Page 67 of Beneath the Midnight Sky
I heard him speaking, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of Sam’s body and the blood spilling into the shaggy maroon carpet. I wondered if it would stain brown or just stay the gross maroon color it was now. I hadn’t noticed before that it just looked like a red carpet with dirt ground up into it.
My body was shaking, I realized, and someone was carrying me. I looked over at Rowan as he buckled me into the truck and went around to the driver’s side door. He reached over and took my hand in his. “It’ll be okay, angel. I’ll take care of everything,” he said. His voice was so gentle and reassuring that I just nodded in response. I didn’t know what else to do.
I’d shot someone.
No—not someone. Sam.
I’d shot Sam. He couldn’t hurt me anymore. He couldn’t hurtus.I shot him.
Iwas free.
Iwasfree.
Iwasfree.
33
NO MORE MATCHMAKER
Aspen
I was sittingin a hospital bed, an IV in my arm. The doctor said it was for fluids, but there was another bag on there that I knew was for pain. I wasn’t sure why they didn’t want me to know that, but I’d been here enough times to know what I was looking at. The hospital gown they’d put me in was itchy compared to Rowan’s shirt, but I was trying not to be a whiny little ass right now. Everyone was being kind and patient with me, but nothing could seem to wipe away the sense of unease I couldn’t rid my mind of from being in the hospital. Again.
Payton walked in with her little clipboard, a smile on her face.
“Are you always this pleased at work?” I asked, my tone sounding more tired than anything else.
She smirked. “Only when I have stunning patients such as yourself.”
I rolled my eyes. I was so tired, I didn’t have time for the niceties of it all. I’d apologize later. Maybe. If I saw her again.“So, can you give me the down low on my injuries, or do I need to wait for the doctor for all of that?”
I hadn’t been awake for long, and I had no idea how long I’d been stuck in this bed. I knew it had taken us a few hours to get back to Raven Creek, but I wouldn’t let Rowan take me anywhere else. So we drove—me in and out of consciousness.
Payton’s smile broke for half a second at my question. If I hadn’t been staring at her and used to the pitying look, I would’ve missed it completely. But I was me, and I was used to those sorts of looks. I hadn’t had one for a while, of course, but they were pretty normal when I was a teenager.
“Normally, the doctor, but I told them I was family, and I’d give you the rundown. Plus, they’re…uhm?—”
“Spit it out, Payton, please,” I said, trying not to sound mean, but at the same time, I was tired and already overwhelmed by this conversation.
“The staff wasn’t sure how you’d feel about a male doctor or nurse here talking to you. So, they offered to give you space and send me in. The cops are here, too, ready to talk to you whenever you’re ready.” She was using her nurse voice. The voice that said she was calm and knowledgeable, and everything would be just fine with her in the room. I hated it. I wanted the Payton I’d come to know and love over the last couple of weeks.
“I’m fine, Payton. Just give me the gist of it all so I can go home…assuming I have one,” I muttered the last bit, and I could see her brows scrunched together in confusion. I wasn’t diving into this with her. Not right now.
She released a breath and looked down at her clipboard. “You have a concussion, a few mild lacerations on your face and knee, two broken ribs, a sprained wrist, and a great deal of bruising.”
I felt myself nodding, but I didn’t speak. What was there to say? Yeah, figured as much, my entire body ached, and I tried a few times to get out of cuffs that were on too tight even fora kidnapping. The longer I sat here, the more random bits and pieces of the night came back to me. Sam hitting the truck—more than once. Something hitting me in the side. Falling in the parking lot. A gunshot. Blood.
I jumped when I felt something touch my shoulder, but I looked over to find Payton. “I want you to talk to someone, Aspen,” she said quietly. Words just for us. The two of us in this small, sterile hospital room.
I nodded again. I knew what she meant, no need to ask. She wanted me to chat with a professional, someone who could validate my whacked-out feelings of remorse and regret, and anger. Fuck I had so much anger buried inside of me, with nowhere for it to go.
“I’m going to give Rowan a card for a woman in town, her name is Harper. She isn’t like the stuffy people I’m sure you’ve spoken with before. She’s helped me a lot over the years, so trust me when I say she’s amazing. Just give her a try, okay?” I finally looked up at her and saw the pleading in her eyes. Only this time it didn’t hit me as pity; it was genuine pleading that I’d normally see on Ivy’s face. A pleading that came from a place of love. So I wasn’t surprised when I found myself whisperingokayand nodding once more.
She smiled then and gave me a gentle side hug.
“Is he coming back?” I whispered to her.
Payton pulled away and looked down at me. “Who?”
