice makes him tense as his gaze moves over me in a more assessing way than it did before.
“Talk to me, baby.”
I blow out a shaky breath as Banner gently lifts my arm and examines it with a tight jaw. I look just behind him when I see Blake and Kellen approach.
“Hey, Sorrow, sure is good to see you.” Kellen winks as Blake’s jaw gets tight, his eyes on my wrist.
“It’s good to be seen. I wasn’t sure anyone was going to find me.”
“I would never stop looking for you, you hear me, Sorrow? Never,” Banner tells me firmly before looking to Blake. “Wrist is likely broken.”
“Ambulance is on its way,” Stephenson says, drawing Banner’s attention.
“How did you know where to find her?”
“A hunch. I should have called it in, but I wasn’t sure anyone would listen to me. And I guess I just really wanted to be fucking wrong.”
“You can explain that more in a minute,” Banner snaps at him before softening his voice and looking back to me. “Where else are you hurt, baby?”
I reach behind me and grimace when I touch the back of my head. “I hit my head on Alec’s gravestone, and when I woke up, I was in the mausoleum.”
I bite my lip, hard enough to taste blood, as I picture myself back in the darkness.
“Hey, you’re okay. You’re here with me, Blake, and Kellen. We’re not going anywhere. Hell, you’ll be lucky if I let you out of my sight before you turn eighty.”
“Sounds good to me,” I whisper.
The sound of sirens approaching has us all turning. It’s all systems go after that. I’m gently bundled into the back of the ambulance. Banner, not taking no for an answer, rides along with me.
This time when I’m taken in, I’m treated so differently from the previous times that I don’t know what to do with myself. I needn’t have worried. Banner sits beside my bed, barking orders like he’s a doctor himself. The only time he leaves me—because he’s forced to—is when I’m sent for x-rays.
After it’s confirmed that my wrist is indeed broken, I’m given a purple cast and sent back to my room, which is now teaming with people.
“I know you’re all worried about Miss Wells, but try and keep the noise down or I’ll kick you all out.” The five-foot-nothing pretty nurse faces off against Kellen and Blake.
Kellen bristles but Blake shakes his head at him.
“We’ll keep the noise down,” Blake answers as the nurse nods and leaves the room.
“How you feeling, baby?” Banner asks me as he kisses the back of my hand.
“Okay. Maybe a little shocky. The painkillers helped with my head and wrist though.”
“You ready to walk us through what happened?”
Before I can answer, there is a knock at the door. Kellen walks over and opens it, revealing a somber-looking Wade. He walks over to me and gives me a gentle hug before pulling back. Something about the look on his face sets me on edge.
“How you feeling?”
“I’m okay, Wade. Or I will be.”
“You good with me taking your statement? I can come back if you need me to.”
