Page 124 of Keep Your Guard Up
My heart thrashed inside my chest, pumping over double time in anticipation, angst, and overwhelming relief.
“Where is he?” I croaked.
The nurse, who’s name badge read ‘Effie’, waved a hand for us to follow.
The rubber wheels of my chair grumbled and squealed a little on the shiny floors. We passed door after door after door. Two cops rounded a corner and gave us a nod in passing.
“Here we are!” Effie beamed, pushing the door open to poke her head in before allowing us to enter. “She’s here for you, honey.”
And then he was in front of my eyes. Pale, bruised, and hooked up to more lines and wires than I could identify. But here, he was right here.
I dug my fingernails into my palm—urging my subconscious to wake me right here and now if this was some cruel joke it was playing on me. Pain flashed, here in the flesh, and I grinned.
JJ pushed me up next to the bed before taking a seat on the other side. Chance’s hand, the one that was closest to mine, had an IV line running fluids into it. I brushed a finger over the purple bruises on his knuckles, the rest of his hand starkly pale in contrast.
“Hi, darling,” I whispered, a soft request for him to open his eyes.
The ocean in his eyes was cloudy and hazy. Slightly puffed circles ringed just below his lashes. Little red veins rushed to support that warm lagoon I’d grown to love more than the sea itself. Those little creases below his eyes appeared and I glanced down to his mouth, where a drug-hazed smile tugged his lips up.
“I found you,” he rasped, clearing his throat. His fingers, despite being pale and bruised, were warm. They pushed through mine and tender comfort wrapped my chest in a warm embrace.
Home. We’re home.
“I think I’m the one who had to find you.” I smiled back, unable and unwilling to fight it off. Moisture burned my eyes and my smile wobbled.
“No … no …” he started before looking over to JJ. He smiled brighter. “JJ, I found her, man. I told you, she’s my sunshine. I’ll always find her.”
“Think I found her for you this time, man,” JJ replied, patting Chance’s forearm.
“No, no. I found you.” That dopey, drug-induced grin focussed its grip on me and violently ripped down my wall. “I found you. My sunshine. My beacon home.”
I lifted our linked hands to my face. When his scent hit my nostrils, my eyes couldn’t hold more water if they tried. When the familiar smell of mint and home found me, tears fell freely down my face. It wrapped me, every part of me, in an embrace so tight and warm. A cocoon of love and light and liberation; myheart no longer hurt. It had no reason to, not when the other half of it was right here before me.
“Sunny baby, why are you crying? I found you. Aren’t you happy I found you?”
I was caught between an ugly, sobbing cry that was sure to make Chance reconsider his decision to wake up, and a laugh.
I, apparently, opted for both. “O-of course I am. You found me,” I repeated, smiling down at his high-as-a-kite worried face.
“I told you I would. No one believed me.” He pouted.
“I believed you. I’ll always believe you,” I defended.
He paused, as if one of the clouds had cleared and he remembered.
I believe you. I’ll always believe you.
“Yeah, you do, don’t you?” The look he gave me was coming straight from his heart, a look so full of love and adoration, it pushed more tears from my eyes.
“Can I get in on this?” a misty-eyed JJ joked, though I noticed he had Chance’s other hand in his.
“Thank you for what you did.” His smile was still happy, dopey, and pain-free, but a heavy weight dropped in the room at his words.
What he did.
I was confused and felt like I was still missing half of what happened that night. I looked to JJ for an explanation, figuring I was unlikely to get a straight answer with the state my Chance was in right now.
His face paled and his eyes darted away from both of us. Despite the obvious discomfort, his grip stayed firm on Chance’s arm. “No need, mate. But just do you know, I’ll be telling everyone back home it was me who got shot,” he replied, cool and crisp.
