CHAPTER NINE
SIA
The faint heart beat that filled my ears gave way to an annoying mechanical beep. I reached across to silence my phone, and hit something metal. My hands ached. The room was bright. Too bright.
Everything was white, white, white.
Why was everything white?
The bleep never stopped. I couldn’t find my phone. I flailed again, but the alarm kept going. So annoying.
“Stop. Stop, damn you." I flapped harder and cracked my hand on the metal thing. “Ow.”
“Sia.” Warmth enveloped my hand, and something sharp dug in.
“Double ow.”
“Sorry.”
The warmth disappeared.
Wait. Voice. Darkness.
So much darkness. Pain.
Ward.
I cracked an eye open all the way, peering through a bleary space at the only non-white looking thing that appeared to stare back at me.
Hard lines, tighter than ever, decorated Ward Bishop’s face. His tanned skin held a grayish hue. When I reached for him, he hesitated.
“It is you,” I whispered, my heart pounding in my chest. I strained toward him, but something held me back. Restraints. But no, those came off back when—
No. No, no, no no no nononono—
“It’s okay. He’s gone.” Ward crouched over me. His arms made a circle around my shoulders, protective, untouching, but warm all the same. “Where do you hurt?”
“Hurt?” I stared up at him, owlish. “Why would I hurt?”
The shock that reflected in his face told me I was full of shit, or that at least, I should be. But the truth was that for the moment at least, I didn’t hurt. My mouth, however, was dust bunny dry. “Water?”
“I can do that.” Ward jostled my hand, and I winced. “Okay, so that hurts.” He sighed out what sounded like relief.
“You’re glad I hurt?” I asked suspiciously.
“Only because that means you’re still with me.”
“Why wouldn’t I be—” I frowned as my sheets rustled, and bustling happened.
My room was invaded by a nurse—also dressed in white to fit the code— who spoke straight over my head.
“She won’t feel much for the next few hours.” Her face was almost as severe as Ward’s though her eyes weren’t, thankfully. I couldn't handle two of them in one space, and a female Ward? Ew. She looked down at me. “Those drugs are going to wear off shortly, Miss Bishop.”
“I’m married,” I corrected her.
“Indeed.” Her head tipped to one side, surveying my hands. “Then you’ll feel everything you and that other man got up to last night.”
I blinked.
Black. Hands. Slices.
Pain. So much pain.
Screaming for Ward through something hard over my mouth. Unable to breathe, choking on blood.
Then….nothing. A pool of something cold on the floor, my cheek wet. Tears? No smell.
But everything was dark that night. That godforsaken blindfold. I never wanted to use it ever again.
So dark.
“Change her out. You don’t come in here again.” Ward loomed, oversized and terrible, above my bed at his full height.
“I didn’t mean—”
“I don't care what you meant.” He never raised his voice, but his intent was clear all the time. “You stay away from my wife and do not come back at her with any sort of accusation. Ever. Not if you want a job at the end of it. Do you understand me?”
Tears tracked my face. “Ward,” I whispered.
“Do you hear me?”
“Yes, sir,” the nurse stammered, backing out the door.
“That wasn’t necessary.” A doctor stood in the doorway. At least, I thought it was a doctor. My tears obscured most of her.
“It was.” Ward didn’t sit, but his hand found mine and this time he didn’t bump my IV. “I won’t abuse your staff but in return I won’t have them making comments about my wife’s situation. She was waiting for me, is that clear? That asshole broke into our home and attempted to kill her."
“Ward,” I whispered again. “I don’t care what they say.” My throat started to hurt. I swallowed hard, and jagged pain shot up my neck. I squeezed his hand.
“I know your…situation is different. Hospital staff talk–”
He looked down at me, ignoring the doctor’s inane chatter. “What do you need?”
“You,” I managed, and shut my mouth.
Ward nodded, crouching at the side of my bed. “I don’t care what your staff talk about. Keep it out of the media, and away from my wife, or your legal team will find out that my legal team has a bigger bank roll behind them and that they’re better at the negotiating table.”
The doctor shut her mouth and left the room.
“Damnit, Ward. I would have liked more meds.”
He smiled—actually smiled—and traced his knuckles across my cheek. “I’ll get you some.” He rose, and my tears started again.
“I don’t want you to go,” I whispered to his frown. “And I liked your smile. It’s the first one I've seen since…”
“Since I left.” He nodded, stilling. A tautness came over his body. “I’m gonna get you what you need. I’ll be gone for a little bit. I want you to sleep. But I promise you’re not alone, alright?”
“Alright,” I parroted, knowing he would get his way regardless, and that I was in no position to argue.
It wasn’t taking that long for the painkillers to wear off. Everything hurt.
The knuckles brushed my cheek again and I cried harder. “What are these tears for?” He collected them on his roughened skin, brushing them away.
“You never touch me. Not without—"
Gloves.
Neither of us needed to say that, either.
Ward cupped my cheek, turning my face toward him so freaking gently that I sobbed for a different reason. “Then this will really blow your mind,” he murmured.
He leaned down and brushed his lips softly over mine. Once, then again. Light pressure, a whisper of a breath between us.
“I’m coming back for you, Sia. You won’t be alone again, ever. I promise.”
I hiccuped completely unsexily. “Okay.”
The corner of his mouth flickered up. “See you soon.” He rapped his knuckles on the doorframe as he left, and I knew the nurses were in for a whiplash of his rattlesnake’s tongue.
I could sleep to that.
The machine’s constant bleep was my company as I closed my eyes, blocking out the white room, and sank into the darkness again.
Only this time, I was armed with Ward’s kiss. And I wasn’t afraid.