Gemma
I couldn’t remember anything,and that was so infuriating. Most of my life, I’d been pushing away the dark thoughts and memories that tried to sneak up on me, but now, I was trying like hell to actually remember something, and nothing was coming to mind.
What was the last thing I remembered?
Isaiah? Coming to my room to say goodbye before the game?
I felt my eyes moving behind my closed eyelids as I strained to hear the sounds. Fear was holding me back and blocking things out. I was familiar with the feeling that was nestled deep in my belly. The twisting and bundling of nerves that begged me to keep my eyes closed as I fought to make sense of what was going on.
Richard.
There were beeping sounds that were gaining traction in my ears. They became more persistent as my thoughts jumped in several different directions. The Covens. I was at the Covens. Oh my God. Have they hooked me up to a machine? Was that the beeping? Maybe to keep me sedated and to feed me more drugs?
My eyes flung open. “Isaiah.” Did he ever show up? Where did Bain go? Did Richard get to Isaiah?
Things were happening too fast, and I knew I needed to breathe, but I couldn’t. I glanced down quickly and saw I was wearing a medical gown. I pulled the covers off my legs next, and I winced at the bruises for a quick second before flipping on my side and clamoring to the floor with a loud thud. Something fell off my finger that held a wire, but the only thing I could focus on was being on the ground.
“Ugh,” I groaned, feeling stiff in places that I didn’t know existed. My fingers hit the cool tile, and I saw more wires and tubes coming from my arm that trailed to a shiny pole that held something in a clear bag. Drugs? I had to get out of here. I pushed myself up on two shaky arms and ignored the bandages around my wrists. I felt weak, too weak to fight Richard if he came here, but maybe, just maybe, I could get to that door and...what? What was I going to do?
My knees wobbled on the hard surface as I began crawling. I heard voices. I pushed past everything that was scheming in the back of my head, telling me to be afraid, but instead, I got to my feet. I hung tightly onto the pole that was following me around like a little shadow.
“Help,” I whispered through clenched teeth. My voice was still gritty sounding. My hand landed on the doorknob, and I realized that the room I was in looked nothing like the room from before. I remembered it being white, but this room wasn’t white. It was a light blue.
I shook my head, surprised that it didn’t hurt that much. The color of the room didn’t matter. I needed to get the hell out of here.
The door flung open on its own with my hand on the knob. I instantly fell forward, crashing to the ground with the metal pole clunking over the tiles. “No!” I jerked back, and my eyes widened at the face standing over me. “Just let me go! Pretend you didn’t see me! At least let me warn him!”
“Whoa, whoa.” The guy standing over me had beautiful, soft-blue eyes. His face was free of any markings, and he didn’t look like any of the men that I’d seen after Richard had taken me. There was something alive in his gaze. Not the dead-to-the-world look that I couldn’t forget if I tried. The longer I stared into this person’s gaze, the more memories started to surface.
I still wasn’t sure where I was, but I didn’t think I was at the Covens anymore.
“Is Isaiah okay?” As soon as the words were out, I wanted to suck them back in. What if he wasn’t? What if he did show up like Richard had said and…and… My hand flew up to my mouth. “Did he kill him?” And what about Sloane? Then the thought came of my brother and how Richard had told me that he’d killed him long ago.
I shuddered, my shoulders caving. My mind was everywhere. Too many emotions were pulling at me like puppet strings, and I didn’t know what to say or do.
The blue-eyed man dropped down to my level. “You’re going to be okay, Gemma.” He touched my arm, and I pulled back instantly, and then my attention was drawn to the left as I heard something fall to the ground. A Styrofoam cup had crashed, and a black liquid spilled everywhere like tiny droplets from a rain puddle. I traveled up a set of long legs, and it was as if my eyes had truly opened for the first time since waking up.
His gasp landed on my ears as he rushed down the hall, sliding to his knees and picking me up in his arms. I was shaking. My teeth were clattering.
“You’re okay. You’re okay. You’re okay.” My head was pressed to Isaiah’s chest, and my senses sprung wide open. “It’s okay. Just breathe. Take a breath, baby.”
His head turned up at the sound of the man who had found me. “I’ll get a nurse and her fath—” There was a hesitation. “I’ll be back.”
The footsteps faded, and I pulled back slightly, taking Isaiah’s scent with me. “Isaiah. Where am I?” Our eyes met, and relief fell over me, but I was too afraid to let myself feel it. I shut my eyes and buried my head into his chest again. Everything was fine. I was fine. I was alive, and he was alive. “Please tell me that we are far away from that place. Please.”
“We’re in the hospital, and I promise you that you are safe now. Damn, you’re shaking. I need you to calm down, okay? They’ll sedate you again, and fuck, just stay with me this time.” Isaiah’s hands ran down my arms, and I shuddered as things started to come back faster. Richard had me by the throat. My fingers uncurled from Isaiah’s shirt once again. “Isaiah, where is Richard? He’s going to kill you. He knows everything! He told me he had pictures of us…from—” I gasped, feeling panicky. I rubbed at my neck. “From Bain. Bain! He was luring you to the Covens! They’re going to kill your dad, too! I heard him. Bain was there, and he...untied me?…and then…” I stopped as Isaiah stole my hand from my neck, replacing mine with his. His fingers brushed over the skin as he finished my sentence.
“I know. I know everything.” His head dropped as if he were too guilty to look at me. “There are some things you don’t know, but all that matters is that you’re alive and in my arms for the first time in weeks.”
“Weeks?” I swallowed with a dry throat. “I think I need water.”
“Come on, I’ve got you.” I peered up at Isaiah, and there were so many things hidden behind his blue eyes. The blue eyes that I pictured when I was taken from St. Mary’s and shoved into a white padded room. The blue eyes that I pictured every single time I came to from being hit, or drugged, or worse. His thumb gently swiped at my bottom lip as it trembled, and I smashed them together to keep myself from breaking.
“Don’t do that,” he whispered. “If you cry, I’ll wipe your tears. If you have nightmares, I’ll wake you up. If you break down right here in front of me, I will piece you back together. I’m not leaving your side, and you aren’t leaving mine, either.”
A shaky breath left me as he nodded once, making sure I understood, and then he scooped me up and took me back into the room, scolding a nurse for not coming sooner.
“She finally wakes up, and no one is here to check her vitals. Un-fucking-believable,” he grumbled angrily before sitting us both down onto the bed, keeping a hold of me the entire time.