A week?
My throat burned when I tried again.
“Uh,” I croaked.My voice sounded wrong.Too rough.Like it didn’t belong to me.“Um.Water.”
His eyes flicked to the empty pitcher on the table, then back to me.“Stay there,” he ordered.
I blinked at him.
“I can get it for you.”
“I—” I tried to argue, but my tongue felt thick and clumsy.“I was just—”
Before I could finish the sentence, he crossed the room in three long strides.He grabbed the empty pitcher, and then he was gone again, already turning out the door.
I stood there, swaying slightly, and stared at the space he’d just vacated.
What…?
None of this made sense.
Cole?Here?In my hospital room?
I eased myself back onto the edge of the bed before my legs gave out completely.My hands trembled, and I tried to make my thoughts line up in some kind of order.
Attacked.Parking lot.Pain.Darkness.
Faces flashed in my mind too fast to grab hold of.A blow to my head.Pressure in my stomach that stole my breath.Panic clawed at my chest.
I swallowed and forced myself to focus on the present before my heart could race itself into another problem.
The door opened again.
Cole was back, carrying the now-full pitcher.He shut the door softly behind him, like he didn’t want the sound to echo.
“Uh,” I said, my voice a little steadier now that I’d used it once.“What are you doing here?”
He didn’t look at me as he set the pitcher down and grabbed the cup.“Getting you water.”
He poured carefully.When he finished, he turned toward me with the cup in his hand.“Sit back, and you can have it.”
I blinked at him rapidly.“I don’t want to sit back,” I argued.
His jaw tightened just a fraction.“You’re tired, and you need to rest.”
I let out a soft huff that might’ve been a laugh if it hadn’t ended in another yawn.My mouth stretched wide before I could stop it, and my eyes watered.
I snapped my lips shut, annoyed.“I pretty much just slept for a week.”
He arched a brow.
“I’m only sitting back because I want a drink,” I insisted.“Not because I’m tired.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Cole smirked.
The sight of it did something strange to my chest.
I eased myself back against the pillows with a grumble and adjusted until my head was supported without sending another spike of pain through my skull.Cole stepped closer, and he handed me the cup.
