Page 75 of Indulgence
I’d died a thousand deaths in the span of those few minutes. It was like being nauseous, suffocated, and punched in the balls all at the same time.
While we lay together —for the first time in weeks—in that hospital bed all night, I couldn’t stop staring at her. Drinking her all in. Thanking my lucky star that she was brave enough to fight back and I had the chance to hold her once more. She relaxed against me in sleep, and some of the cracks in our foundation filled and settled. When something as scary as yesterday happened, it made us reevaluate our priorities and remember why our relationship was worth fixing.
Her apology and my being able to hold her all night were all I needed to vow to forget about the past two weeks and move forward. We’d learned some hard lessons, but we couldn’t let those lessons hold us back.
My eyes stayed glued to her as she laid in that hospital and napped. I was afraid that, if I blinked, she’d disappear and be back in that room fighting for her life and her safety. She was being released shortly. The detectives had left about half an hour ago with her statement, and Adam was collecting our things from the hotel we were staying at.
Annetta and Bastien fretted over her when they stopped in earlier. They came with a large arrangement of vibrantly colored flowers and jokes to cheer Nat up. “We could take care of him for you,” Bastien offered. “We’ve got ‘friends’ back in Europe who wouldn’t think twice about making him disappear for you.”
Annetta smacked him and said, “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” She turned to Natalie. “I’m the one with the friends, you just say the word.”
When Annetta tossed in the wink, Natalie laughed and, even though we still had so much left to go through, it was music to my ears.
Someone tried to attack her. Hurt her. She beat a man with an iron to avoid being raped and or killed. She fought off a man who stalked her here from Seattle. She was strong and elegant and brave. She never left my side, and nothing could’ve made me happier.
I’d be calling the owners of the club first thing tomorrow. Immersion was supposed to have top-notch vetting and client security. How Natalie found herself with a stalker from there was unthinkable.
Listening to her statement to Det. Jiménez wasn’t easy. I had to fight back the bile with each detail she revealed. We were told Gerard would stay in holding, waiting to see a judge at some point in the near future for arraignment. They were charging him with assault, forced entry, and sexual assault. When we arrived back in Seattle, we’d file a restraining order and push for stalker charges. We wanted to make sure he stayed in prison for as long as possible so he could never do this to someone else. We also wanted to make sure that, if by some miracle he was release on bail, he couldn’t come anywhere near Natalie without penalty.
“Watching me sleep is creepy when my face doesn’t look like this.” Her voice startled me. “But staring at this swollen mess is even more disturbing.”
I laughed, which felt foreign in my chest. “I can’t help it.” I shrugged. “The nurses are getting your paperwork ready. Want me to help you get changed? Adam is collecting all the rest of our stuff from the hotel.”
She nodded as she pushed herself up in bed. “Thank god for him taking care of that for us. Thank god, he took this trip with you too.”
Natalie was straightening her shirt when the nurse came in with her discharge papers. She couldn’t get it pulled down fast enough for me to miss seeing the welt on her breast that made my blood boil to a rage.
The nurse went over a few things with Natalie, fitted her for crutches since she couldn’t walk on her ankle for at least four weeks, and sent us on our way with a smile.
“You guys ready to head home?” Adam asked, popping his head into the open door. “Your chariot awaits.”
Natalie looked up at me from where she sat on the edge of the bed and smiled. A warmth settled over us as she said, “There’s no place I’d rather go.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Natalie
One Month Later . . .
Dr. Alexa Morgan smiled as Matteoand I sat next to each other. “How are the two of you doing this week?”
The two of us glanced between each other, a smile tugging at the corners of our lips. “We’re doing well.”
It felt so good to be able to say that.
The past month had been a bit of a wild ride. Between healing my body, my mind, and my soul, there were days I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through intact.
Nightmares haunted me. Aches and pains assaulted me. Fear made me afraid to be alone.
I was strong and brave. I knew that. But just because things didn’t get to where Gerard wanted to take them, didn’t mean that I made it out whole.
Part of my soul was left back in that hotel room.
But a tiny weight had been lifted when we started seeing a therapist last week. She specialized in marriages and traumas.
She clicked her pen, ready to jot her thoughts as she listened. “Would you like to tell me about your positives this week?”
Warmth was evident in Dr. Morgan’s expression as we explained that the nightmares were less this week. We even went back to Immersion. We didn’t do anything there except have a drink, but it was still a big step for us. We had thought we’d never step foot in there again. Matt was Switzerland. He didn’t care whether we ever went back or not, but I knew I needed to at least try once. Even if it was just to prove to myself I was strong enough.
