Chapter 20

Evelyn

Careful to avoid the bandage covering his eye and the sticky cast on his nose, I run the damp washcloth over his forehead, wiping the sheen of sweat from his skin. His fever is finally gone, a small victory at last.

My eyes follow the outlines of his face, pale and still against the pillow. He looks so vulnerable, so different from the man I'm used to.

We were lucky, without a doubt. When the doctors stepped out of the surgery, they informed us that if we had come in just a few hours later, he would have died. Although I would have preferred for Noah to stay in the organization's hospital, my former colleagues got wind of what was going on and began to question who he is and why he was there. After five days, the boss told us to go home because he couldn't guarantee for his safety in case someone found out the truth.

So now we're back home with Noah knocked out in our bed. The silence of our bedroom broken by the occasional beep from the machines that the medical staff provided. A nurse comes by every day to check on him and manage his medications, which keep him sedated and the pain in check. The few times he is somewhat awake, but never really present, are hardly long enough to get him to eat and take care of his needs.

I sigh and remove the washcloth from his forehead before leaning down and planting a soft kiss on the top of his head. "Please wake up soon," I whisper against his skin before pulling away and pushing myself to my feet, dropping the washcloth into the bowl of water. Pressing the button on the small screen on his nightstand, I activate the baby monitor I bought to keep an eye on him when I can't be in the room with him.

I then head back downstairs to the living room, where I find Kyle sitting on the sofa, shoveling spoon after spoon of cereal into his mouth while he is watching a soccer game. At the sound of my footsteps, his head snaps in my direction. "Is Sleeping Beauty…still asleep?"

"Yes, he is," I say with a sigh, slumping down on the sofa next to him, grabbing my glass of wine and making myself comfortable under my fluffy blanket. "But his fever has finally dropped."

"Well, that's a step in the right direction, isn't it?"

"Sure is." I offer him a weak smile before taking a sip of my wine, then grab the remote and start surfing through the TV channels, looking for something other than his soccer game to distract me until I decide on a channel running cartoons. "How much longer are you planning on staying here?" I ask and turn to face him.

"As long as he is knocked out and you need help."

"I can manage on my own."

"I don't doubt that, but I can't let you take care of him all by yourself. Imagine he falls out of bed, he weighs almost twice as much as you, how are you going to pick him up? And it's the least I can do."

"You're right…" I say in a hushed tone, admitting defeat as I lean back into the pillows and take another sip of my wine.

"Evelyn, I know you want everything to go back to normal, and I'm really sorry that this happened," he says, looking in my direction. "Noah is like a brother to me, and I never wanted him to get hurt that bad."

"I know." I sigh and look down at my wine, swirling the burgundy liquid. "How do you think he'll react when he wakes up?"

Kyle chuckles. "He'll be mad. Not at you, but at me. And he has every right to be." He sets his empty bowl on the coffee table and leans into the pillows next to me. "He'll threaten me and maybe try to kill me, but he will calm down eventually. Wouldn't be the first time."

"What do you mean?" I turn to look at him, resting one arm on the back of the sofa.

"We've been through so much shit over the years. Do you really think this is the first rodeo we almost died in?" he asks, tilting his head to look at me. "We've been on a lot of jobs together, and we fucked up a few of them. Some my fault, some his. He likes to think he is invincible, but he is only human. He has bad days when he's not as meticulous as on his good days."

I purse my lips into a pout. "So you two have been in a similar situation before?"

"Yeah," Kyle nods. "Even though it wasn't as bad as this…but we'll make up and be back to normal in no time."

"Are you sure?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"Yes," he says. "Don't worry about it. You've got so much on your plate right now, don't worry about the what ifs for when he wakes up." I nod and turn my attention back to the TV.

Kyle is right. The state of their relationship is not something I should worry about. None of that matters to me. What matters is Noah and his well-being, and if anything, what happens to our relationship in the future.