CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Linc
E verly is laying down with her head on my bare chest fast asleep.
We got home an hour ago and from the exhausted look she had, I knew she’d crash soon.
I had her lie down for a bit and then we’d have an early dinner with just the two of us.
She feels good in my arms and as I breathe her in, I eye every part of her.
I had her change into some of my sleep pants and tank top to get comfortable.
Her injured arm is carefully across my stomach, and I can’t help the knot in my belly when I see the scars from the incident.
How can a person do something like this to an innocent woman, who’d never hurt even a fly?
Linley is in some serious trouble. She was found with several illegal substances in her purse, not to mention the attack she poured down on Everly.
She also assaulted an officer when she was arrested.
Olivia is wanting the book thrown at her and I couldn’t agree more.
Linley has always thought the world revolved around her and that nothing could touch her.
I hope a judge sees it our way and locks her the hell up.
Olivia and I have a few markers we could call in on but are waiting to see which direction the trial is headed first.
These last twenty-eight days have been hell for me.
Being forced out of her hospital room and told that she didn’t want to see me again was like a knife through my heart.
I’m not even sure how I managed to get home from there because everything was a blur.
The thought of never seeing or hearing from Everly again was like being told she was dead.
The finality in her words stabbed every inch of skin on my body.
Olivia tried to reassure me that she just needed some space and that once she got a clear head that she’d call or come by, but as each day the sun rose and set, I was starting to have doubts.
What if I’d fucked this up so bad that there was no coming back?
Finally allowing myself to relax, I tighten my hold on Everly and let my tired eyes shut. I’m just hoping that when I wake, this isn’t some horrible joke being played on me and that she’s really here in my arms.
“NO!”
A scream jolts me awake, putting me on high alert. My eyes roam around the now darkened room, as the sun is setting. Movement on my chest brings awareness to the sweaty mess in my arms.
Everly .
She’s thrashing around but because of my hold on her, she’s putting up more of a fight as the seconds continue.
Scared she’s going to hurt her arm, I gently untangle my arms from her and lay her on her back.
I place my body down on hers to secure her in place and then lean in with my face to her neck, close to her ear.
“Baby it’s just a dream, wake up,” I coax, hoping to bring her out of this.
“Please stop!” She begs as her body shivers.
It kills me that she’s probably reliving what happened with Linley attacking her, and it makes me want to hunt that bitch down and kill her with my bare hands.
Nuzzling her neck and telling her everything’s alright seems to help some. I kiss her cheek and her eyes start to flutter.
“You’re safe, baby. I won’t let anything happen to you,” I whisper and it seems to rouse her from sleep. Everly turns her head towards me but then looks around at her surroundings, as if not believing she’s here with me.
“Linc?” Her voice is groggy from sleep.
“I’m here, it was just a nightmare.” I can feel her heart racing and it pains me to no end. Does she have them often?
“It was… I thought…” Everly rubs her hand down her face.
“You’re safe,” I tell her again. “Nothing can hurt you ever again.” I promise.
What I want is to wrap her in my arms and never let her go but I need her to make the first move.
She’s been through something that I’ll never understand and can only sympathize with.
The attack is something that she’s going to have to overcome by herself and I can only be a body to lean on in the meantime.
“What time is it?” She peeks over to the nightstand at the digital clock. “Wow, I can’t believe I just slept for five hours,” she says in disbelief.
“I think we both needed the sleep.”
Her hand comes up and cups my cheek. Looking at me, her eyes soften.
“You look tired Linc.”
“I’m fine,” I respond the same way I’ve done for the past month when anyone questions how I’m doing. It’s a straight lie but she doesn’t need to be worried about me at all when she’s the one who was attacked and hurt.
“I can see you’re not but I’ll let it slide this one time,” she says before removing her warm palm from my cheek.
“I don’t want you to worry about me.”
“How can you say that? You may not have been physically hurt but that doesn’t mean that you didn’t suffer in all this too.”
How she can experience the horrific ordeal she went through and still want to make sure my wellbeing is okay, makes her the most amazing person on this planet.
“I love you,” I say without thinking.
“I love you too, Linc.”
My heart thumps rapidly against my ribcage and I don’t think I’ll ever tire of hearing that.
“How are you feeling? Have you been back to the doctor yet?” I ask.
“I saw Dr. Brewer earlier today and everything checked out perfectly. I go back in three weeks to get the cast off and start physical therapy.”
“That’s good,” I say. “Are you hungry? I can order us some food and then we can talk for a bit?”
“Yeah, I think that sounds great,” she says as her stomach starts to rumble at the mention of food.
We get up from the bed and I head out towards the kitchen to order from the take-out menus, as Everly pops into the bathroom.
When she comes out, I’ve placed our order for pizza and settle us on the couch.
I’m on one end facing her and she’s opposite, mirroring me.
I’d prefer for her to be snuggled up against me where I can feel her body but I know our talk is something we have to, in order to move forward.
“Ran into Blaire Hutchins this afternoon when I stopped by your office to see you,” she says, staring right at me but not in an accusatory manner.
“Well that’s not how I thought we’d start our conversation but we can if you want to,” I cautiously say.
“I haven’t spoken to Blaire personally in almost two months.
I passed her account off to Levi and another associate at the firm.
” I take a deep breath then lean forward toward her.
“I want to say to you how incredibly sorry I am for the way I acted out when you were in the hospital. Everything was so out of control and I was so worried about you that I wasn’t in my right mind.
I was so panicked about what had happened and then relieved when they said you’d be okay.
When you started asking me questions, I should’ve started from the beginning and told you everything, not deflect.
I thought getting you home safe and starting your recovery was more important than what was being thrown at me. ”
“I get that you have a history before me, Linc. I really do. It comes with the territory of dating an old man,” she says with a smirk and I can’t help but clamp down on her ankle with one of my hands and use my other one to tickle the bottom of her foot.
“Easy on that old man business,” I playfully chastise, making sure she doesn’t hurt her injured arm in our playfulness as we laugh. “I’d be careful with my words when you’re down a good limb to fight back.”
“Okay, okay you win that one,” she concedes with a giggle and it’s music to my ears. It’s nice to see her happy like she was before everything went to shit.
“You may continue then,” I say, then release her leg but not before giving her ankle a kiss and placing it back into my lap.
“The entire situation is shitty at best and I don’t blame you for what Linley did. It just seemed like you were holding back on information and purposely trying to avoid telling me. It makes me think I don’t really know you when things are thrown in my face and everyone in the room knows but me.”
“You’re right and I was withholding things.
I feel like ever since I opened the firm, I’ve had to have my attorney hat on at all times.
Always having to be on the defensive about every situation, or knowing certain information but holding back to make sure my client doesn’t suffer for it.
And I did that with you. I was trying to be in boyfriend and attorney mode at the same time doing damage control, and it wasn’t working.
You are and will always be my number one priority and I’m sorry if you felt otherwise.
I never want to hold back from you and I’ll tell you everything you want to know. No secrets.”
“I would appreciate that,” she says nodding.
“Also, my grandparents have been blowing up my phone; they wanted to see you before they left for their Montana home for the next few months. When they found out what happened, they wanted to come see you, but you’d just left with your dad.”
“Montana is a very popular state for the retired crew because Saylor’s grandparents headed up there last week after stopping by and seeing me,” I mention.
“I’d love to go see your grandparents. Do you think Grandma would make me her strawberry cheesecake?
” Everly has a very special place in their hearts.
They are always asking when I’m going to pop the question so that I can start my little family.
“She’d make you one for every day of the month if it meant you came to see her,” I say honestly.
We settle back down on the couch, “Thank you for all the packages you sent. I felt bad for the poor delivery kid, Steven, until he mentioned what you were paying him,” she says with a giggle.
I paid the kid three hundred dollars a week to make sure she got her daily package at the same time every day.
“You didn’t need to send me something every day but I loved them. ”
“Yes I did. I wanted to make sure you had something to look forward to and try to keep your spirits up.”
“Having someone other than my dad help me bathe, was pretty nice. Thank you for doing that. It was great to start my day feeling clean and pampered.” She leans forward and presses her lips to mine.
I let her take the lead and when she pulls away, I fist my hands from reaching out to keep her plastered to me.
“How did you know what to send me? And how did you get some of the items personalized so quickly?”
Moment of truth.
“Your dad helped,” I admit.
“My dad?” She sounds shocked and I can’t blame her because I was too.
“He reached out to me two days after you went home,” I say and she looks surprised.
“I was shocked too, believe me. He told me you were settled in and we had a long talk over the phone. I flew in the next day and stayed at the motel in town. We met briefly because he needed to get back to you and needed to grab you a few things. I knew then that I wanted to send you something so I asked him if it would be okay. He agreed as long as it didn’t upset you.
I went home the next day but then found myself flying in every Friday and leaving late Sunday evenings. ”
“But you never came by the house.”
“You asked for space and I wanted to give you that.”
“You came all that way and stayed in the motel?”
“Being in the same town you were in was enough. Your dad and I texted almost every day so it was enough then.”
“That’s just crazy.”
“I’d do it again if it meant you were happy and healing. My biggest restraint was when you started hiking. I was a nervous wreck waiting to hear from Tommy. I was so worried you would fall or get hurt.”
“I love hiking in the forest.”
“I know, your dad sent me some pictures and you looked so happy out there.”
“I do miss being out in the woods. Saylor and I grew up getting lost and finding our way back home.”
“Maybe you could take me some time?” I ask.
“I’d love that.”
A knock on the door interrupts us.
“Must be dinner, stay put,” I tell her and hop up from the couch. Before I leave the living room to answer the door, I turn back around and face her. She’s watching me with a questioning look. “Go out with me tomorrow,” I say. “On a date.”
“Okay?” She sounds so unsure and I must seem crazy to her right now. “Why did you ask it like that?”
“I feel like we need a fresh start and this is it.”
“Does that mean we have to wait for a certain period of time before we can move to the next base?”
That makes me laugh.
“If you want but I want you to know that I’m in this all the way till the end.”
“I would hope so if you’re telling me that you love me,” she says with a raised eyebrow.
“You know I do.”
There’s another knock on the door and this time it’s louder. I give her a wink then turn on my heels.
Yup, I’m putting a ring on her finger by the end of summer.