"It’s not like I had a choice in the matter." I look at them both, and my mother gets off the bed. “You threw me in the deep end and said swim.”
"Okay, it’s time for me to go and for you to get some rest," my mother says, picking up the tray and turning to me. "Call me if you want to talk."
"Um,” I say something and stop. "Is there any chance that the guy who did that…?" I point at the room where Mayson lies.
"Uncle Casey got the guys to come in and wire this place like Fort Knox," Ethan says. "Besides, I’m in the next room."
I slip into bed as he closes the bedroom door, and I sink into the mattress. Pulling up the thick white cover to my neck, I let sleep take over me.
The darkness sucked me in, and I couldn’t move. I looked around, and I was in the forest behind my grandparents' house. Looking around as if I was lost, I saw something from the side, and fear crept into me. I felt myself running through the forest, the sounds of branches snapping under my feet.
The echoes of my breathing filled the silence of the darkness. Low tree leaves slapped against legs as I heard someone chant my name. "Chelsea." I looked over my shoulder, the shadow coming closer and closer like a wolf in the night.
I tripped over a log, falling on my face, and the pain hit my stomach right away. I got up and looked down at myself and saw the blood seeping out of my stomach. I put my hand to the side as I felt the burning right through me, then holding it up and seeing the blood all over my hand. "Chelsea." I heard my name yelled frantically, and I turned to see Mayson crawling through the mud. "Run!" he shouted at me, and I turned to run only to be staring into the barrel of a gun.
"You can’t run anywhere," he said, holding up his gun. I stared down the barrel of the gun and saw the bullet come right toward me.
Right before the bullet hits me, my eyes fly open, and my hand flies to my chest, rising and falling as if I really did run. I sit up in bed and look down at my side. "It was just a dream," I say to myself. "Just a dream."
Chapter 6
Mayson
"Beep, beep, beep," I hear softly, and I try to pry my eyes open. I’m expecting the darkness to come and take me again, but it doesn’t
The light comes in, and I close my eyes again, trying to swallow, and my mouth feels like I swallowed a handful of cotton balls. I move my fingers and then my toes before I look around the room. A cast-iron bed sits in the middle of the room with me in it.
The white covers are up to my waist as I look to the side and see the ECG machine monitoring me. I try to get up, and the pain slices through me, and I hiss out. "You are going to tear your stitches." I hear a voice, and it all comes rushing back to me.
Showing up at Ethan's and collapsing on Chelsea. Them carrying me. "Where am I?" I say in a hoarse voice. My throat burning. "Water."
I see Chelsea get up from the chair in the corner and walk over to me. Her eyes look tired. Her hair is piled on her head. "Hey there, how are you feeling?" She grabs the glass of water beside the bed and offers me the straw.
I take a sip and look down and see that my arms are clean. "Like I got hit by a Mack truck." My throat hurts. "Front and back."
"Well, I hate to say it, but that guy would be better off than you were," she says to me, and she takes her stethoscope off her neck and puts it in her ears. "I’m just going to get your vitals." She grabs the chest piece of her stethoscope and places it in the middle of my chest. I look down at her small hand as she moves it around. She puts them around her neck, and I know it’s out of habit.
I don’t say anything to her because all the words get stuck in my throat. She grabs a pad from the side table and writes down numbers. "What’s the damage?" I try to stretch my legs, but the tightness in them makes me wince.
"Blood pressure is high, but given the fact that you were shot, that is normal," she says, and I see the IV line inside my hand now. "What do you want to know?" She puts down the pad, and I look at her.
She’s always been beautiful. The first time I came by to deliver Ethan’s things he left behind, I was struck by her beauty. I was also struck by the innocence in her eyes. I also knew she was off-limits in so many ways. "You’re a doctor?" I say, and she shakes her head.
"I’m a nurse," she says. "Ethan wants me to call him when you're up." She grabs her phone, texting him now.
"Where am I?" I ask her, and she looks at me.
"My spare bedroom," she says. "They brought you here. You were in and out of it."
"How long have I been out?" I ask, seeing the sun straining to come into the shades. I imagine it’s been a couple of hours. I got here during the night, so I must have been out at least six hours.
"Since the last time, sixteen hours," she says, and I’m shocked. "Since you showed up, two weeks.”
“Two weeks,” I say, shocked, my mind going around and around as I think about it.
“You kept coming in and out of it," she tells me, and I wonder if I said anything. "Twitched a couple of times, but other than that, you were good." She sits down on the stool beside my bed, and I look over at the desk with all the tools you would have in a hospital. "I have to say, I didn’t know if you were going to make it."
I nod my head. "I didn’t see the white light, so I’m assuming it was all peachy."
"If you died in my house." She puts her phone back in her pocket. "There would be hell to pay." She tries to joke, but I can see the seriousness in her eyes as she looks down and then tucks her hair behind her ear. From the first time I met Chelsea, I was pulled to her, but the fact that I was too old and that she was off-limits made me watch her from afar.
"I’ll remember that if I see the light." I close my eyes now. "Why am I so tired?"
"Your body suffered major injuries," she says. "To be honest, I’m surprised you're even up now."
"I need to talk to Ethan," I say, trying to keep my eyes open.
"He’s on his way," she says softly. "He should be here soon."
"Don’t give me anything else to sleep." I fight to keep my eyes open. "I need to be alert."
"Mayson." She puts her hand into mine, and the heat seeps into my bones. "We got you."
"I still need to be alert," I tell her, not adding that as soon as I’m able to walk, I’m leaving. There is no way I’m going to have this come to their front doors.
Ethan and his family have accepted me and welcomed me with open arms, none of them asking me a single fucking question. Ethan knows what it’s like to keep secrets. When he was serving with me, he was hiding and fighting his own secrets. If I’m honest, half the men out there are fighting their own secrets. I lift the cover and see the bandage on my side and see the little bit of pink from the blood. "You got twenty stitches there," she says, and I look at her. My eyes going to the white medical tape on both sides of my ribs. "I can’t say for sure without an X-ray, but you have at least three broken ribs."