Page 66 of Safer Together
~ Chapter Thirty ~
Angela
The constant beeping around me reminds me of a robot, then another sound comes from somewhere beside me and then disappears again. My limbs feel heavy and my face aches like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
I try to raise my hand but I can’t move it. Something is stopping me. My eyes snap open and I look around the room. It’s dark, except for the glow of the machines surrounding me. I look down my body to my arm, where a disheveled blond head lays on the bed beside my hand, his own hands keeping mine captive. I raise my free hand and stroke his hair, thankful that he is here with me. I feel him stirring,
“Elliot,” I croak, my throat desperately dry, his head moves, coming up to look at me, his eyes blinking as they open.
“Angie, you’re awake.” I nod.
“Thirsty,” I declare. He stands up and walks to the table beside the door, twisting the lid from a bottle of water as he walks back to me, offering it to me. I take it in shaky hands, however I don’t spill a drop, greedily drinking the cool liquid.
Once finished I hand it back to him and he sits on the bed beside me. “How are you feeling?” I take a moment to mentally check over my body, I ache almost everywhere.
“Sore,” I admit. He nods.
“They set your nose as it was broken, and they also….” he stops.
“Also what?” I ask, wanting to know what else happened.
“They performed a rape kit. You have some internal tearing, its bad sweetheart, they believe you will heal but you need to see a specialist,” he finishes in a rush. I feel wetness starting in my eyes, as it all comes back to me. Dylan and the assault; Elliot, Price and Drake coming in to rescue me; coming to the hospital. The tears start falling, and they don’t stop.
Elliot stays where he is the entire time, watching me carefully, not wanting to touch me, and it tears my soul in two. He saw the evidence of Dylan raping me, with his own eyes. It’s completely different from being told the story of it happening in the past. “I’m sorry,” I whisper. His eyes go wide.
“What the fuck are you apologizing for?” he asks, “you did nothing, Angela, nothing at all. It was that filthy piece of scum who should be apologizing”, with the mention of Dylan I had to ask what had happened to him,
“Where is, Dylan?” I swallow
Elliot’s eyes leave me and end up somewhere across the room, “He’s gone, honey. For good.”
“Elliot, look at me,” I whisper. He brings his beautiful face around to look at me again. I see the dark circles under his eyes, and shadows behind them. He is hiding something from me. “We’re going to talk about this once we go home”.
He nods. “Yes, at home.” He bends down and kisses me gently on the cheek. “Speaking of home, the doctors mentioned you will be all right to come home later today. If you feel up to it, of course.”
“Which home? Mine or yours?” I ask, slightly afraid of the answer. What if seeing what happened to me is the final straw, if he finally realizes that I’m not worth it.
“I was thinking our home, the one in Belle Meade,” he smiles down at me. “I want us to be married there, the place we first met, the place where I first wanted you, the place where we can start the rest of our lives together.” The emotion spreading across his face transfers to my body and I feel his love within me, knowing that it will never leave. And in that moment, I decide that it was time to jump all in, no more holding back.
“Yes, I want that, Elliot. All of it with you.” His smile is breathtaking. “Take me home, Elliot”.
He slides off the bed and starts grabbing my assorted items, placing them into a bag he had gotten from somewhere, before helping me out of bed and into the adjoining bathroom. He hovers while I brush my teeth.
He leaves momentarily and comes back with some clothes in hand, depositing them on the shower chair. “Take your time, my love.” He places a soft kiss to my temple, before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.
I shrug out of the hospital gown and gasp when I see my body. My skin is covered in a motley shade of blue, purple, and yellow and my nose has a bandage across it. My eyes are black circles. I turn for the shower and turned it on full pressure. The water only slightly above lukewarm, thanks to the hospital safety requirements, doesn’t burn or sting my skin.
I let the water fall over my face, and hair, pulling my fingers gently through, feeling the pain in my scalp. I reach out and grab the liquid soap that was on the small plastic shelf, squeezing it onto my palms, it smells of Elliot. He has been staying here with me. I wash my body as best I can before turning the water off and drying myself, I rub my hair with the towel in hope of getting rid of the excess water and then I get dressed before combing my fingers through my wet hair.
Elliot is waiting for me when I exit, his arms open to me. I hobble across the space and into them and feel completely at ease, here in his arms. His arms wrap around me, holding my body against his. I feel his lips on my hair. “Are you ready, baby?”
I nod against his chest. “Yes, take me home, Elliot.” He lets me go to bend and collect the bag on the hospital bed and takes my hand in his free one. As we leave the hospital, the sunshine outside is a nice reminder that I am alive, and I am free.
We make it home, and we head straight for the master suite. The pillows are piled high on the brand-new king bed taking up pride of place in the room. Elliot walks in behind me and heads into the walk-in closet conversion, before coming back out to me without the bag.
“I want to know what happened to Dylan, Elliot. I need to know.” He takes my hand leading me to the two chairs, closest to the large window.
“Take a seat and I’ll tell you”. Once I am comfortable, he begins, “when he pulled the baseball bat against your throat for the last tie and you blacked out you went limp, Lenny shot him, as the bullet entered his shoulder he let you go and I was able to get you away from him. Once I knew you were okay, I let him have it, Angie.” His eyes boring into mine, I wasn’t afraid of him, not at all.
