“Cora, no, stop!” Atlas surges forward. “You’re okay, baby, there’s nothing on you,” he croons softly, rubbing his hands up and down my arms. “You’re okay. Shhh.”
“There was so much blood, Atlas. So much blood,” I whisper.
“I know, baby. You did what you had to. She tried to kill you and almost succeeded. You saved yourself, Cora; don’t you ever feel bad for that.” He squeezes me tighter to his chest.
Nodding, I sit back. “I’m so sorry, Atlas. I shouldn’t have blocked you out.”
“No,” he interrupts me. “We’ll talk about that later, baby, when you get out of here. We have all the time in the world. You, me, and Noah.”
“Cora?” a voice sounds from the door. We turn to see Kash standing there with Noah at his side. “You’re finally awake!” he shouts, rushing for the bed.
He climbs into my bed, and I hear Atlas shush the nurse trying to stop him. “Hey, buddy. I’m awake.” I squeeze him as tight as I can.
“I was so worried.”
The nurse tries to pull Noah away, and I level a glare at her. “Stop. He’s fine where he is.” Looking at the doctor, I ask, “What happened?”
He looks from me to Noah, and I realize it must have been bad.
“Noah, why don’t you come with me real quick, and we’ll see ifwe can get Cora some water?” the nurse offers. “She’s probably really thirsty.”
“Thanks, guys. That’d be great.” I give Noah a squeeze before he hops down to go with her.
“Be right back!” he shouts.
Kash and Seth take up a small corner of the room, having a muted conversation before heading out, and Atlas has taken a seat on the edge of my bed, not letting go of my hand.
“You were in pretty bad shape when we found you, Cora,” Atlas starts. “I thought you were already gone.”
“When you came in, we had to perform emergency surgery on a few different things. Your finger was broken in two places and had to be reset. There was also a gunshot wound to your lower leg.”
I forgot that bitch shot me. My leg aches as if trying to remind me.
“The worst,” he continues, “were the injuries to your head.” Lifting my hand from Atlas’ grasp, I feel the gauze wrapped around it. Oh my God. I can’t imagine how I must look right now.
“What happened to my head?” Pulling away my trembling hand, Atlas gives it a reassuring squeeze.
“You had a concussion to start with, but then you sustained additional trauma at the base of your skull. Do you know how that happened?” the doctor asks.
My eyes squeeze shut, and I see Bea’s face looming over me. She’s slamming my head off the floor while strangling me. A shaky breath escapes me. “It was Bea. She was choking me, and when I fought back, she started to hit my head against the basement floor.”
The doctor’s face pales, and Atlas curses. “How bad was it? Is there permanent damage?”
“Time will tell, but the trauma to your skull caused a CSF, cerebrospinal fluid leak. We repaired the tear and inserted a drain to get the fluid out. The swelling has gone down, but we’ll be keeping you a bit longer for some tests and observation.”
Nodding like I understood any of that, I murmur, “Thank you.”
“I’ll be back in a while to check on you. I know you’ve just regained consciousness but try to rest. Your body has been through a great deal and needs as much rest as possible. The police might be by to get your statement today or tomorrow.”
“Statement for what? Am I going to jail?” I panic, looking at him.
“Fuck no,” Atlas growls. “They want to know what happened. Bea and Aidan kidnapped you and hurt you, baby. They just need your version of events since neither of them are around to give them.”
I nod and feel tears welling in my eyes. “I killed her,” I whisper. “I killed Bea. I stabbed her with a screwdriver I found.” I close my eyes, unable to look at him. I’ve turned into the very monster I fought so hard against becoming.
“No. Look at me, Firefly.” He grabs my chin, turning my face toward his. “You survived. You did what you had to. Fuck, she almost killed you, Cora. You were leaking brain fluid when you got here.” His voice cracks. “I could have lost you;wecould have lost you.”
“I didn’t think there was a we anymore,” I admit. “I shut you out, Atlas.”
