Chapter 33
Dahlia
My eyes open to a sea of white.
White walls, white ceiling, white light. For one disorienting second, I think I’m dead. That my soul is floating in some sort of ethereal void that exists somewhere between this life and the next.
Then, I notice the details that don’t make sense. The crown molding in the corners of the walls. The steady beep of medical equipment somewhere nearby. And the ornate light fixture in the center of the room that probably costs more than my car.
I don’t think I’m dead. But if what happened last night really happened, I might as well be.
“She’s awake.” Fallon whispers, scooting her chair closer to the side of my bed. She leans forward and her blonde head pops into view.
“Who—” I start, wincing at the sting in my throat. “Who are you talking to?”
Fal’s expression shifts, and for a second I wonder if maybe I am still dreaming. Everything feels a little delayed, like the world around me is still buffering.
Fallon’s eyes cut to something on the other side of the room, and a small smile tugs at her lips. “Your boy’s been here all night.” She whispers softly. “Hasn’t moved from that chair once.”
My heart does that stupid stuttering thing I hate, and I turn my head slowly, following her gaze to the left side of the room.
Echo is sitting in a leather armchair by the window, his body completely still except for the steady rise and fall of his chest. His clothes are destroyed, covered in soot and singed in a few places, and his hands are wrapped in thick bandages that are stained with blood.
He looks like he’s been through hell, but it’s his eyes that gut me. They’re red-rimmed and hollow, locked on mine with a crazy intensity that steals whatever breath I have left.
“Hi.” I say weakly, giving him a half-smile.
He doesn’t smile back. He just stares at me and clenches his jaw.
Is he… still mad at me?
Fallon stands up and smooths her hands down her soot-covered jeans. “I’ll go and let the doctor know you’re awake.”
She’s out the door before I can stop her, and then it’s just us.
I look at Echo. He looks at me. And neither of us says anything as silence blankets the room.
Echo shifts, and when his back brushes against the back of the seat, he lets out an involuntary hiss.
“You okay?” I ask, studying his face.
He nods, but I notice him lean forward so that his back doesn’t touch it again.
He must be hurt there, too.
I take a moment to assess my own damage. I don’t have a single mark on me. Not one burn. Not one blister. Not even a bruise. Echo shielded me from everything.
Just like he has been since the day we met. Just like he did with those men in the alley, and with Josh at the grocery store and restaurant. Echo has been trying to protect me, in his own messed-up way, and I hate that he had to burn in order for me to see that.
“How are you feeling?” He asks, his voice rough.
“Alive.” I say, feeling tears brim in my eyes. “Thanks to you.”
Something shifts in his expression, but before I can really process it, it’s gone.
“Don’t thank me, Bambi.” He says, picking at a loose thread on the seam of the armchair. “I don’t deserve your gratitude.”
My brows pull together. “Why would you think that?”
Before he can answer, the door swings open and Fallon and Echo’s brother enter the room with a man in his early sixties. He’s holding a tablet and even without a lab coat on, I can tell he’s a doctor by the way he’s carefully assessing me.
He introduces himself, checks my vitals, and runs through a list of things I should watch for over the next few days. I nod when it seems appropriate, but honestly, I’m not really listening. I’m watching Echo, who’s still watching me.
On the other side of the room, Echo’s brother says something quietly to Fallon. She replies without looking at him, and he says something else that must piss her off, because she presses her lips together and looks at the ceiling.
The doctor wraps up, excuses himself, and leaves.
I’m still looking at Echo and he’s still looking at me, but neither of us are saying anything.
“D.” Fallon says, stepping up to the side of my bed. “We should talk.” She glances at Echo’s brother. “Can you two give us a minute?”
He gives her a nod and heads for the door. Echo exhales through his nose, then pushes off his chair and quietly follows him out. As soon as the door closes, Fallon turns to me.
“So, the damage to the apartment is pretty extensive. And River and I were talking.”
“River?”
“Echo’s brother.” She says quickly, weirdly averting her gaze. “Anyway, we were talking, and he thinks it’s best if we stay here for a while, and I agree.”
“At the hospital?”
Her brows pull together, and she shakes her head. “This isn’t a hospital, babe. We’re at their estate. This is just their medical room. After the medics cleared you, Echo insisted on bringing you back here so his own doctor could check on you.”
“Oh…” I say, still trying to wrap my head around everything. “So wait. You want to stay here? With them.”
“Well, want is a strong word. And I’ve had more time to sit with it than you have. But yeah, until we figure out who started that fire, it makes the most sense.”
A cold feeling slithers down my back. “How do we know someone did? Couldn’t it have just been faulty wiring or a bad outlet?”
“The fire marshal is investigating it. Because of the damage, it’ll be a few weeks before they have anything definitive.”
“But they think it was intentional?”
She exhales. “Our unit was the only one that burned. And with Christian out there, I just don’t want to take any chances.”
Christian.
I hadn’t even let my brain go there yet. I’d been so focused on Echo that I hadn’t even stopped to think about who might have actually started the fire. But now that Fallon says his name out loud, I can’t stop thinking about it.
“You think this was him?”
“I don't know.” She says, honestly. “Maybe. Or maybe it was just bad wiring and we’re worrying over nothing. Either way, I’d rather err on the side of caution in a gated mansion than at some shitty motel we can barely afford.”
Christian burned my life down once. I wouldn’t put it past him to break out of prison just to do it again.
“Okay.” I say, tilting my chin up.
“Okay?”
“Yeah.” I say, pulling the thin blanket tighter across my lap. “We’ll stay here for now. At least until they figure out how the fire started.”
She reaches out to squeeze my hand. “I’ll go find River and let him know you agreed.”
She slips out, and for the first time since I woke up, I get time alone to process.
Christian is out there somewhere, and after what just happened, there’s a good chance he’s found me. Echo saved my life tonight, but then said he didn’t deserve my gratitude. What the hell did he even mean by that? And why was he looking at me so strangely?
The door opens again, and Echo quietly steps in. He heads for the chair by the window and sits down, careful not to let his back touch the seat this time.
“Did you have the doctor look at it?” I ask, fidgeting with my hands under the blanket. “Your back, I mean.”
“He doesn’t need to.” He says quietly. “I’m fine.”
I swallow. “Echo, I don’t think you are.”
“I said I’m fine, Dahlia.”
I give him a nod and try not to be bothered by the fact that he didn’t call me Bambi.
The room goes quiet again, amplifying every single sound in the distance. I can hear the wind outside, moving through the trees, and somewhere in the distance I hear laughing. I think it’s Fallon’s, which is odd, but it’s so far away that I can’t be sure.
I stare at Echo’s hands. At the thick layers of bandages wrapped around his palms and fingers. At the way his fingers twitch, like they hurt even now, when he’s sitting perfectly still.
He’s in pain. Because of me. No wonder he’s acting so distant.
I had spent months convincing myself Echo was bad for me. That getting closer to him will only end in disaster. I built an entire case against him and reminded myself of it every single time he got too close.
But as I stare at the second-degree burns on his skin and the prominent dark circles under his eyes, I realize with startling clarity…
Echo isn’t the dangerous one.
I am.
And now, less than twenty-four hours after I tried to shove us back into the friend zone, I’m moving in with him.
This is going to be a fucking disaster.
To be continued…