Page 44 of Every Broken Piece
Amelia leads me in the opposite direction. I follow, my feet dragging, suddenly apprehensive. Am I doing the right thing by coming here? Am I making things worse by being here? Does she even know she’s lost her job?
“She was in ICU for a little bit,” Amelia whispers.
I stumble to a stop to catch my breath from the shock of...well...everything.
“They moved her to a regular room last night.” She stops outside a closed door and presses her palm to it but doesn’t push it open. “They have her pretty drugged up. When she’s awake she doesn’t make much sense. The police have come by to ask her questions, but they can’t get much out of her.” She looks at the closed door, then at me. “I don’t know what’s going on between you and Tess, but she always had a smile on her face when shewas texting you. She didn’t tell me your name because that’s against the NDA. All I know is you’re big time.” She bites her lip again as she considers me. “I don’t know how you found out about this or why you’re here, but please help her.”
“I will.” As I say it I mentally scroll through my calendar for the upcoming week, deciding what can be moved and what can’t.
Amelia’s troubled eyes never leave mine. “Don’t hurt her. She’s been hurt enough in this life.”
I lean a shoulder against the wall because my legs are suddenly weak. A metal door stands between me and the woman I flew halfway across the country to see. My entire body feels hollowed out as I question every decision I’ve made in the past twelve hours.
Amelia opens the door, and I take a deep breath for courage and step inside to finally meet Tess.
It’s not black.
That’s my first thought.
Her hair isn’t black. It’s a deep, dark, mahogany.
She’s so much smaller than I’d imagined, maybe about five inches over five feet. I have nearly a foot on her. Besides her hair the first thing I notice is the bruise on her jaw, then the brace on her wrist. Her eyes flutter open and my next coherent thought isthey’re not brown. Her eyes aren’t brown but a deep caramel.
She lies so still as our gazes meet for the first time and all I want to do is sweep her away from here and take her somewhere safe where she’s not in pain or fear.
Something powerful and primitive rushes through me. A need to protect this woman. I’ll make sure she gets the best care. I’ll destroy anyone who threatens her.
I’m here to stay.
Chapter twenty-six
Tess
There is a rhythm to my existence.
Rising pain.
Ebbing pain
Throbbing pain.
Painful white light when I crack my eyes open. When I move my wrist. Moments of blessed relief when the pain is chained, yet lurking, waiting for the next release.
Pain.
That’s my reality.
Currently its creeping toward me, but not quite unleashed.
I know I’ve been here a few days. I know Amelia and Conor have been my constant companions. They say I was attacked at the Rusty Spur, but I don’t remember any of it. The last memory I have is picking out the dress I was going to wear, for once excited about my birthday.
Then...nothing.
Until I woke up in a hospital bed with the worst headache I’ve ever felt, like someone took a mallet to my head. Maybe they did. I don’t know.
Something niggles in my broken mind, another memory of a man standing at the foot of my bed looking down on me with a different sort of pain lodged deep in blue eyes. But that’s probably more dream than memory.
I’m lying as still as I can with my eyes closed, having just come up from a deep sleep that I’m sure is drug induced. Moving anything hurts, but I sense a presence next to me that’s different than Amelia or Conor or any of the nurses and doctors that have been in and out the last few days.
