Chapter 90
CHAPTER NINETY
ASTRID
A slow, steady beeping drifted through my ears. I slowly blinked my eyes open, adjusting to the low light in the room. My lips were cracked, my muscles aching, like I had been hit by several cars in a row.
Above me, the ceiling was a soft, pale beige. I tilted my head slightly to the side, wondering where I was and why it was so quiet. When I turned, I saw him sitting right by my bed—hood up, legs spread, and arms crossed.
Arch.
His head was tilted slightly, but his heavy eyes were focused on me.
“Arch,” I whimpered, my voice coming out broken. “Where am I?”
After stiffening for a moment, he stood up. “The hospital.”
“Why?”
“You almost died,” he said, heading to the door. I didn’t know why I’d expected any softness from him, especially after he told me that I almost died, but I’d expected something other than that. “I’ll go get the others.”
Before I could say another word, he was out the door. I stared at his retreating figure through the small window and furrowed my brow. No hug, no relief, no biting insult that meant that he cared.
Just a, “I’ll go get the others.”
A couple of moments later, Cairo threw the door open and hurried into the room. He scanned the machines before approaching, then fell into the same chair that Arch had been in and grabbed my hand.
“You’re awake,” he said gently.
I gave him a soft nod. “Do you have any water?”
He grabbed a cup from the side table and lifted it to my lips. I drank some down, my gaze lingering on the door to see if the others were here too. Don’t get me wrong; I loved Cairo, but I wanted to see the others.
The last thing I remembered was leaving Diya’s house.
“Diya? Is she here?” I asked.
Cairo set down the cup on the table, tense. “Why don’t you ask Calix about her? How are you doing? Do you need me to get a nurse? You’re breathing now, which is a good thing, right? Feel any different?”
“I’m fine,” I said. “What happened?”
“A lot.” He drew the pad of his thumb across my knuckles. “You almost died.”
“That’s what Arch said too.”
“When we found you in that storage container, you weren’t breathing.”
My eyes widened. “Storage container?”
He furrowed his brow. “You don’t remember? You were kidnapped.”
Faint memories drifted through my mind, and I closed my eyes. I didn’t remember—or at least couldn’t remember fully. Diya and I had gotten into a fight, and then I left, and someone had come up to me on the street and …
Tears filled my eyes. I didn’t even want to remember.
“Where are the others?”
“Calix and Rush are in the lobby, sleeping, and Frasier got kicked out for shouting at a nurse about your IV,” he said, glancing at the door. “Arch has been by your bedside all night. He hasn’t stepped out since he got here.”
“Arch? As in my stepbrother Arch?”
A low chuckle left his mouth. “Yes. He didn’t want anyone else in the room with you, said he’d kill them first. So, we all camped out in the lobby once we found out that you were breathing again.”
My lips twitched into a small smile. Arch had so much emotion that he didn’t know what to do with it, and I thought it was actually … kinda cute. He hid behind his coldness, but I was beginning to see through it.
Little by little.
“Rush and Arch killed the guy who had taken you,” Cairo said.
I sucked in a breath and nodded. I didn’t want details.
“Oh yeah, and Mira’s dead too.”
Eyes widening, I sat up. “She is?”
“Arch,” he said, as if that answered my question.
“He … killed her? Why? How?”
“For an hour or so, we thought that they had dumped your body off at the Overlook. Arch went in the water to try and find you, but—”
“Wait, wait, wait. Arch went into the water at the Overlook? Is he crazy?!”
“I know, but we found Mira instead, so he kinda … sorta …” He shrugged and made a kicking motion. “You know?”
While death definitely wasn’t something to laugh over, I found myself giggling. Yes, giggling for some sick reason. As much as Arch didn’t want to admit it, that asshole had feelings for me. I’d even go as far as to say that the fucker loved me.
And honestly? I loved him too.