Trace + Olivia Series Boxed Set (53 page)

“I-I-” I tried to speak but everything was fading around me. I was sinking into a deep well of water and I couldn’t see the surface.

“I know you do,” he silenced me. “Don’t talk. Conserve your energy. I’m going to try to stop the bleeding from your head,” he ripped his wife-beater off his body and lifted me slightly so that he could press the fabric to my scalp.

I whimpered in pain.

Trace continued to speak but I only heard faint rumblings as everything faded around me.

My eyes fluttered closed. I couldn’t keep them open any longer.

Blackness cloaked me and peace settled in my soul as all my pain faded away.

I was floating…but I was suspended, at the same time, like a balloon whose string was held by a small child. I was trying to escape the grasp that was holding me, but it was too strong.

Someone was speaking, no, pleading, with me.

I tried to make out their words, but it was like I was underwater, while they were above.

There were so many noises, but I blocked them out, focusing on what the voice was saying. I knew it was important, and that I needed to hear what they had to say, before I floated away forever.

I finally managed to distinguish what the voice was saying, more like screaming, at me.

“Olivia! No! Breathe, baby! Breathe! Come on! You can’t leave me! Let me go!” The last part was addressed to someone else. “Listen to me, Olivia! You can’t leave me like this! I love you! Do you hear me? I love you! We have our whole lives ahead of us, Olivia! Please, don’t leave me!” The voice pleaded desperately. “We’re going to get married one day and have lots of pretty babies that will look just like you, Olivia! You’re going to write that book! But most importantly, you’re going to
live
, Olivia!”

“We have a heartbeat,” another voice said, just as the blackness swallowed me once more.

“Wake up, please, wake up,” a voice begged.

I swam for the surface, my arm outstretched, trying to reach it.

“Wake up, Olivia,” it pleaded, “open those pretty brown eyes.”

I kicked my arms and my legs, my lungs about to burst with the need to inhale oxygen, but I was still too deep in the water.

I kicked faster.

“Come on, Olivia. Open your eyes. You can do it.”

My eyes came open and air rushed out of my lungs in a mighty exhale.

The pain was excruciating, and if I had the energy, I’d yell at the person who had woken me from my peaceful depths where there was no pain.

“Oh God, Olivia,” the voice cried and gently took one of my hands in their own.

I slowly turned my head and found Trace bowed over my bed, sobbing.

“I thought I had lost you,” he cried. “I’ve never been so scared in all my life.”

I wanted to comfort him, somehow, but I couldn’t get my body to work. Tubes and wires seemed to run from every part of my body into various machines.

I tried to say his name but no sounds came out of my mouth. Finally, he looked up at me with red-rimmed eyes. “You’ve been asleep for a week, Olivia. I thought you were never going to wake up,” his voice cracked. “They told me to keep talking to you, so I did. I’ve talked about anything and everything, trying to get you to wake up,” he took a deep shaky breath. “I thought I was never going to see those pretty brown eyes ever again.” He gently brushed my hair away from my eyes, carful of my injuries. “I watched you
die
, Olivia. I watched your heart stop beating.” He swallowed thickly and I knew this was hard for him. But there was nothing I could do but listen. “I vowed, after watching my dad die, that I would never witness anyone I loved dying, ever again,” his voice was fierce and carefully contained tears shimmered in his green eyes. “I felt so helpless, Olivia. I couldn’t do anything but watch you drift away from me. When I thought you died,” he choked, “I wanted nothing more than to die too. I know that sounds dramatic, but when you find the person that completes you in every way, when something happens to them…it happens to you too. I can’t live without you, Olivia.” He placed his hand gently in my open, bandaged, palm.

I squeezed my hand around his slightly, offering him as much comfort as I could muster at the moment.

“I-I-I’m s-s-sorry,” the words were forced between my lips and the effort of forming them left my throat dry.

“God, baby,” he kissed my fingers, “don’t apologize. You did nothing wrong.”

A single tear leaked from my left eye and skated down my cheek. Trace gently swiped it away.

“Please, don’t cry. I didn’t mean to make you cry. I was upset. I thought I lost you,” his eyes were full of remorse.

“E-e-every-t-t-thing hurts,” I confessed.

“I know,” he hung his head. “I didn’t get there in time. The back of your skull was fractured and you have three broken ribs, one of which punctured your lung,” he looked at me sadly, a frown marring his face. “Not to mention the beating your whole body took.” He looked me over and I knew he was wishing he could take away my pain.

“I m-m-must l-l-look a-a-awful,” I said tiredly. The effort of speaking was beginning to take its toll.

“You’re always beautiful, Olivia. Even battered and broken, you’re the most beautiful creature I’ve ever set my eyes on. And most importantly, you’re alive,” he licked his dry lips.

He looked so tired and thin. This past week had obviously drained him. His hair was a mess and his red-rimmed eyes had gray circles from lack of sleep, beneath them. His clothes were rumpled and I was sure he’d been wearing them for days, heck, maybe even the whole week.

The door to my hospital room opened and the nurse jumped in surprise when my eyes met hers.

“You’re awake!” She exclaimed, striding over to me, and quickly checking the machines I was hooked up to. “
You
,” she glared icily at Trace, “were supposed to let me know if she woke up.”

“I’m sorry,” he apologized to the nurse but the quirk of his lips told me he didn’t mean it. “I got distracted.” He rubbed his thumb softly against the spot where my thumb and index finger connected.

“Mhmm, I’m sure you did,” she hummed. Looking at me, her face softened. “You’re a lucky girl, Olivia. You nearly lost your life. It’s nice to see you awake, and maybe this one will eat something now,” she pointed to Trace. “He hasn’t left your side since you came out of surgery.”

“S-s-surgery?” I croaked.

Changing my IV she explained, “You had to have surgery to repair your lung.” I watched as she shot medicine into the IV tube. “Sweetie, you’re going to start to feel very sleepy. Just let your body relax. We need to keep you sedated for as long as possible to speed up the healing process.”

I nodded, already feeling drowsy as the medicine hit my veins.

I glanced over at Trace, and stuttered, “I l-l-love y-y-ou.”

A calm stole through my body as I finally confessed my feelings to him. He smiled, bringing my hand to his lips, where he pressed a small kiss. “I love you too, Olivia. Sweet dreams. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

My lips couldn’t help but turn up in a smile at his words.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Trace crooned when I opened my eyes.

“Hi,” my voice was stronger and steadier this time, but dry and crackly like sandpaper. “Was I asleep for long?”

He nodded sadly. “Two days.”

How was it possible to sleep for that long and not be aware of it?

“Your mom’s here,” he nodded his head towards the door. I could see the nurses’ station through a rectangular pane of glass. “She went to get a bite to eat in the cafeteria so she’ll be back soon. Avery and Luca have been by too. Even Marcy and Alba came to see you.”

“Like this?” I asked incredulously. “I look horrible.”

I hated the thought of anyone seeing me, beaten and bruised like this, and smelling like old meat…because I was pretty sure that nasty smell was me. Then again, it could be Trace, because he was
still
in the same clothes he was wearing two days ago.

Trace’s laughter shook his body, and although I was serious, it was nice to see him laugh.

“Yeah,
like that
, silly girl,” he shook his head.

“I hope they all still want to be my friends after this,” I grumbled.

“You don’t look that bad, Olivia,” Trace rolled his eyes at me.

“I know I won’t be going near any mirrors for a
long
time,” I snapped. “I probably look like my skin has been tie dyed with all these bruises.”

Trace opened his mouth to say something but the door to my hospital room swung open and stopped him.

“Olivia!” My mom cried upon seeing me awake, dropping her coffee on the floor, in her haste to reach me. The brown liquid seeped across the white tile floor; reminding me of the pool of blood I had seen in Trace’s apartment.

I closed my eyes in remembrance, trying to block out thoughts of that day. I didn’t want to relive it. I wanted to put it behind me, but I knew that would be impossible.

When I opened my eyes again, my mom was peering down at me, with tears streaming down her face. She was desperately seeking a place to touch me but my whole body was battered. Finally, she hooked her index finger with mine and sighed in relief.

“You have no idea how worried I’ve been, Liv. I thought I was going to lose my baby girl,” she bit her lip. With her free hand she clutched at her chest. Trace stood and grabbed a tissue. She took it from him and wiped her face free of tears. “Thank God you’re going to be okay. I would’ve never forgiven myself. I didn’t think the divorce papers would have that much effect on him, since so much time had passed. I’m still in disbelief that he showed up here, and went after you, Liv. This whole thing doesn’t seem real,” she sobbed and Trace reached for more tissues.

“Mom, please don’t cry,” I begged. “This isn’t your fault. Aaron’s a nutcase.”

“Only you, Liv, would be bruised and battered in a hospital bed, and comforting
me
,” she wiped her nose.

“Seriously, mom,” I curled my finger tighter around hers, “this is
not
your fault. This is no one’s fault but Aaron’s. What—uh—what happened with him?” I asked reluctantly. I really didn’t want to keep talking about Aaron. Just thinking his name was causing flashbacks of my beating to come back to me. Did it make me weak, since I didn’t want to remember?

Trace cleared his throat. “I knocked him unconscious, but since he wasn’t seriously harmed, he’s in the local jail right now. Thank God he doesn’t have anybody willing to bail his sorry as out of jail, because if he was free and walking around, I would go after that fucker and…” He paused. “You don’t want to know what I would do to the bastard that hurt you. And—uh—sorry for the cussing,” he muttered the last part at my mom.

“What’s going to happen to him?” I asked. I needed to know if the man who had tried to kill me was going to walk free.

“He’s going to go to jail for the rest of his life,” Trace promised me. “My family and I are doing everything we can to make sure there’s no chance of him walking free. You have nothing to worry about, Olivia. He won’t hurt you ever again.”

“Will there be a trial? Will I have to testify?” I questioned, swallowing thickly. The thought of getting up in front of a jury and describing what Aaron did to me— God, I couldn’t even think about it.