I follow them and get in the back seat before they lay Damien out on his front, so his head was resting against my chest so I could put pressure on his wound. He groans lowly now and then, he’s shedding beads of cold sweat, and his breathing was very shallow. I stroke his hair soothingly and kiss his forehead. “Stay with me. You’re going to be okay. Just hang in there, Damien. Please, please don’t leave me.” I whisper in his ear while I hold the cloth they gave me against his wound to keep him from bleeding out.
“Ezra…”
“I’m here, I’m right here,” I mumble against his forehead. “Stay with me, baby. Please, Damien. We’re going to get you some help.”
“Ezra…go.” He winces, and I look down at him. I close my eyes and shake my head. Oh God, the fear of losing him was unlike anything I have ever suffered in my life.
“I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you. You’re going to be fine. You’re going to be up and back to your usual heartless, pain in the ass self. Do you hear me?” I assure him quietly. “Hey, can you hurry up!” I tell the driver while I continue to stroke Damien’s hair gently. “You’re going to be fine,” I whisper once more to convince myself than him. I had to hold onto every bit of hope I had. Otherwise, I would fall apart, and I can’t do that. Damien needs me right now. He took a bullet for me; I owe him my life.
The journey seemed endless to me and, Damien kept slipping in and out of consciousness. I had to keep shaking him awake. My heart dropped to my stomach each time, thinking he had slipped away from me. We eventually pull up at a house with a huge driveway. I frown. This isn’t a damn hospital? “Where the hell are we? He needs a hospital. What is this place?”
The driver turns to me once he puts the car in park. “It’s the safest place for him right now. For both of you. Don’t worry, Damien will get all the help he needs.” He explains, and they both jump out of the car. I follow them as they carry Damien out of the car, and immediately a stretcher comes out, and a doctor with a stethoscope begins examining him. “Let’s take him into surgery.” He says, and they wheel him inside. I follow them until they disappear into a room at the end of the corridor and tell me to wait outside.
“Damien…” I whisper after him.
It wasn’t until the door clicks shut that all my emotions come pouring out of me as though someone has opened a floodgate within me. I saw my reflection in the window of the door I was pressed up against. I’m covered in his blood, my hands, my clothes, my face.
I retreat until my back meets the wall, and I collapse to the floor with an anguished cry in a heap of arms and legs. I weep uncontrollably; the sound of my hoarse sobs echoes around me.
I cry for him. I cry for myself and the mess that my life has become. Nothing but Damien mattered to me at that moment. I didn’t care if he didn’t or couldn’t ever love me. I didn’t care if I wasn’t enough. I didn’t care because I loved him. I’m in love with him despite his callousness. I fell hopelessly and deeply in love with the ugly beast within him.
I wasn’t sure how long I was sat out in that corridor. I didn’t even hear the footsteps approaching through my hoarse sobs. “Ezra.” I lift my eyes and look up at the tall older man, with very little graying hair on his head, his warm caramel eyes gazing down at me. “I’m James. The one you spoke to on the phone.” I blink up at him but couldn’t form any words. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Damien’s a fighter.”
“It’s my fault,” I whisper after I finally find my voice. “I wanted to go for a run. I…I put us in danger, I’m the reason he’s lying there fighting for his life! It’s my fault!” I cry hysterically.
James knelt until he was at eye level with me and shook his head. “Ezra, it’s not your fault. Damien is one of the best assassins in the world. He knew the risks involved when he decided to marry you to protect you.” He tells me with a sympathetic smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
“I killed someone.” I choke on a sob, shaking my head. “I killed someone!”
James squeezes my shoulder while I sob into my hand. “It’s okay, sweetheart.”
“Am I going to go to prison for k-killing h-him?”
James shakes his head and pats my hand in a fatherly manner. “No, you won’t go to prison. That’s been dealt with already.”
I blink up at him. “Who are you people?”
James cocks his head to the side and gazes at me thoughtfully. “You shouldn’t worry your pretty head about such things. The less you know, the better. Don’t forget what got you into this whole mess, to begin with, Miss Quintero.”
“It’s Wolfe,” I utter, wiping away the endless stream of tears that kept rolling down my face. James' lip quirks and his eyes gleam as he watches me.
“Very well, Mrs. Wolfe. How about we go get you cleaned up and get you a tea while we wait.” He suggests, but I swiftly shake my head.
“No. I’m not leaving until I know Damien is going to be okay. I’ll wait here.” James doesn’t argue with me; he just nods and stands again.
“As you wish. I’ll get someone to bring you a washcloth to wipe the blood off your hands and face.” He states before he turns and leaves me alone in the dim-lit corridor.
* * *
Hours went by.I pace the hall back and forth impatiently, chewing my bottom lip nervous, praying that Damien will make it through. Finally, the door opens, and the doctor walks out and takes his mask off.
I stood still looking at him, holding my breath, waiting for him to speak. “How is he?”
“He’s stable. We got the bullet out. He’s very lucky it just missed any vital organs, but there was some spinal nerve damage. It’s hard to tell how severe or mild it is at this stage, but we can assess that when he wakes up.” I nod, thankful, and exhale, gradually releasing that breath that’s been suffocating the life out of me since he’s been shot.
He’s going to be okay. Thank God.
“Can I see him?” The doctor nods and gestures for me to follow him.