“What is it, honey?” my mom asked. “Do you remember something?”
Everything clicked painfully into place. Whoever attacked me did so as a result of Gabriel’s world. Whatever had happened, he’d been alerted that they were coming, but he’d gotten to me too late. They were already inside. They were waiting for him to get there.
My mind tripped backward over the details my mom had given me and landed on police. “Did someone call the police?”
“Someone must have, but when they got there, you were alone,” my mom said. “We thought maybe a neighbor, but no one lives in the houses on either side of you, and the neighbors across the street said they don’t know anything.”
It had to have been Gabriel. Did he just leave me alone? I tried not to be upset at the thought. He couldn’t be there when the police showed up. What happened between him and those thugs? Was he okay? “My phone.”
My dad bowed his head sadly. “It was among the items stolen. I’m sorry, baby.”
My stomach twisted into knots. I had no way of getting a hold of Gabriel. The best shot I had was the number on his paperwork, but I had no access to that until I was out of the hospital. “I wanna go home.”
My mom rubbed my head. “Oh, I know, sweetie. It’s probably best for you to stay with us for a little while. Until you’re healed up.”
I didn’t have the energy to protest. “Okay.”
I started to think about Gabriel and how lost I’d allowed myself to get. I didn’t lie when I told him that I loved him, but it was foolish of me to think that I could make a relationship with him work. We’d only been together a few weeks, and already, I’d made it to the hospital. Next time I could be dead. Or worse, they could go for my parents. I’d researched the Varasso’s crimes. I knew that they had enemies all up and down the eastern seaboard. Gabriel was the most innocent of his brothers, and still, my relationship to him had such a devastating effect on my life. It was going to kill me to have to break up with him, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn’t have a choice.
“What is it, honey?” My mom rubbed my hand, being careful not to catch the IV that led into my wrist. I didn’t realize I’d started crying, but I had. “It’s okay. You’re okay now.”
I wasn’t okay. I never would be. It hadn’t taken me long to realize that Gabriel was my missing piece. He was the thing that made my aura shine so brightly that my mom could sense it days later. No one in the world could bring me so high that I felt like I was about to start charting new galaxies. My hand in his felt like a continuation of my own bloodstream. When I felt his heartbeat against my skin, it was like feeling my own heartbeat, just in his chest.
When we didn’t have the outside world to interfere with us, there was no denying our chemistry, and I doubted that I would ever find someone who made me feel the way he did. Yet, none of that was in the running for consideration. Gabriel Varasso was dangerous. If I had to choose between him or myself, I had to choose myself. Anything else would be illogical. Anything else would mean death.
A doctor walked into the room with a clipboard in her hand. She looked over, and when she noticed I was awake, she smiled. “Oh, there she is. Hello, Ms. Everett.” I didn’t respond, and she didn’t push it. “How are you feeling?”
I didn’t know which of my ailments to focus on. There was a headache pounding against my skull, snatching, shooting pains coming from every corner of my body, I was almost certain I wasn’t getting signals to my left arm, and my stomach was still threatening to turn up at a moment’s notice.
“What’s wrong with me?” I asked, instead. “The injuries.”
The doctor and both my parents seemed to be confused by the question, but the doctor flipped a paper, folded it behind her clipboard, and then looked up at me. “You’ve got a nasty concussion, a cracked right eye-socket, a broken left arm, multiple contusions across your arms, torso, and legs, and a few bruised vertebrae.”
I remembered the man who held me, making mention of my naked body as he held me at gunpoint. “Were there…” I looked at my parents, and my voice died.
The doctor pulled the clipboard against her chest. “Mr. and Mrs. Everett, could you please give us a few moments?”
I saw the disappointment in my parents’ eyes and grabbed my mom’s hand as she started to move. “No, it’s okay.”
The doctor smiled at me. “It’s normal to not want to share certain details in front of others.”
My dad touched my forehead. “Really, angel. It’s okay.”
“I want you here,” I responded. “Just, please don’t ask me about this further, okay?”
My parents both settled back into their seats on either side of my hospital bed. My mom nodded. “Okay, honey.”
I steeled myself and opened up to ask my question. “Were there signs of, like, rape?”
Both my parents gasped, and I couldn’t bring myself to look at them. The doctor shook her head. “No. It seems whoever beat you bloodied and blue left it at that.” Her brow nestled above her eyes in a knowing glance. “Can you tell me what would make you ask that question?”
I had to protect Gabriel. Even now, even knowing that we had to part ways, I wanted to be good to him. I wanted to defend him. He had no role in those men coming to my house, even if they came as a way to get back at him. Without even speaking with him, I knew that to be true. “I was expecting a date. It wasn’t him, but I’d…I was…I had undressed while I was waiting for him. When the burglars saw me, they were…excited.” I didn’t even like bringing the words to my lips, but I had to be sure.
“You were still naked when the police found you. Something had been draped over you, but in situations like that, we automatically perform rape kits. Yours had no results.”
I nodded—a single relief in a sea of upset. “Okay.”
“Are you in pain?” the doctor asked, and I nodded. “Okay. I can administer some more morphine if you’d like. It’s gonna knock you out, though.”