Page 117 of Save Me

Shifting on the bed, Connor sat up again and carefully swung his legs over the side.

“You probably shouldn’t be doing that yet…”

But he wasn’t listening. Ivy moved in close in case he didn’t fully have his balance. Head injuries were tricky and the last thing he needed was to fall again.

Once he was steady on his feet, he took several steps away from her and she noticed he was limping. “Did you hurt your leg in the fight?”

“No.” After he was on the other side of the room, he turned and faced her. “There’s one more thing I need you to know.” He paused. “Something you need to see.” Another pause. “I’m not showing you this for sympathy. This is just because you deserve honesty.”

It didn’t take a genius to see where this was going.

He’d been in the military. He’d been deployed. He was discharged sooner than he should have been.

“Connor…”

Slowly, he reached down and raised the pant leg on his left side. His gaze never left hers. “Helicopter crash. I blew out my knee and I’ve got burns up my entire leg to my hip,” he said as if she couldn’t see them. “This happened three months ago. I’m going to have to have another surgery or two, and I’ll probably have a limp for the rest of my life, but…I’m alive.” He shook his head. “Not everyone on that flight is.”

“Oh, Connor…” She fought the urge to go over and hug him, but knew he didn’t want her to feel pity.

She was angry at how he was stupid enough to get in the middle of a neighborhood brawl when he was in this condition.

Something she’d bring up at another time.

“I know this may sound forward, but…” he said, interrupting her thoughts.

She knew what he was going to ask.

She just knew it.

But she said yes anyway.

Four

I didn’t survive three deployments to be taken down by a stupid street fight in my hometown.

He hated how weak he felt and how out of breath he was by the time they got to Ivy’s second-story apartment, but he would gladly climb another ten flights of stairs if it meant being alone with her.

It was after one in the morning, and he knew he wouldn’t mind a couple of hours of sleep, but considering he was the one to ask to go home with her, Connor figured he owed it to her to at least stay awake.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Ivy asked once he sat down on the couch. “Or something to eat?”

“I’m good.” He paused and looked around at her place. It was a pretty-decent-sized two-bedroom apartment, but what he noticed more than anything was how she had put her personal stamp on the place. She had always favored more of a beachy decor, but there were tons of framed pictures of her friends and family scattered around, as well as a bookcase filled with a crazy number of books. Ivy always loved to read and she preferred paperbacks to e-books. And if there was a hardcover edition, she’d take that over everything.

She sat down at the other end of the sofa and yawned. “Sorry. Long day.”

And that’s when he realized he should have called Jamie and let him take him home. It was late, both he and Ivy were tired, and nothing was going to get settled tonight. It was purely selfish of him to even ask her to let him go home with her.

“Yeah, I uh…I probably should have just let Jamie come and get me. Sorry.”

But she shook her head. “I know it’s not late for him, and I’m sure everyone’s still hanging out at the Spring Fling—or at least having drinks at Donovan’s. Which means he shouldn’t be driving anyway. Although…I could have taken you to his place.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

“I still could,” she offered around another yawn.

“Ivy, I can tell you’re exhausted, and to be honest, I am too. If you don’t mind me crashing on your couch, we can talk more in the morning.”

“That sounds good.”

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