Chapter 39
Mina
Two Weeks Later
It’s been two weeks since I woke up from the coma, and Myles hasn’t left my side. I swear, the man has hardly slept. But today’s the day we finally get to go home...to our home.
The cops came the day after I woke up to ask questions about the kidnapping and attack. I told them I didn’t remember much. Myles told me that Dex’s crew was taking care of things and that it would be better if I just acted like I didn’t remember anything.
“Are you ready, Sunshine?” Myles asks as he steps up behind me. His eyes lock with mine in the bathroom mirror.
I nod before looking over my reflection again.
I’m wearing a black tank top and shorts.
The scars from Quin are still very fresh.
Their hard, red-tinted lines stand out against my pale skin.
The damage done to my hand is permanent.
Thankfully, it’s my left hand, so I’m still able to do everything the same.
My middle and ring fingers just don’t respond like before, and there isn’t much grip strength since the tendon was severed. It could have been worse…A lot worse.
When the doctor went over all the damage I had sustained, I couldn’t even explain the wave of relief that washed over me when he told me there was no evidence of sexual assault.
I lost consciousness multiple times in the short span I was there, so the fear of what they might have done was always in the back of my mind.
“What’s on your mind, Mina?” Myles asks as he brushes the hair away before kissing my neck.
“Just these last few weeks have been a lot…” I still don’t have all my memories back, and the doctors aren’t sure if I ever will.
Myles has told me some stuff about what happened. He’s been hesitant, worried about pushing me too hard or how I might react if I remember something specifically horrible.
“You’re doing amazing though, Sunshine. Your wounds are healing beautifully.”
He trails a finger down my arm through the scar trails from the chemical burns.
I can still feel it sometimes. The feeling of the acid dissolving my skin, and I couldn’t fight it.
They had my torso restrained to a chair.
My arms were stretched across the top of a table.
The cold, metal edge would dig into my ribcage as Chad touched me causing my body to want to curl in on itself…
but it was no use. I was completely at their mercy.
“Hey…” Myles’s voice is soft.
He spins me to face him, then cups my chin to tilt my face up to his. He looks over every inch of me, studying me. Those dark copper eyes cut straight to my soul. He’s the only person I have ever felt who has truly seen me.
“Listen to me, Mina. You’re strong as fuck. You’re a fighter.”
My eyes fall back to the scars on my arms. My hand reaches to cover one of the worst ones. Quin thought it would be funny to use the acid to burn his initials into my flesh. Before my fingers can even touch the Q, Myles grabs my hand.
“Sunshine, your scars only show more proof of what a fucking fighter you are. Don’t you dare hide them. Understand?”
“But…”
“No buts. Don’t try to hide anything from me, Mina. I love you. All of you.”
He pulls me against him, and I bury my face into his chest. His scent calms me. It reminds me of home. This man has never looked at me with pity or disgust. I mean, the man watched me take another man's life right in front of him and didn’t bat an eye.
“I love you.” My arms tighten around his waist. “Can we go home now?”
“Of course, Sunshine.”
He leans to press his lips against my temple before he pulls away. I take another moment to look around the hospital room as he picks up our bags. He’s stayed with me every night. Thankfully, Alexandria and Fabian have been running Octavia without him having to be there in person.
Once we’re on the road and heading home, I feel a weight lift off my chest. The hospital was nice and all, but I felt like I was suffocating. But now, heading towards our home, I finally feel free.
He told me about his past with Alexandria. At first, I was jealous, but then he told me about the night after we were first together. He told me that all he wanted to do that night was to be able to get me out of his head, but he couldn’t even look at another woman because all he wanted was me.
“Hey, how’s Cash doing?” I ask as we pull off the highway to get gas.
I didn’t bother transferring to a hospital closer to Vegas. By the time all the tests were done to make sure I was well enough to transfer, the doctor said it shouldn’t be more than a week before I could leave completely., so we stayed in Arizona.
“He’s okay. Alexandria said she hasn’t heard from him in a couple of days. I’ll call him once we get you home and get settled in.”
I still can’t believe Cash got involved at all.
I mean, Quin and he grew up together. During the altercation, he and Quin shot at each other.
Cash was lucky, and the bullet missed any major arteries.
It did end up hitting his liver, kidney, and a rib before exiting his body, but the surgery was a success.
He left before I even woke up from the coma.
“So…Has there been any signs of Quin?”
Myles’s knuckles turn white as he grips the steering wheel. After Quin and Cash shot each other, Quin took off. Dex’s crew searched the house and the woods for hours but couldn’t find any trace of him. For all we know, he could have crawled to some hidden panic room and died from blood loss.
Either way, Dex and his crew have been searching for any sign of him for weeks.
“Nothing yet. I still think he was inside when they burned that place to the ground. He’s probably a pile of ash.” He takes my hand and brings it to his lips to kiss the back of my knuckles. He lowers my hand back to my lap but keeps holding it as I return my gaze out the window.
“I hope he was alive when the flames found him.” My voice is quiet.
“Me too, Sunshine. Me too.”
We drive in silence for a little while. His hand is in mine mindlessly caressing circles with his thumb. Finally, he speaks.
“Can I ask you something?” he says quietly.
“Sure…”
“What happened…back then. Do you remember anything? You were so young…” his voice trails off, and I can feel his muscles tense through his hand.
I take a deep breath. I haven’t talked much about that time since I moved back to San Antonio.
“I remember a bit. Ever since I met you, I’ve started remembering more.
I think it was because I was back inside the house.
I don’t remember much of the accident…” I can feel his grip tighten on my hand.
“I remember the water and dad breaking the window to push me out. I barely knew how to swim. I was so scared…but then everything else is gone.”
I don’t even remember how I swam to shore or what happened after.
“I woke up eight months later. They said that a couple hiking had found my body along the shore. I think they said they found me the same day that our car went off the bridge, but no one knew who I was. We weren’t even in Texas anymore, so it’s not like anyone knew who I was.”
“I’m so sorry, Mina. If I’d gone to their funeral, I would’ve…”
“No. Don’t apologize. It wasn’t your fault. You’d just lost everyone that mattered to you. I can’t blame you for wanting to run and never look back…I would’ve done the same.”
He lifts my hand kissing the back of my knuckles.
“After that, I bounced around from foster home to foster home until a nice, older couple from Oklahoma adopted me when I was nine.”
“Did you have a good life with them?” he asks hesitantly.
“Yes, actually, I did. They felt more like grandparents, but they were the most loving people. They helped me find out about my past when I was thirteen and could understand what happened. Before then, I had flashes of memories that didn’t make sense, and so many nightmares.
I decided when I was sixteen, I wanted to be a psychologist. I wanted to help people. ”
We turn and pull off and drive through a gate onto a private road that winds up a hill.
“They passed away just before I turned eighteen. It was so hard. Madeline passed away from cancer, and Eugene passed in his sleep a month later. I turned eighteen a week later, sold the house, and moved back to San Antonio. The rest is history.” I take a deep breath, exhaling slowly.
It feels good to talk about what happened.
“I’m so sorry for all you had to go through, Sunshine. You’re so strong.”
He kisses my hand again as we continue up the driveway. I can see Vegas off in the distance. The road comes to a stop at the top of the hill next to an elegant-looking two-story home. Dark brick with black trim.
Myles opens the door and holds his hand out for me. My heart still skips a beat every time he’s near. Those damn butterflies. I take his hand and stand letting him lead me across the front lawn to a gazebo with a bench swing. It faces the overlook to view the city off in the distance.
He sits and has me relax next to him wrapping his arm around me protectively.
The swing starts to rhythmically sway back and forth as I rest my head against his chest. My eyes close as I listen to the world around us.
It’s quiet. I can hear the birds. No sounds of cars or the chaos of the city. Just us in our own little world.
The swinging mixed with the sound of Myles’s heartbeat slowly lulls me to sleep.
My body calms, and I feel completely at peace…
Something I haven’t felt in a very long time.
I’m woken by Myles cradling me against his chest as he carries me to the house.
When my eyes crack open, he’s looking down at me, smiling.
“Sleep, Sunshine. I’ll show you the house in the morning.”
My eyes close as my body sighs, melting into him. I can feel him open the door, kicking it closed behind us, and then walking us up the stairs. He lays me on a soft bed and begins to undress me. My shoes and socks are tossed on the floor.