Caught by Emma Louise
Chapter Eleven
The low, melodic murmur of voices starts to invade the heavy weight of darkness I’ve been floating in for what feels like days. My entire body feels weightless, like I’m nothing more than a feather, and a strong breeze would be enough to carry me away. I’m hovering on the edge of sleep once again when I feel strong fingers close around my hand. I should fight it; I should fight harder to wake up, but I don’t have the strength anymore.
Fight, Darcey. You need to wake up.
The thought echoes around my mind, but it’s useless. It fades away as the darkness wins, swallowing me whole once again.
By the time I resurface from the abyss, I manage to bring myself fully awake. It feels like minutes have passed, but it could be hours for all I know. My eyes feel like dead weights as I struggle to get them to stay open. The fog in my head makes it hard to focus for long, but I recognize the airless, antiseptic smelling room with its stark white walls. I’ve been in this position more than enough times before to know I'm in the hospital.
Cassidy.
The thought of my daughter has my body bolting upright from the bed. I need to get to her. “Woah there!” The gentle voice unexpectedly coming from my side has my heart plummeting to my stomach as I jump, the sudden movement causing a ricochet of pain to shoot through my head. “Hey, take it easy there.” The room spins as a wave of nausea washes over me. I have no choice but to lay back against the thin pillow. Pain radiates through every inch of my body as memories of how I ended up here assault my mind. I was attacked again.
“Cass...” I manage to get out as I fight not to pass out again.
“She’s good. Natalie got her from school.” I don’t open my eyes, but it finally registers that it’s Felix who is here with me. I try to take some deep breaths to get my erratic heart rate under control, but the pain that fires through my ribs almost has me crying out.
“She’s okay?” I finally manage to ask once the pain starts to subside. Turning my head, I take in his concerned face. He’s sitting in the chair next to my bed, and he looks almost as rough as I feel with his disheveled hair and rumpled sweatshirt.
“Absolutely.” His hand covers mine where it rests on the bed. “How are you feeling? You scared the shit out of us.”
“Oh, I'm feeling just peachy.” Felix scowls at my sarcastic comment, but the nurse choses that moment to come in, cutting off whatever he was about to say.
“Well look who finally decided to join us,” she says as she checks the machines around me.
“I’ll just be outside the door. If you need me, just holler.” Giving my hand another squeeze, Felix leaves us alone. After asking me a bunch of questions and checking me over, Annie, the nurse, tells me that I took a nasty bump to the head and that I have a concussion. Not only that, but I have a small fracture in my right foot and some severe bruising to my ribs. Luckily, the blow I took to the face didn’t do any lasting damage, but I do have a nasty black eye. Despite my begging to be discharged, she tells me that I have to stay for more observation, so I'll be staying here at least one night. I’m gearing up to tell her exactly what I think of that when the door to my room opens once more. Felix walks back in, but this time he isn't alone.
“Are you feeling up to telling us what happened?” Crew asks gently, coming to my side and leaning down to drop a kiss to my head. Glancing around at each of the guys, I find three sets of concerned eyes staring back at me. The fourth, Max, stares intently down at his boots instead of at me. His huge frame is leaning back against the wall, right next to the door. To the casual observer, he probably looks like he’s just relaxing, taking a break for a minute. But looking at him closely, I can see the tension that grips onto his shoulders, the hard set of his jaw, and the white knuckles of the fist that rests deceptively loose at his side. I watch as his broad chest expands deeply with a carefully measured breath, before dragging my eyes away. Instead, I train my gaze firmly on Felix, the person I feel safest with right now.
Dragging in a fortifying breath, I slowly start to tell them what happened. Starting with when I left Elite earlier that morning, I tell him about my walk home. I tell him that I was just putting my key into my front door when I felt a presence at my back. My heart kicks in my chest as I recall the hot gust of breath on the back of my neck. I tried to use the self-defense skills I have, tried to pull my elbow back to hit him in the gut, but I was too slow, and he had managed to move before I could inflict any meaningful damage. I tell them about the forceful punch to my face and how I ended up on the floor. After that my mind is blank.
Vague memories come back to me as I speak. I remember shouting. Maybe a neighbor who saw what was going on and scared my attacker away. I remember the ambulance and fumbling to find my phone so I could get the paramedics to call Natalie to look after Cass. The rest is a blur, and the worst part is, I have no idea who did this to me.
The room fills with a thick, palpable tension as I recount the story. They don’t move, each of them remaining where they are, but their presence seems to grow by the second until the waves of hostility make the small room feel unbearably strained. I’ve finished telling them everything I can remember, but they still don’t speak, leaving me feeling like I’m under the microscope here. It isn't a feeling I like very much, and a cold sweat breaks out on the back of my neck. “I’m sorry,” I finally manage to say, breaking the uncomfortable silence. If I thought the atmosphere was strained before, it turns positively hostile when I keep speaking. “I know you guys are busy; I’m sorry you had to waste your day here.”
“Are you fucking serious right now?” My head snaps up at the sound of Max’s voice.
“Max—” Crew moves to stop his friend as he approaches the bed. The harsh look on his face as he looms over me has me frozen in place. I’m used to seeing Max pissed off, but this ... this is downright rage I see staring back at me. His black eyes bore into me, and if I weren’t in so much pain, I'd be trying to get out of this bed and running away right about now.
“Tell me she isn’t serious right now,” Max sneers at Crew but doesn’t drop his searing gaze from mine.
“Calm down! Now isn’t the time—” Crew pushes back against Max’s chest, but whatever else he was going to say is cut off by the sound of a sharp knock at the door. Annie bustles into the room with two other people. I don’t recognize the woman or the man that are following closely behind her back.
“Okay, boys, visiting time is over. The police need to have a chat with Ms. Darcey here.” Police? A frisson of fear zips through me as they approach the side of my bed. My clammy hands shake, and my heart hammers against my battered ribs.
I can’t do this.
I can’t speak to them. The police cannot be trusted to keep me safe.
I’m thankful that I’m already laid flat on the bed because I’m pretty sure my knees would have given out on me by now. Cold hard fear has me shrinking back, my head pressing into the thin pillow as I try to get away from what is happening. My gut screams at me to run, to escape this situation, but I can’t do that. There’s nowhere for me to go. Screwing my eyes closed tightly, I try to calm myself down, but my blood is rioting in my veins. I’m sliding head-first into a panic attack, and I don’t think I’m going to be able to control it this time. Cold sweat blooms on my skin as the pounding in my head amplifies steadily.
“I’m staying.” My eyes fling open at the gruff rasp of a voice. Staring up at Max, I find him looking down at me, his eyes bouncing all over my face. The anger is still there, etched into the harsh set of his fiercely handsome face, but it’s softened somewhat. There’s concern there too. Or am I mistaking it for pity? My insides shrivel at the thought of this man, one who so openly despises me, feeling even one ounce of pity, and it makes me feel like shit.
“You don’t need to do that,” I say, hating that my voice is weak.
“I’m staying,” is his resolute answer, his eyes now steady on mine. He isn't leaving any room for argument, so I simply nod. He’s already heard the story once. If he wants to stay, it makes no difference to me.
“This really won’t take too long, Ms. Walker.” Forcing my eyes away from Max, I watch as one of the cops moves to sit on the opposite side of the bed. He’s an older man, at least in his fifties, with kind eyes and a weathered face. He sits patiently as I work to calm the fear that still lingers over me.
“You’re good. We’ve got you.” Max’s voice is a low, reassuring rumble that I’ve never heard from him before, but it’s the unexpected feeling of his hand as it lands reassuringly on my shoulder that finally slows the thoughts racing around my mind. His presence, solid and weighty at my side, pulls me fully back into the moment. “Tell them everything you remember, okay?” Sucking in as much breath as my messed-up body will allow, I nod. I can feel Max watching me closely, and I have no idea what it is he’s watching for, but I assume he finds it because he gives my shoulder one last reassuring squeeze before he shifts to stand straight. He’s still next to me, close enough for me to feel him there, giving me whatever it is I need to be able to get through this.