Page 12 of Guarding Her Love

Joy

One week later…

“Joy? I think you should come in now.”

I look up from the couch where I’ve been sleeping to see Amy, Dawson’s nurse, standing in the door. Wiping my eyes, I glance at my phone; it’s almost three in the morning.

“Is something wrong?” I ask, sitting up. “He’s not…”

Dawson has been in the ICU for the last week. I barely got him here in time; the doctors said that if I had been even five minutes later they wouldn’t have been able to save him. Even then, it’s been touch and go for the last few days, and everyone’s been making a point of telling me to prepare myself for the worst.

“No,” Amy says. “He’s not. He’s awake, Joy.”

I hear what she says, but I can’t process it. The last seven days have been the worst days of my life – not being able to sleep more than a few hours at a time, never knowing what’s going to happen, thinking that I got Dawson killed…it’s been a nightmare. So as I follow Amy into his room, I’m on the verge of passing out.

“Hey,” he says from the bed. When I see him lying there, smiling at me like the dreamboat he is, I don’t know whether to faint or scream for joy. So I kind of do both. I throw myself forward and collapse onto his legs, crying and laughing at the same time.

“I thought I lost you!” I sob. Even now, Dawson reaches down and runs his hand through my hair to comfort me. I reach up and grab his wrist and hold on for dear life, like if I let go, he might slip away from me again.

“I’m right here,” he tells me. “Don’t you worry. I’m right here.”

There’s a weakness in his voice that breaks my heart. It’s because of me. I know that, and even if he won’t admit it, he’s in this state because of me.

“Don’t,” he says. Wiping my eyes, I look up at him. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t do that. Don’t blame yourself.”

“I—I’m not.”

“Yes you are.” He smiles. Even now, after surviving a gunshot, Dawson’s worried about me.

“Okay…maybe a little…” I admit sheepishly. He motions to me and I move up the bed to his good side and snuggle up next to him. He winces but puts an arm around me and pulls me close. I take a deep breath of his smell and feel my heart rate beginning to slow.

“I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to do this again,” I whisper.

“You’ll be able to do it as many times as you want,” Dawson replies, gently stroking my lower back. “I don’t want you anywhere else but right here, Joy.”

A deep feeling has been forming inside of me for the last week. I brushed it off at first; how could I possibly be falling in love with a man I’ve only known for this long, right? But as I look up at him and see him staring down at me with a look of pure ownership, I know that the feeling is real and impossible to deny.

“Yeah?” I

ask him, putting my heart on the line. But it feels right; I know he’d never hurt me.

“Yeah,” he smiles, running his hand through my hair. “Now tell me; did we get him?”

A wave of excitement hits me and I sit up, smiling and brushing the tears from my eyes. I nod vigorously. “We got him!”

“Tell me all about it.” He smiles.

Quickly, I recount the events of the last week. With the USB drive, I was able to spread the information about Senator Bryant’s sex-cult and sex trafficking onto the internet where it was impossible to cover up. All the major social media outlets picked it up and then the mainstream media. Once the story broke, he tried to catch a private plane out of the country but was arrested at the airport by the FBI.

His ties to the Russian Mafia were exposed, as well as other high profile men in government and big business. It’s only the beginning, but there’s a good chance even more disgusting men will be going down with him.

I kept my name out of the whole thing and uploaded the information anonymously. People questioned it at first, but it was all easily verifiable upon closer examination, and so far, no one’s come after me. And with the senator in custody and two of his men dead, I don’t think they will be either.

When I’m finished, Dawson’s just smiling at me, and in his eyes, I see a partner – I see a man I know will always be there for me, who doesn’t just see me as a prize, but as an equal. For the first time in my life, I see a man I know I can trust.

Epilogue

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