“About thirty minutes ago, ma’am.” Beck speaks, and I’m thankful that I don’t have to try out my voice again.
“Good, good. I understand there was an incident at your office, and I know that the police have been waiting for you to wake to speak to you, but I think I can hold them off for a few days. You need your rest. We’re going to keep you on the pain meds for at least another day or so, and let your body get a little better before we take the good stuff from you.” She smiles again and pats the arm opposite of the one that Beck is rubbing softly. “You have a few bruised ribs, but luckily nothing broken there. Your eye, the left one, is going to look and feel a lot worse than it is, but in a few days, the swelling should go down enough for you to be able to open it. We do want to make sure that you aren’t having issues with your vision, so we will need to check it. There are a few other bruises and bumps, but right now, we’re keeping an eye on your head to make sure the swelling stays down. You’re a lucky girl; by the looks of it, it could have been a lot worse.”
She continues to explain various things about healing and home care, but I’m too busy taking in everything she just told me. Beck asks a few questions, but I don’t hear them. I just lay there in shock. She asks me a few more things that I weakly answer before she leaves the room with the promise of sending Destiny back in with my pain medication. The second the door closes, it’s as if the floodgates slam open, and all the memories, leading up to now, come rushing back. The office, no alarm, light on, the man . . . oh God, the man!
“Shh, Dee . . . Look at me. It’s okay. I’ve got you.” I turn and focus on him, trying to calm the rapid breathing that has my ribs screaming.
“Did you find him?”
He shakes his head, and when I hear a snarl from the side of the room, my eye shifts to Maddox, who looks as if he’s about to snap in half. Beck yells at him to either calm down or leave the room before making me look at him again. “It’s okay; I need you to believe me, Dee. We’re working on it, okay?” I see his eyes pleading with me . . . begging me not to close him out.
I take a few shallow breaths and focus on his eyes. “Okay. I trust you, Beck.”
His shoulders sag with my whispered words, and his eyes drop for a second before he looks back at me. I gasp when I see the moisture forming in his eyes.
“Thank you, God, thank you . . .” He leans up, kisses me lightly before sitting back down, and starts to rub my arm again. I can tell from the way his lips are pressed tight, and the slight flare of his nostrils, that he’s trying to compose himself.
Destiny comes back in the room, and she gives me the pain meds, and checks the machines one more time before leaving. I try to stay awake, afraid that if I fall asleep, I might not wake up again. Clearly understanding me better than I understand myself, Beck recognizes my reluctance to close my one good eye. He brings his face back to my ear and starts to whisper softly, again.
Between his deep voice speaking softly against my neck, and the strength I pull from just his touch, my eye starts to close, and my heart starts to calm. The last thing to filter through my mind as I listen to his voice is how lucky I am that he’s even here. It doesn’t even matter that I can’t even understand the words, he’s here. For everything that I’ve put him through, my depression and PTSD, and my stupid mind letting the past rule my present, he still hasn’t given up. If this isn’t proof of just how far he really will go to fight for me, then I don’t know what is.
I let his love wrap around me, and drift off to a dreamless sleep with the knowledge that when I wake up he’s still going to be here, and it’s up to me to fix this now.
CHAPTER 12
Beck
When the doctor finally told me she would be released, I want to actually hug the lady. For the last week, I’ve sat by her side, hoping and praying that I would finally get to take her home.
First, they wanted to keep her because of the swelling to her brain from repeated blows. God, just hearing them say that over and over had my body ready for a fight. When her head wasn’t the main worry, it seemed that her kidneys were. And finally, a few days ago, she stopped pissing blood. We would’ve been out of here before now, but they wanted to monitor her kidneys to make sure there wasn’t anything else going on.
I think we were all ready to get her out of this room and back to Georgia. Dee was starting to get frustrated with the constant poking by the staff and lack of good food. All I could do was smile, because even though she was here, she was fighting mad. The important part was that she’s here at all.