Page 65 of Lightness In My Dark

Without giving them a chance to protest, I left the room. About to sit down, Gabe exited the double doors to the ER.

He came over as soon as he saw me. “Finn. It’s been a long time. Why are you here?”

My head tilted down. “Some fucker sexually assaulted my fiancé.”

His head shook. “Come with me.” I followed him into a small ER room with a door. “What’s her name? I’ll get her chart.” He retrieved it and I placed Wren on the bed. Eyes still distant, she grabbed my arm, not wanting to let go. I whispered it would be okay, and her grip slackened.

Gabe entered, tossed me a scrub shirt, and lowered to the stool next to the bed. I sat in the chair on the other side.

He spoke to me first. “Your hands are full of blood. Do you need medical attention?” I told him no.

He touched Wren’s hand to get her attention, and she shied away. “Hi Wren. My name is Gabe. I’ve known Finn since he was in his teens.” Gabe gave me a quick glance, and I nodded. “I treated Finn for his injuries.”

This got Wren’s attention, because her eyes shifted in his direction, however, not on him.

“A horrible guy violated him when he was younger, like the guy who did this to you.” He paused for a moment. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a sexual assault nurse examiner on the premises. I called a colleague of mine to examine you, but she’s about to go into surgery. We can wait or I can do it.”

She didn’t respond. He turned, opened a drawer, taking out a gown and placed it on the bed.

“Why don’t you put this on? I’ll be back.” Gabe left.

“Wren, he needs to examine you.”

Tears formed in her eyes while focused on me. A part of me shattered at the sight.

Her voice crackled like the last of autumn’s leaves. “I don’t want an exam.” Wren pressed her lips together. “I want to go home.”

I placed a hand on the side of her face. She had a trail of dried blood down to her chin. “I know this is difficult, but it’s important. We need to make sure—”

Wren’s face collapsed. “He didn’t penetrate me with—”

“But he did something, sweets. Gabe needs to clean and check you.” She looked away, shaking her head.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I turned her face toward me. “Wren, I know how humiliating this is for you. I’ve been there. This was not your fault. You have no reason to feel ashamed.” I kissed her forehead. “Please. For me. Let Gabe assess you. I’ll do whatever I can to make you comfortable or I can leave—”

“No!” Her hands clutched my forearm. “Don’t go, Finn.”

“Okay, I won’t.” I took a breath and tilted my head. “Come on.” I helped her out of the bed. “You can go behind the corner screen.” As we walked over to it, she stopped, wrapped her arms around my waist, burying her face in my chest. Her tears spread across the scrub shirt. I kissed the top of her head and reached for the gown.

“I’ll help you, okay?”

She shivered under my touch but agreed. I pulled my shirt off her, slid the top of her dress down to her waist, since the motherfucker ripped most of it, and put her arms through the gown sleeves. Then I shimmied her out of the rest of the dress.

“Can you take off your underwear?”

Her arms clutched my shoulders for balance. One went to the side of her open gown, slipping them down. Without turning her around, I tied the back of the gown, lifting her onto the bed. I removed her shoes but left her socks on.

Carter texted me to say they had her clothes. I told her I would be right back. I returned with Gabe.

He had a bag and asked me to put her clothes in it.

He smiled at Wren. “This is tough. I’d like to do a forensic exam—”

Wren shouted at him. “No! No!”

We exchanged a glance, and I shrugged. “If Wren doesn’t want a forensic exam, then I have to support her decision. I’ve asked her to allow you to do a quick exam to make sure everything is fine.”

Gabe checked her head, cleaned, and stitched it. He pulled the sheet up to her waist, rolled her gown up to check her stomach and ribs by pressing around. Wren winced.

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