I can’t stop my legs from trembling.
Pain in my gut is spreading through my entire body and my heart is beating so fast that the taste of copper spreads over the back of my tongue.
Snow is pregnant.
Is that my baby in there?
Why wouldn’t she tell me?
As I step away from the table, warmth stings behind my eyes.
Am I about to lose them both?
Fred sprints into the scrubbing room just as I stumble in there and our eyes meet.
I don’t get a chance to say a word because somehow, he seems to understand immediately.
“Xander, get out of here,” he snaps. “I’ve got this.”
33
SNOW
It’s like being underwater with how blurry my eyes are when they open and how heavy my head feels.
A strange, muffled roaring fills my ears so I close my eyes, swallow, and try again.
The second time I open my eyes, the world is a little clearer, and the muffled roaring dulls to the rhythmic beep of a heart rate monitor beside me.
Where am I?
I was in the taxi on my way home and then…
My eyes close once more.
It’s unclear how much time passes before I open them again, but the room is darker and the blurry film over my vision has melted away into nothing.
I try to ground myself by focusing on what I can feel but from the neck down, everything is numb.
I turn my head and the noise of it draws movement from the foot of my bed. I blink and Xander is there, seated at the end with his dark brows pinched together, a shadow of facial hair clinging to his jaw and a dark, pained look in his eyes.
I’ve never seen him look like that before, but the relief of his being here is so visceral that the heart rate monitor betrays the flutter of my heart.
“Xander,” I croak.
My throat burns. Just as I close my eyes to cough, something rests against my lower lip, and when I open them, Xander’s over me with a cup of water in one hand and a straw in the other.
“Drink,” he says quietly. “Slowly.”
I obey. Pursing my lips, I take one slow sip, and then another. The cool water is heaven against my raw throat and within a few short gulps, I’ve chased away the dryness.
“Xander.” My voice comes out smoother. “What… what happened?”
Xander sets the water cup back down on the table with his back to me, his form rigid and tense.
“Xander?”
Slowly, he turns to face me. “Noelle, you were in a car accident. A driver at the top of the hill ran a red light and sent a collision all the way down to the bottom. Your driver is in recovery. Your car flipped over and you were badly injured, requiring surgery for internal bleeding. Fred operated on you and everything went smoothly, so you’re going to be okay.”
