63. Chapter 63
Chapter 63
DECLAN
M y entire body hurts. It’s annoyingly stiff and painful, and it feels like with each breath I take, I endure agony from a new spot. And whatever I am wearing is scratchy and cheap. Not the custom-designed Italian suit I remembered having on.
I feel something in my hand and flex my fingers around it, trying to figure out what it is. Whatever it is squeezes me back.
“Declan?” the most beautiful voice says to me, and I push through my foggy haze to open my eyes and find Vivian sitting in a chair beside me. Her eyes are reddened, and she gives me a small smile as tears fall down her cheeks. I furrow my brow. “Don’t cry. Aaah!” I call out as I go to move and pain flashes strongly throughout my body.
Vivian jumps up as I cry out. “Don’t move, don’t move,” she fusses over me, never releasing my hand. A beeping sound and an alarm bell go off somewhere close, but I don’t dare turn to look at it.
“Where am I?” I ask her as she comes closer to my face, brushing my hair back.
“You’re in the hospital,” she tells me, more tears falling and her breath catching.
“What happened?” I ask, digging into my memory, the effort of just thinking causing me to close my eyes from exhaustion.
“You got hurt,” she whispers. “But you’re better now, so get some sleep, okay?”
“Stay,” I say, or I think I do. But I’m not sure if I just think it or say it out loud, and Vivian doesn’t say anything back.
So I say it again and again. I push against the exhaustion that is trying to take over me. Until I can’t hold back, and that’s when I hear her say, “I’m not going anywhere, Declan.”
Then I can finally relax.