CHAPTER 21

Micah

The first thing I became aware of was the sound of muffled voices around me mingled with a high pitched buzzing sound that rivaled a dentist"s drill. I could make out certain words like "concussion" and "recovery" and "blood loss", and I was left wondering who they were talking about. I thought of Bash, wishing he were there to help me. Then I realized I didn"t even know where I was or who the voices belonged to. I started to feel panic setting in, struggling to move or do anything, but I couldn"t feel any part of my body. I felt detached, untethered to the world around me, and the thought that I was dead flitted through my mind.

That idea was quickly abandoned when I heard the rapid beeping of a monitor and felt a hand on my cheek. So I do have a body still. Good to know! Now why the hell won"t it move?

"Micah? Micah baby, can you hear me?" a disembodied voice called to me, and familiarity tugged at my mind. I knew that voice. I strained to focus on it, to get control of my body and move even a little. A few seconds later, awareness of my arms and legs came back to me, along with a throbbing pain that scattered through my body like buckshot, starting at a single point and spreading outward. I groaned in discomfort, and the soft voice spoke again.

"Shh, it"s okay love, you"re okay. Deep breaths. We"ll get you some pain meds." Like a picture that was fuzzy but slowly sharpening before my eyes, I figured out who that deep, sweet-sounding voice belonged to. Bash…my Bash.

"Bash," I croaked, the scratchy rasp sounding unrecognizable to my own ears. I fought to open my eyes, and the image of his handsome, worried face started to reveal itself. His eyes were red-rimmed and his cheeks tear-stained, but he had never looked more beautiful to me because he was right there next to me, just as I wished. He smiled and it nearly blinded me with the love and relief that shone through it.

"Yeah sweetheart, it"s me. I"m right here. God, you scared the shit out of me, baby," Bash said, his voice cracking at the end.

"What…happened?" I forced out past the aching dryness of my throat. I was sure I was barely speaking above a whisper, but he seemed to hear me fine.

"You"re in the hospital, babe. Rhys called me. He came home and found you bleeding in the living room. You apparently cracked your head on a table corner and passed out. He didn"t know how long you had been out, but there was a ton of blood and he called 911. Then he called me and told me where you were," Bash explained, softly stroking my cheek with his thumb, and my heart fluttered in the chest that I could finally feel again. The monitor beeped unsteadily for a second before returning to a rhythmic beeping, and Bash chuckled.

"I guess that"s all the proof I need that I get to you, huh?" Bash smirked, his eyes shining at me.

I felt a small laugh escape me, but it was breathy and soundless. My head pounded a bit in response. "Am I okay?" I rasped, wanting to know the extent of the damage.

"They gave you a transfusion and stapled the cut in your head, but your CT scan and MRI were both clear. They said it"s a mild concussion and you should make a full recovery. You"ll be in pain for a few days because of the gash in your head, and the staples will need to be removed in about ten days, but other than that you"re okay." Bash leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead, merely a brush against my skin and I ached for more.

Bash looked into my eyes again and his eyebrows furrowed. "Do you remember what happened, baby? Anything at all?"

I searched my memory for anything relevant, trying to piece together how I ended up with a cracked skull in the hospital, but my brain felt scrambled. It was a broken, dizzying kaleidoscope of fragmented images, noises, and colors. The events in my head were thrown together in a haphazard timeline where I couldn"t distinguish reality from fiction, the past from the present. It was like a tornado sucked me in and I was expected to find solid ground. It was frustrating and scary as hell.

"I don"t know…I can"t…get it straight in my head," I groaned, pushing myself to grab hold of any event I could remember that might help.

"Hey, it"s okay, M. Take your time. Think of this morning. Do you remember waking up with me?" Bash soothed, moving his thumb to stroke my forehead in a calming manner.

I took as deep a breath as I could, and focused. Fragments sprang up of me and Bash in bed, his hands on me, kisses, and an argument. Slowly, the fragments stitched together until I remembered the entirety of the morning. I remembered the fight about Ainsley and Bash saying he wanted more from me. He had said he"d be mine, but he couldn"t get rid of her, and it just made me think of how I"d get rid of Kit in a nanosecond for him.

Wait. Kit. My apartment. The breakup. What he said about me and Bash. Fucking hell.

"Kit. He was at my place…waiting. I told him about us and we…fought. He…grabbed me and I tried getting away and…I fell and that"s all I remember," I forced the disjointed words out, my throat on fire from the effort.

Bash"s eyes were smoldering, the fury building in him so potent that I could almost taste it. "Kit did this?" Bash ground out through gritted teeth, his thumb stilling on my head and I could feel his hand shaking. I knew that if he thought Kit was responsible, he"d hunt him to the ends of the earth.

"It was an accident," I tried to assure him, but Bash didn"t believe me.

"No, I"m going to fucking murder him. Did he try to hurt you?" The look on his face was downright hostile.

"No…not physically," I whispered, closing my eyes as Kit"s vicious words rotated through my mind on a hellish merry-go-round. I understood that what he said about Bash was wrong, but he had touched on all my deeper insecurities about our budding relationship.

Bash though could read me like a book, and he realized what my comment had meant. "What did he say to you, M?" he asked, his anger melting into a look of dread and concern.

I shook my head, not wanting to rehash any of the poison he spewed at me. It was as if talking about them would give them power to manifest and grow. Bash pressed me, "Baby, tell me what he said."

I heaved an exhausted sigh, and pushed the words out. "He said…that I was an experiment to you and you"d never leave Ainsley for the likes of me. Said that you would fuck me out of your system and leave me again," I admitted roughly. The pain of Kit"s comments lanced through me and I felt weak for letting them get to me at all.

"Micah, listen to me…look at me, baby," Bash urged me, his hand moving back to cup my cheek. I dragged my gaze back to his, the intensity in those shimmering eyes of his stealing my breath. "You could never be an experiment to me, Micah. There is absolutely no getting you out of my system in any way, shape or form. Leaving you isn"t even an option for me, M."

Tears pushed their way to the surface, blurring my vision as I struggled not to blink and cause them to fall.

"Baby, you don"t understand how much you are a part of me. You"re my every breath, my every heartbeat, my every desire. You"re my first thought in the morning and the last thing I see when I fall asleep. You consume each little part of me, and I wouldn"t have it any other way," Bash spoke the words low and clear, making sure I heard each syllable of his breathtaking confession.

My heart thumped a hopeful rhythm, the monitor registering the increase in pace as I let his words flow over me, healing all the damage Kit had caused. But there was still doubt, still fear there. "But Ainsley—"

"Will be gone," Bash finished my sentence, the look on his face strong and sure. I blinked at him, the tears falling free. "Micah, I am so fucking sorry that I let you walk out this morning thinking that I wouldn"t give you the world. I was wrong, baby. I have a plan to get rid of her, and I will be yours alone. It"s you and me, out in the light, just like it should be," Bash whispered, grabbing one of my hands and kissing it gently.

"You…you promise?" I cried softly, the doubt washing away under the immense wave of hope crashing into me. "But…what about your dad? What if you regret it?"

"I"ll deal with my dad. You were right, Micah. I can"t let him control me, and as soon as I deal with Ainsley, I can handle him. I promise. And there is no world, no reality where I could ever regret choosing you. And I will always choose you from now on, baby. I love you, Micah."

The tears started pouring from me, pure liquid joy running down my face as my heart nearly burst out of my chest. "Bash…" I cried, my face on fire from the smile that I couldn"t keep away.

"I mean it, M. I am so fucking in love with you that I hate myself for ever trying to deny it for so many years," Bash said, his own tears glazing over those beautiful emerald orbs.

"Years?" I asked in surprise.

"Years. I"ve been falling for you every day since we met, Micah. It just took a while for my mind to recognize what my heart knew the whole time." Bash then leaned down and captured my lips in an impassioned kiss. It was all-consuming and seared me down to my bones. Our tongues darted out to find their missing mate, sliding together in sweet bliss. His taste flooded my system and I was drunk on him.

Bash continued to kiss me until we were both breathless and came up for air. "So…what happens now?" I asked, resting my forehead against his, inhaling his intoxicating scent like a heady drug.

"Now, you come home with me, baby," Bash said with that sexy smirk that made my knees weak. "You"re on concussion protocol, and will need someone to wake you every few hours. Much easier to do when you"re in my bed."

I rolled my eyes playfully at him, but the action made my head throb, the pain making a reappearance. "You know that can happen at my place just as easily," I teased, not really put out that Bash was taking me home. Home…we could have a home together now. If this is a dream, I never want to wake up!

"That"s true…but I intend to have you permanently in my bed from now on, so I figured it couldn"t hurt to get a head start." Bash"s smirk turned into a full-fledged, wicked grin. "I just got my hands on you for good, love, and I am never letting you go again."

That fucking worked for me.