Page 86 of Tainted Princess
CHAPTER TWENTY
Francesca
“What the fuck do you mean, she was hit by a car?”
The loud and angry voice filtered in and out of the gray haze I was floating in, the soft edges of my consciousness wanting to reject the jarring noise trying to pierce the calm I was rather enjoying.
It was how I got to this calm place that was still evading my awareness. I knew something had happened, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember what it was. To be honest, I wasn’t even really sure I cared as I drifted along in contented bliss.
“I said almost,” a different voice cut in. “Almosthit by a...well, it was a van, actually.”
Sheesh. These guys were really harshing my buzz here.
“Oh, well, that makes it all okay then, doesn’t it?”
Not wanting to leave this comfortable place, I tried to block them out, attempting instead to focus on the quiet spaces between their words when a new voice joined the argument.
A woman’s voice.
“If you two are finished acting like cavemen, I’d really like to examine my patient.”
Patient?Me?
The realization that I needed to be examined had me pushing closer to the surface, the vulnerability of my situation suddenly giving me the driving need to be able to protect myself, which I couldn’t do from the gray zone I was currently inhabiting.
I wanted to sit up, but my brain struggled to make my body work, so instead I tried starting with my toes. They, thankfully, wiggled on command. Taking that win and attempting to expand on it, I flexed my fingers, and when that also worked, I tried to turn my head toward the loud voices on my left. The movement sent my headache from earlier back into the forefront of my awareness, and I clenched my eyes tighter instead of opening them like I wanted to do, taking some slow breaths as the wave of pain slowly passed.
It wasn’t until a cool hand brushed against my forehead that I finally opened my eyes and found myself in a dimly lit room, staring at Dr. Mia Carmichael.
“Hey.” She smiled, her exhaustion even more obvious than it was earlier. “There you are. Welcome back. I gotta say, when you told me you’d call, I didn’t think it’d be this soon.”
I blinked a few times, struggling to take in my surroundings and piece together the events of the night, hoping to make sense of how I got here. The last thing I remembered was sitting beside Enzo atWrath, but now here I was, lying on the bed in Enzo’s apartment with Mia looking down at me with poorly veiled concern. Outside, the lights of the Strip cast a rainbow of colors onto the ceiling because no one had closed the roll down curtains. It was still night—at least, I hoped it was still thesamenight—which meant that I wasn’t likely out of commission for very long.
But that still left the question ofwhyI had been out of commission in the first fucking place.
Before I could consider much, there was a commotion at the door and in stormed the dark cloud that was my husband. He looked furious, and I didn’t know if it was at me or someone else, but I did not have the energy to put up with his shit when I felt as bad as I did.
Behind him, Vinnie and Rocco were standing outside the bedroom door, and I could see Lexi behind them, her face crumpled with worry as she chewed on her thumb nail.
Enzo hurried to the bed, moving Mia out of the way none too gently and earning a scowl from both her and me. He glanced at her with the barest hint of apology on his face before sitting down beside me on the bed. His gaze scanned me frantically, looking for any additional injury, even though I was sure there was nothing to be concerned about.
“Francesca,” Enzo said, his voice carrying a level of tenderness and concern that honestly shocked me. “I—” he started, his hand reaching for my face, but he froze, drawing back, and instead resting it on his lap.
I smiled to hide my disappointment.
“How are you feeling?”
“Honestly?” I asked, struggling to sit up. Enzo moved back and I swung my legs over the side of the bed. “A little confused. What happened?” I didn’t like admitting I didn’t know, but with Vinnie, Lexi, and Mia all in my line of sight, I knew my people were with me.
I was starting to hope that I could count Enzo in that group as well, but I wasn’t sure yet.
“What do you remember?” he asked instead of answering me, and I frowned.
“Um, I remember being atWrath. There was the thing with Jerry—Oh, Vinnie!” I looked past Enzo to the guys standing in the doorway. “What did he say to you to earn that punch in the mouth?” I asked with a small smile, and Vinnie cringed.
“Nothing.”
“Vinnie, come on.”
