Page 45 of Midnight Salvation

My pyjamas were stuck to me with sweat, my hair wrapped around my head, and my mouth so dry that my lips were stuck together. But the pain in my shoulder was what dragged me back into consciousness, the deep ache radiating into my back and up into my neck. A heavy weight rested on my stomach and held me down.

The sheets were tangled around my legs and I struggled to escape as panic rose deep in my chest as the memory of the moment I was shot returned.

“Easy, or you’ll burst your stitches.” A deep voice sounded from behind me, the heavy weight on my stomach finally making sense as Ash tugged me back against him.

“What time is it?”

“Middle of the night.” His lips skimmed the back of my neck.

“I thought we weren’t to see each other until this was over?” I asked, allowing myself the luxury of relaxing back into his strength.

“I needed to reassure myself that you’re safe.”

“A phone call would have done that.” I was trying to be strong, but the reality was I needed him. I’d wanted him beside me at the hospital, but had to bite the inside of my mouth as I fought back tears. Catarina had held my hand, but it had been Ash’s fingers around mine that I craved.

He tugged my hair into a messy ponytail in his hand before leaning forward to see my bandage in the moonlight. “I’m fucking furious they targeted you.”

“Who?”

“My dad. I sent him a message he won’t forget.”

I tried to turn around and groaned as pain shot down my arm.

“Stay still,” he chastised me. “A wound like that takes time to heal.”

I collapsed back against his chest. “I feel like shit.”

“Hmmm.” His arm tightened around me. “Lucas is ripping his security patrols apart and reassembling them under Jordan’s watchful eye. Karl will still be tailing you with his team.”

“I need to see you.” I didn’t care about security and men with guns. What I did care about was looking into Ash’s eyes to see what was really going on.

Ash lifted me up, and turned the bedside light on. He settled me on the bed and tucked my hair behind my ear. It was hard on one side from the blood. I grimaced when my fingers found that gross mess. They hovered over my shoulder, wanting to touch it but terrified of what I’d find.

Ash grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips. His skin was pale under his tan and his eyes were a deeper shade of blue tonight. “I never want to receive a phone call like that again,” he said, kissing the inside of my wrist.

A ghost of a smile graced my lips and I pressed my head into his chest. “I missed you.”

He settled me on him, careful to not disturb my injured arm. “Get some sleep. I have to disappear before the morning but I needed to be with you tonight.”

It was moments like this that made me realise how much I meant to him. “Thank you.”

His lips skimmed over my forehead. “You’re safe now. Just rest.”

As much as I wanted to keep my eyes open, they refused to obey my command. His fingers trailed up and down my back in that magical pattern that calmed all my senses.

“I love you.” His voice was so far away that I only caught the words as I sank into the darkness.

***

Pain was a four-letter word and too small for what I felt right now. Catarina was trying to wash my hair over the bath, the water running red as the blood solubilised in the soapy water. She had put a towel over my arm to save my bandage getting wet, but it was the agony screeching through me that was driving me insane.

We were only attempting this because the smell of stale blood was making me nauseous.

Two days had passed since I was shot and I’d seen the pictures of Ash and his new fiancée in the gossip pages. Nicole was tall with straight blonde hair halfway down her back. They would have made beautiful babies together, but I would trail her down the aisle by the hair if she tried to go anywhere near my husband.

Catarina insisted on brushing my hair the way Madison did when we were children until all the knots were out.

“I thought you were dead when I saw all the blood,” Catarina said in a low tone, her expression guarded. “That man shouted orders while others stood over the guy who shot you.”

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