Chapter Thirty
“You don’t have to do this,” Chloe told Erik for what felt like the hundredth time. He was lying on a gurney prepped for surgery, and she was by his side, holding his hand. “I love you just the way you are.”
He gently squeezed her fingers. “I know you do, and that love is the most precious gift I’ve ever received, but I need to do this for me.”
She nodded rapidly, her chin quivering as her eyes welled with tears. “Come back to me, Erik.”
“Always.” His mouth quirked with a smile. “This time, I’m the one with a protection detail. They’ll make sure nothing goes wrong.”
Lark and Kong were dressed to go into the operating room with him, wearing scrubs, some sort of paper smock, gloves, caps covering their hair, and booties on their feet. They shouldn’t have looked intimidating, but somehow, they did.
“We won’t let anything happen to him,” Lark promised, while Kong let out a deep rumble of agreement.
“It’s time,” Paige announced. She was a nurse, and she’d be assisting Doctor Fernandez. Erik had plenty of people in his corner watching over him.
Leaning down, Chloe kissed him as a tear spilled over. “I’ll be right here. Waiting.”
As they wheeled him into the OR with his escort on either side, Chloe called out, “I love you!”
“I love you, too! See you soon.”
The doors closed behind him, and Chloe hugged her arms around herself.
“He’s going to be fine,” Jayla said, coming to stand beside her.
“He heals way faster than I do.” She had graduated to a cane to help with mobility as her spine continued to recover.
The doctors were optimistic that within another week or two, she’d be able to discard that as well.
The fetal cell procedure had worked a miracle.
Jayla motioned to a chair with a look of inquiry, and nodding, Chloe took a seat. Jayla settled into the one next to her and placed the cane between her knees. “How’s Bruce?”
“All my worrying was upsetting him, so Leo took him outside to play fetch.”
Jayla chuckled a bit. “Knowing Leo, they’ll both be exhausted after and need a nap.”
Chloe nodded, but her eyes were on the doors again as she imagined what was happening right now in that operating room.
“So, I heard Doctor Dietrich is Erik’s mom.”
Another absent nod. Was Erik already asleep?
“Well, I’m a bit miffed. Here’s the juiciest bit of gossip to hit Black Bay in like forever, and does Kong tell me? Noooo, he tells Lynx. Lynx! I’m supposed to be Black Bay’s gossip queen, and she gets to spread the story of the year!”
Chloe dragged her attention away from the door and her imaginings of what was happening inside to shoot Jayla a confused frown. “What?”
The other woman waved away the question and leaned in slightly. “So are you going to invite her to the wedding?”
“Who?”
Jayla rolled her eyes. “Doctor Dietrich, of course.”
Chloe would just as soon not, but that decision wasn’t hers. “That’s up to Erik.” The doors drew her eyes again. Were they removing his skin now? A shudder racked her. She needed to stop, or she was going to make herself sick.
“Speaking of weddings…”
Chloe gave her attention back to Jayla just in time to see her reach into a bag and pull out two thick bridal magazines. “There’s no time like the present to plan.”
Jayla was determined to distract her, and Chloe was grateful to her friend for trying. With just a hint of a smile, she asked, “So are we planning my wedding or yours?”
Color bloomed in the other woman’s cheeks before she released a wistful sigh. “A girl can dream, but that’s not going to happen for me.”
“Why not?” That guy, Nova, the way he’d looked at Jayla when he’d brought her flowers, in Chloe’s opinion, that was a man in love.
“It’s a long story, but basically, he thinks of me as a little sister.”
Chloe hadn’t gotten that impression at all, but Jayla opened the bridal magazine, clearly done with the topic. “Have you thought about color schemes?”
The surgery took hours, but Jayla stayed by Chloe’s side, making sure she got up and stretched every once and a while, or walked around, using the excuse that she needed to stretch her back and Chloe should come with her.
She also entertained Chloe with stories about the people who funneled in through the day, checking on Erik’s progress.
Some of them brought food and drinks, insisting Chloe eat.
She appreciated their efforts, but could only pick at the fare. How much longer?
When Doctor Fernandez finally emerged, Chloe jumped to her feet. He looked tired, but he was smiling, and relief hit her so hard she nearly crumpled to the floor.
“He came through with flying colors.” The surgeon was still smiling as he shook his head. “The level of healing is amazing! The blood vessels are already beginning to connect to the graft. It’s miraculous!”
“Can I see him?”
“They’re moving him to a recovery room now, but once he’s situated, you can.”
“Thank you, Doctor.”
Paige came to get her not long after to escort her to Erik’s room. “He did great,” she said. Like the surgeon, Paige looked tired, but she was all smiles, too. “Everyone behaved themselves, and Kong didn’t have to rumble threateningly even once.”
“That’s a good thing.”
The nurse chuckled. “Yes, it is.” They approached a door, and Paige cautioned, “He’ll probably sleep for another thirty minutes or so, but you can sit with him, talk to him.”
Chloe vaguely heard her, but her attention was fully on Erik.
He was lying in the bed with the covers pulled up to his broad shoulders, his chest rising and falling steadily.
Instead of the thick padding of white bandages she’d expected to see, the side of his face was covered with something that reminded Chloe of the gel facial masks she’d sometimes use, only a bit thicker.
It was a pale, translucent green that glowed slightly, and as she drew closer, she could hear a gentle humming.
“What is that?”
“According to Doctor Fernandez, that’ll help with adherence, keep the area hydrated, and stimulate blood flow.”
Nodding vaguely, she moved around the bed to the chair set beside it and took Erik’s hand, careful not to jostle the IV. Paige said something before she left, but Chloe didn’t hear her. He’d made it through. He’d come back to her… “I’m here, Erik. I love you.”
Exhaustion hit her like a ton of bricks. The last thing she remembered was lying her head down on the edge of the bed.
Erik was healing fast, a fact which Doctor Fernandez reminded him of at least twenty times a day, but he wanted out of the infirmary.
It had been five days, and while the pain had minimized after the first day, when his face wasn’t tingling as the nerves came to life, it was itching, and he couldn’t scratch it.
At first, all that feeling had been exciting after so long with limited sensation.
Now, it was driving him nuts. The new eye was also an adjustment.
Everything had seemed off kilter at first, and he’d gotten dizzy a couple of times.
According to the doctor, his brain had been suppressing input from his damaged eye for years and was now being flooded with unfamiliar signals.
He would’ve been climbing the walls if it weren’t for Chloe.
She could have left, gone home, slept in her own bed, but she’d insisted on staying; she wouldn’t even consider leaving him to sleep at his place, so the staff had set up a cot for her in his room.
She’d been by his side from the moment he’d woken up from the anesthesia and found her hunched over, sound asleep, holding his hand.
It was nice to be cared for like that; to be loved that deeply.
He felt the same, would have done the same if their positions were reversed – though he hoped he’d never have to – he never wanted anything to happen to his Chloe. She was his everything.
Currently, she was tucked in beside him, reading something on her phone, while Bruce made use of her cot for a mid-morning nap. The dog’s head suddenly popped up, looking at the door, and Erik muted the TV. Doctor Fernandez was coming, and by the sound of it, General Davies was with him.
“I said no,” the general barked, clearly annoyed. “Do I need to remind you of the forms you signed before coming here?”
“All I’m saying is imagine the medical breakthroughs we could make if you permit me to do a study.”
Chloe sat up with a look of concern and put her phone away. Erik rubbed her back, trying to soothe her. The general would handle this.
“My people were experimented on for half their lives. No.”
“But if I could just talk to them…”
“Doctor Fernandez. You will drop this now, or I’ll have you escorted off my base.”
Silence descended but for the approaching footsteps. When they arrived, the surgeon looked red-faced and tight-lipped, while General Davies had on his stern, don’t fuck with me face, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Well,” the doctor briskly said, moving toward Erik as Chloe got up from the bed. “At the rate you’re healing, I think we can take this off now.”
Finally.
“Are you ready?”
“I’ve been ready, Doc.” As the surgeon gloved up, Chloe moved around to the other side of the bed and gripped Erik’s hand.
Nervousness flooded him as the doctor removed the apparatus attached to his face. All the previous times the doctor had checked underneath it, Erik hadn’t been allowed to see the progress, the opinion being that he should wait. Well, the wait was finally over.
He kept his eyes on Chloe, waiting for her reaction, and when she gasped and covered her mouth with her hands, he wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. Finally, her hands fell away, and her smile was beaming. The breath he’d been holding expelled in a loud whoosh of relief.
“What’s the verdict?” he asked.
Chloe’s eyes narrowed. “I think I’ll have to get a big stick.”
“Why?”
“To beat off all the women who are going to be falling all over you.”
Erik laughed. “Good thing I only have eyes for you.”
Doctor Fernandez was holding a mirror, but before he handed it to Erik, he cautioned, “We’re still in the early days, yet. I expect, at the rate you’re healing, the skin will even out in the next few days.”
Erik took the mirror, and as he looked at his reflection, emotion swamped him.
Two matching turquoise eyes stared back at him.
His new skin was shiny, still a bit pink, but it was smooth.
The channels, pockmarks, and rough texture were gone.
The transition between the two sides of his face was nearly seamless.
They’d even fixed his ear. The monster he’d seen in the mirror for eighteen long years was finally gone.
His breathing hitched, and his sinuses clogged. Dropping the mirror into his lap, he covered his face with his hands as he lost it. Tears squeezed out from his closed eyes as his shoulders shook, and Chloe’s arms were around him, holding him tight.
“Let’s give him some privacy,” he heard the general say before the door closed.
Bruce whined, and a wet nose nudged insistently at Erik’s elbow. Dropping his hand to give some reassuring scratches, he took a few deep breaths and managed to blink back the tears and pull himself together. His eyes met Chloe’s sympathetic gaze. “I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.” Leaning in, she kissed him sweetly, her lips lingering on his as she whispered, “Nothing.” Grabbing a tissue, she gently blotted away the wet tracks on his cheeks.
In some amazement, he murmured, “I can take you out now. To a place with people without embarrassing you.”
“Oh, Erik.” Her fingertips gently skimmed over the new skin on his face. “You’ve always been able to do that. I’ve never once been embarrassed to be with you. I love you, and I’ve been proud to call you mine right from the start.”
This woman… The way she made him feel. The way she’d always made him feel. She’d never seen the monster, only the man. She’d healed him in ways she’d never fully understand.
He drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. “If it weren’t for you, Chloe, I don’t know where I’d be.” He let out a low chuff of a laugh. “Probably still shut up in my apartment, keeping everyone at a distance while life passed me by. I don’t know how to repay you…”
Her fingertips covered his lips. “Just love me, Erik. That’s all I need.”
“I do. I love you so much that I can no longer imagine my life without you in it.”
“Same.” With a soft smile, she kissed him again. “No more watching life from the outside for either of us. We’ll live it together, side by side, day by day.”
Picking up her hand, he kissed her fingers. “There’s no one else I’d rather live it with.”