Page 126 of Cut Me Down

Chapter forty-five

Ashia

Everything hurts. My stomach and throat are on fire, and that almost overpowers the throbbing in my head. My muffled hearing isn’t allowing much through besides a consistent beeping, but I heard him say he loves me…I couldn’t comprehend the rest, but the rest didn’t matter in that moment.

Forcing those words out of my mouth felt like choking on razors, but he needs to hear them. I need him to hear them… I feel the I.V. in my left arm and the oxygen shooting up my nose smells different than normal air. Pure. I had almost forgotten what that smelled like.

I feel his hands on my face, holding on for dear life. His shaky breaths caress my forehead and I feel water drip onto my face.

“Are you crying?” I manage to force out through the scorching feeling in my throat. My vision clears enough to see him turn his head and sniffle, trying to contain himself, but then looks back to me.

“I thought I lost you…” He chokes out.

“I’m right here.” He leans back down and nestles his forehead against mine before he kisses my forehead, my nose, and over to my cheek. “I’m right here, baby.” I’m grabbing onto his arm, but mine feels so heavy. Everything feels heavy. My chest, my limbs, and even my eye lids. The longer I force them open, the easier it seems to be, but I’m so tired... I drop my arm down to feel something cold and solid on the bed. Running my fingers over it, I can feel the shape, and I’m startled to feel the trigger under my fingertips. “Is there a…gun on the bed?” I ask through my heavy breath.

“Fuck…um, yeah. I should probably give that back.” He moves it to the chair behind him.

“Give it back?” I draw in a deep breath. “Whose was it?” I shudder at a loud cracking noise, and I hear feet stomp into the room. Two men walk up and try to detain Damien, throwing their arms around him and trying to drag him out. “Wait, please…”

“Alright officers, let him go! He’s fine now!” That voice sounds vaguely familiar. I look over to the door to see Damien’s dad. They let him go, and they stand staring at each other aggressively. I can feel the tension deepen within the room, and the increase in the beeping from the monitor gives away my nervousness.

“Can someone please…tell me what the fuck happened…” I say through my burning throat and hard breaths. My chest feels so tight, like someone is pulling drawstrings. Damien then walks back over, and sits next to me, grabbing my hand. He gently caresses and moves a hand to my cheek, wiping it with his thumb. If I’m crying, I can’t tell, but I imagine so with the amount of pain I’m in.

“While we were gone, someone snuck in the house and poisoned all of the alcohol. I’ve already got guys testing everything else in that fucking house.”

“Someone poisoned me?” I take a deep breath in. I'm in pain, and I know I should care a little more than I do, but I don't. I just want to go home. I want him to hold me in our bed. I want to keep making random meals at two in the morning when he comes home. My thoughts trail off to an image of me randomly crawling into his lap in the living room. Granted, if I was dead I couldn't do any of those things. Someone really tried to kill me…it's not the first time, but it's the first time I've been poisoned. Maybe I'll get a metal for this one. “When can we go home?”

“As soon as they tell us when you'll be discharged I'll find us a place, baby.” He says as he squeezes my hand.

“No. I want to gohome.”

“It’s not safe there, Ashia.”

“No where is going to be safe…until this Dranan guy is dead. So, if we’re going…to be ‘not safe’ somewhere, it’s going to be our home. Please, Damien…just take me home…” My voice cracks, and I can tell by the agony on his face that I’m definitely crying. He stands up, runs his hand over my head, and kisses my forehead.

“Oh my God, Ash!” Serena runs in and practically jumps on top of me. The force of her body sends a sharp pang throughout my body. I grunt in pain, and she pulls back. “Oh God, I'm so sorry.”

“It's okay Ser.” I see her pretty green eyes pierce through her tears as she holds my other hand.

“You scared the shit out of me.” Her voice cracks.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to be sorry you compliant bitch. Just…just…”

“I know.” She squeezes my hand again.

“I'll make some calls. Get the security at the house amped up and have someone get the rest of your things and your car from the apartment.” Damien says.

“You’re not going to run off…guns blazing are you?”

“No, baby girl. I'm staying right here. I’m not leaving your side.” We look at the door to see a doctor walk in.

“Is it safe to come in?” He says, and I huff, thinking it’s a joke. While everyone else has a serious look on their face.

“Why wouldn’t it be safe?” I ask looking around the room, my gaze landing on Damien who’s chewing on the inside of his cheek. The fucking gun. “Did you point a gun at my doctor?” I force out in one breath.

“Yeah, I did.” He admits. “I'm sorry, doc.”

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