“His hand is moving. I think he’s waking up. Ryan, baby, are you with me?”
The persistent beeping is back, but now, muffled voices compete to be heard. I hear Tillie’s sweet voice, and every time I listen to her, the darkness lifts slightly.
Her voice is like that of an angel, and I want to go to her, so I push and break through the black barrier to get to her.
My eyes flicker open to bright lights and a thick haze.
“Ryan, hey, I’m right here. Stay with me.” Her voice is like heaven, and I squint, searching for her. As I try to focus, her beautiful face comes into view a little more clearly.
Her glasses are off, and her eyes are red and puffy as if she’s been crying.
It breaks my heart.
“Hey,” I murmur, and she bursts into tears.
“Hey,” she muffles back, caressing my face gently.
“Did they get her?” I ask.
Oliver comes over and nods. “They found out she was the online stalker. The one going by the name#Hunter’sGirl. They raided her house, and in her basement was a darkroom with thousands of photos of you and Tillie. Most of them had Tillie’s face cut out, and Cadence photo-shopped her face in place. She tried to kill Tillie, so you could ‘be together.’” He uses finger quotes.
“That’s fucking crazy,” I murmur.
“She’s in for a psych evaluation now, but she’s going to be charged with attempted murder.”
“Are you okay?” I ask, looking at Tillie.
“You got stabbed in the liver, and you’re asking ifI’mokay?”
“In the liver?” I ask.
Danger steps up to the bed. “Yeah, the doctor says it just grazed it, which caused an internal bleed or some shit. They fixed you up, and you’re gonna be fine. He says it’s lucky you’re on a health kick, ’cause if it affected your liver the way it was a couple of months ago, you could be very sick right now,” he says with a wince.
I’ve never seen Danger look so worried.
“Lucky I’m looking so damn good then,” I say with a soft laugh, but then I wince from the pain. “How long am I in recovery for?”
A nurse walks in, and we all look at her as I ask. “I can probably fill you in a bit better. You were in surgery for six hours, and the surgeon had to do a partial lobe removal of a small section of the damaged part of your liver. Don’t worry, it will grow back. You’ll be convalescing for about five to ten days, and then you’ll need to take it easy for eight to twelve weeks.”
“Okay, thanks,” I say as she checks over the machines hooked up to me.
“You’re welcome. We’re glad you’re awake,” she says.
“So am I.” Tillie tightens her hand in mine. I look at her and smile through the fog. “When I saw her lunging at you with the knife, Tillie…” I shake my head and sigh, trying to remove the ugly image that’s etched in my brain.
“You should have let her get me. You’re far more important to the world than I am. If you’d have died, I…” She pauses as her bottom lip trembles, and the others slowly filter out of the room, obviously giving us some space.
“You say I’m more important to the world, but you’re more important inmyworld, Tillie. There was no way I would let her hurt you.No way.”
“Why have you been so distant?” she asks.
I tense up, clenching my eyes.
Can I tell her?
No, I’m still not ready.
You’d think after something like this, I’d have the strength to open up.
