Page 98 of Until You Found Me

“Hey, it’s alright. I’m not changing my mind. I’ll sign.”

Everything moves even quicker after that. They haven’t talked about her dead husband, her memories, what happened to their dog, or what the cops plan to do about all this. Haven’t spoken to Carl yet either, but Logan’s about to get a brand new kidney in the middle of the chaos.

It’s everything he’s always wanted and everything he accepted long ago that he would never get.

“I love you,” Tessa tells him. It sounds sweeter than it ever has and tastes even better on his lips when she presses hers there for a kiss.

She still loves him. How could he have ever doubted her?How did he get so damn lucky?

He whispers his own declaration against her mouth and then she’s gone before he’s wheeled down a hall toward a new life.

His entire reality is about to change and he’ll do everything he can to make the most of it.

* * *

The first thing Logan hears is Tessa’s voice screaming his name at the top of her lungs. It jolts him from the abyss induced by anesthesia. Sends panic through his system until his heart beats triple the pace on the monitor.

She’s scared, and she sounds so far away. She needs him and the pain in his side when he sits up barely registers as more than an annoyance.

“Not you, too. Lay back down.”

When he focuses, a tired nurse appears, urging him back to bed. He stops struggling with a confused squint. “Where’s Tessa? Is she okay? I can hear her.”

Another scream cuts through the halls of the hospital and his eyes widen. He isn’t sure what’s going on but his need to protect her overwhelms logic until the why hardly matters anymore.

“She’s fine, she’s fine. Having a hard time coming out of the anesthesia. We’ve had to sedate her a second time, and it sounds like there might be a third coming soon. She keeps trying to leave the bed. Sometimes it happens. Don’t worry yourself.”

“But she’s yelling. I need to see her.” A coughing fitmagnifies his sore, dry throat, and the pain where they sliced him open starts feeling more like hot lava with every passing second.

His own brain is scrambled enough that it’s hard to force his thoughts into something that doesn’t resemble a paint splatter. He’s pretty sure Tessa has it even worse.

“You’re not going anywhere. You’ll tear your stitches. She’ll quiet down.”

“You don’t understand.”

“I’ll have to call someone to strap you in if you get out of this bed.”

This nurse has no idea what Tessa suffered before coming here. Not a clue why she can’t be left alone like this, but he isn’t about to get tied up, so he forces himself to stay put. “Everything went okay with the surgery?”

“Just fine. You both are. The doctor will be in shortly.”

“Can you bring her in here? Wheel her in, I don’t know.”

“It’ll only stress you both more.”

“I don’t think—”

“See that? She’s already out again.” She smiles, pointing out the silence. “I’m sure she’ll wake up much calmer next time.”

Logan’s left alone in his hospital bed, drowsy and so worried about Tessa that he can’t stand it. Her cries have gone quiet, but that doesn’t make it better. He imagines her waking up even more confused after her injured brain got another dose of drugs.

She needs himso he’s about to leave the room despite the warning, but a tearing burn in his body at the slightest movement forces him back down. She gave him a whole kidney and he can’t risk ruining it. Can’t rip it to shreds after they just put it inside him.

Tessa’s alive. At least he knows that much, and when she wakes up again, they’ll bring her to see him, he tells himself.

Except that’s not what happens and half an hour later her voice slices through the air like a hot knife, calling his name like before, the fear in her tone so overwhelming that he calls back. If he can hear her, then she can hear him. He might feel ridiculous yelling out across the hall like this, but all that matters is seeing her again.

He presses the call button with relentless fury, watching several nurses rush into the room across from him. The screams only get worse until it sounds like she’s dying, saying that Nick is trying to drown her and she can’t get away, can’t breathe, he won’t let her go.

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