The next thing she knew, he was at her side. She tried to focus on what he was saying, but the words weren’t making sense.
“Come on, Lexi. Stay with me. The paramedics are on their way. Come on, damn it. Fight. You can’t let him win. I love you. Fight for us. I’m not going to lose you.” Noah had tears running down his face.
She licked her lips. She had to tell him. “Noah…”
“No, don’t talk. Save your energy. It can wait. I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to protect you.”
“Not Anthony…”
“Lexi, don’t worry about that. I’ve knocked him out. He can’t hurt you.”
“That… that’s not… Anthony… Jer-Jeremy… Elli… Ellison… Anthony’s… in-innocent.”
Noah stared, as if he was not believing what he was hearing. “Lexi. I got it. Now save your energy. Please ,love. Come on, focus on me. No! No, don’t close your eyes. Open them. Look at me. Come on, you’ve got to look at me. Fight, Lexi. Please fight!” He was screaming at her, tears running down his face. But to Lexi, it sounded soft and faint and she never felt his tears dropping onto her skin.
Her head rolled to the side and she looked to where Jeremy was. Only he wasn’t there. The fight went out of her and she closed her eyes.
CHAPTER TWE
NTY-TWO
Feeling tightness around her. It scared her for a moment, then everything came rushing back. She was safe, but she was hurt. Trying to open her eyes, but couldn’t. The voices sounded as if they coming from far away. She tried to focus on what they were saying to give her a clue as to what had happened.
“How long has she been out?” Evie said as she rubbed the back of Lexi’s hand, anxiety stretched across her face.
“Too long for my peace of mind.” Noah was on the other side holding her other hand and playing with her hair. Exhaustion seeped from him.
“Have the doctors said when she would wake up?”
“They said some mumbo-jumbo about how she’ll wake up when she’s ready. Bullshit, if you ask me. Lexi’s a fighter—if she could wake up, she would.”
“There has to be something we can do. Maybe we should get the Trio up here to start flirting with you.”
Noah let out a half-hearted laugh. “Already tried that. The ladies are quick to the draw.”
Lexi tried to push through the darkness to get to them, digging down as deep as she could. These were the two people that meant so much to her. They’d met and were spending time together without her. She wanted to be a part of it. There were things she had to do.
She heard them gasp as her eyes opened. She looked first to Evie and tried to smile at her. She licked her dry lips, fighting to speak. “Don’t cry. You get all… ugly-face… when you… do.”
Evie lost it and cried hard while hugging Lexi’s hand to her chest. “I don’t care. You scared the shit out of me. What a way to get me up here to meet your guy. All you had to do was call. Which you should have, but we’ll get to that later. I’m so fucking happy.”
Lexi turned her head towards Noah, shocked by his appearance. It looked like he hadn’t slept or taken a shower in days. It scared her. She didn’t know how bad off she was or how long she had been here. Part of her wanted answers and the other part wanted to put it off for as long as possible. She did the only thing she wanted to do. “I… love you.”
“I love you, too.” He leaned over to lightly brush his lips across hers and leaned his forehead down to touch her own. “I’m never leaving you again.”
“I’m sorry I… scared you. He… said he’d… kill you. I couldn’t let him.”
“Hey, I’m the one that’s supposed to be protecting you, not the other way around. What made you think I could continue to breathe without you in my life? I don’t want to go back to that darkness ever again.”
They smiled at each other, quietly laughing when Evie’s sobs became louder. Lexi turned her head to Evie. “Why don’t you take it out in the hall? All that sobbing is distracting.”
Evie sniffled and grabbed the box of tissues when she stood up. “Fine, but don’t think you’ll get rid of me so easily next time.” She leaned down and kissed Lexi on the head before heading out. “Love you.”
“How much do you want to bet she is calling the Trio and they will all be in here within five minutes?” Noah said as he pushed her hair back behind her ear.
“I don’t want to take that bet.” She paused to build up strength. “Tell me what I need to know.”
Noah sighed and sat back down, never releasing her hand. “You’ve been out for three days. There was a lot of soft tissue damage and blood loss. Luckily the wounds weren’t too deep. You had an excellent surgeon who said you are going to be sore for a while. It will take time for your body to repair itself, but physical therapy will help.”
She frowned at him. “What else?”
Squeezing her hand gently he said, “The police are searching for a Jeremy Ellison. If everything checks out, then Anthony’ll be set free and his record wiped clean.”