My bottom lip quivers, and my eyes burn as I fight the wave of tears pooling in them.
Thisis rock bottom. The lowest I’ve ever been.
Even worse than before.
“I wish he’d killed me,” I finally manage to choke out as the first tear rolls down my face.
“No!Don’t say that!” Talon practically yells.
At his raised voice, a nurse rushes into the room.
“Is everything all right in here?” she asks, making notes of things on the monitor before realizing I’m awake. “Oh! You’re up!”
“Yes,” I reply in a flat, dejected tone.
“Zeke, honey, what is your last name?”
“Hastings,” I reply automatically.
“And your birthday?”
“July twenty-fourth.”
“Good,” she says. “It’s good that you remember those things, and it certainly helps us fill in some gaps. Now, my next question will be a bit harder.” She glances at Talon. “I’m afraid you’ll need to leave for this part.”
“No. He can stay,” I argue, assuming he’s the reason I’m here and notactuallydead or still in Derek’s clutches.
The nurse looks uncomfortable as her gaze flashes between Talon and me. Talon’s a big guy. Suddenly, I know what she’s thinking, and the thought makes a fresh wave of nausea roll through me.
“He didn’t do this to me.”
“Do you know whodid?”
I briefly think about trying to protect Derek, but what’s the point? There’s nothing left for him to take from me. “My ex-boyfriend, Derek Palmer.” Calling Derek myexis freeing. I have no idea what comes next for me, but anything is better than returning to that place with him.
“Due to the level of trauma, I’ll have to notify the police. What happens after that is up to you,” the nurse informs me.
When she’s gone, I return my attention to Talon, who is still clutching my hand. He looks like he wants to say something, but chooses to stay quiet.
“Talon, I…” I trail off. Embarrassment overrides the pain in my throat, and I have to get this out. “I don’t have insurance. I can’t afford to be here.”
Now hereallylooks uncomfortable, but still, he offers me one of his gorgeous smiles.
“It’s already taken care of. The last thing I want you worrying about right now is money,” he says, as though moneydoesn’t make the world go round; as if money—or a lack thereof—isn’t the whole reason I’m in this situation in the first place.
“What do you mean, ‘it’s already taken care of’?”
Talon exhales long and hard.
“There are things I should have told you a while ago, but I just want you to get better first. You won’t leave this hospital with a mountain of debt, though; I can promise you that, and as soon as you’re better, I’ll tell you everything.” The sincerity in his tone wraps around me like a blanket. It’s so familiar, yet as I lie here, it dawns on me that the simple questions the nurse asked provided all new information to Talon, and what’s more, I don’t know those things about him, either.
“What’s your last name?” I ask.
He winces.
“Later. Please.”
“Fine. Your birthday?” I try, proving I won’t rest until he gives me some kind of information.
