Brown-green eyes, curls perfectly coiled, stopping just above his eyebrows.
“Darren?” I asked.
“She’s alive,” he screamed.
Suddenly he was gone, and a new warmth engulfed me—and with it the sweetest of voices.
“Cole,” I said.
I felt myself be bundled together like something small, lifted easily, wrapped tightly, warmth seeping into the tips of my toes and fingers.
Chapter twenty-nine
It Doesn’t Change Anything
Murmured voices floated above me.
I didn’t know if I was dreaming, awake, or somewhere in between.
Steady beeping droned somewhere near me.
I tried to swallow, my mouth dry, and jolted forward, awake and coughing roughly.
A warm hand landed on my right shoulder and gently pushed me back.
“Hey, puppy,” Cole said softly, like she was speaking to a scared animal. “Let me adjust this bed for you,” she continued, and a mechanical sound followed the rising of the bed, lifting my head and back into more of a sitting position.
I couldn’t see out of my right eye, and my eyelashes distorted what I could see from my left.
But I recognised Cole, her curls pulled back in a ponytail out of her face.
“Wh—” I tried to speak and began coughing again.
Cole pressed a straw to my lips when the coughing subsided.
“Don’t try to speak yet. Here, sip some water,” she instructed.
I tried to lift my left arm to take the cup from her but couldn’t move it at all. When I tried my left arm, I saw an IV drip attached, the needle at my inner elbow.
“You’ve been hooked up to fluids and antibiotics all night; they’ve got you on some pretty heavy pain meds, too,” she told me, removing the straw from my lips and setting the cup down.
“Where am I?” I whispered, the words scraping painfully up my throat.
“The resort medical centre,” she answered.
Cole sighed deeply, and I couldn’t tell if she was looking at me or not.
“I can’t see you,” I told her.
“Yeah, they said the swelling of your eye and face will settle over the next couple of days. You can come back with me tonight. You’re stable; I’ve got your meds. You’ll be back in a day or two before we leave to remove the bandages and all the stuffing they’ve packed it with,” she explained.
“Ashford?” I asked, almost choking on the word.
Cole growled, and I flinched.
“Still alive. For now,” she answered.
“Got his face rearranged, had to airlift him out for surgery,” Darren told me, almost excitedly, from somewhere near the foot of the bed. I didn’t even know he was there.
