CHAPTER NINTEEN

CHAPTER NINTEEN

LILY

I wake up to an annoying beeping sound, and it isn’t my phone.

I’m in a hospital bed with the lights turned down in the room. I can’t tell if it’s daytime or night. I don’t know how I got here. The smell of Clorox assaults my nose. I’m nearing a panic state when my eyes land on Blake. He’s on the phone, his back is to me.

"Blake."

He spins around and trots to my side.

"I’m glad you’re awake. No one knew what she gave you and how much."

I don’t know what he’s talking about until I remember I was meeting Violet. I try to follow what he’s saying, then it finally sinks in. She drugged me.

I gasp when I realize what she has done.

"It was the cappuccino she ordered for me. After a couple of sips, I started feeling funny and tired. I could barely keep my eyes open."

I look at Blake. He looks as bad as I feel. We’ve both had an awful couple of days.

"Why did she do it?"

I don’t understand my sister. What did she have planned for me?

Blake sits down on the chair next to my bed and takes my hand.

"Ted confessed that Violet was behind me being taken. She planned the whole thing. She wanted to get to you the whole time."

I lie back in my bed. My mind can hardly comprehend what Blake is saying to me. My sister wanted to get rid of me. I wonder what she had planned for me at the cabin. I need to know why she did all this to me. After she told me about her and Ted, I knew it was to hurt me, which she did. Not as much as she thought, because I realized soon after that I didn’t truly love him. When Blake was taken, that’s when I experienced pain. I was so afraid I was going to lose him.

I squeeze Blakes’s hand. I feel bad about bringing all my crap to him. He wouldn’t have had to experience all this crazy if he weren’t with me.

I start to pull my hand away, but he won’t let me. I can’t keep doing this to him. All my drama landed on his doorstep and almost got him killed.

He must be able to read my thoughts.

"I’m not letting you go. This isn’t your fault. All the blame lands squarely at your sister’s feet. She has a lot of explaining to do."

I want to cry now. I don’t care what he thinks, I’ve dragged him and his entire family into my mess.

Before I can explain to him that he’s better off without me, he crawls into the hospital bed that doesn’t really fit the both of us and pulls me into his arms. Every time he holds me, he makes me feel safe and loved. A nurse walking into my room interrupts us. A young girl who can hardly be old enough to be a nurse acts like she caught us doing something bad.

"Oh."

"What do you want?" Blake growls at her.

She spins and leaves us alone again.

I don’t know if she was shocked seeing me awake or Blake in bed with me. I’m sure she’s walked into more compromising situations than this working in a hospital.

I can’t stop myself from giggling.

The door opens again, and the same nurse walks back into our room with another person. I presume it is the doctor.

"I see my patient is awake."

I was right; he’s the doctor. Blake gets up and stands next to my bed. The scowl on his face tells everyone in the room that he isn’t happy about us being interrupted. I try to not giggle, but he makes me laugh. I end up smiling at his reaction.

"I think we got all the drugs out of your system, my dear. How are you feeling?"

He checks my vitals.

"Good. When can I leave?"

I don’t like hospitals and especially don’t want to spend the night.

"Now, but I don’t want you to be alone. Just in case you get dizzy."

He signs the paper for my discharge.

"That won’t be a problem," Blake tells the doctor while taking the paperwork from him.

The young nurse takes out my IV and helps me get ready to leave. Her gaze keeps sliding over to Blake. I think she’s worried that he’s going to growl at her again.

I walk out of my hospital room and am greeted by Blake’s brothers. I’m embarrassed by all the commotion I have caused. I wonder how long they have been here.

"I want to thank you," I say to them.

Tears start forming. I don’t want to cry in front of them, but if they hadn’t found me, I don’t know what would have happened to me. I walk to each of them and give them a hug before Blake pulls me back into his arms. He wants me close to him. I feel the same way.

"There is no reason to thank us. You’re part of our family now."

I look around. There are a lot of nurses on this floor. They are all here to get a look at the Dalton brothers. I don’t think either brother is noticing all the attention they are receiving from the nursing staff and female guards.

I can’t believe how good they are to me. I like this. It’s new to me to have someone to watch my back because they care. I think I’m going to like being part of this family. I know that Blake loves me, and I love him, too. When we get back to his place, we need to have a talk.

After Blake helps me into the car, I lean against the seat and close my eyes. I can feel him watching me. I open one eye to see what he’s up to. He’s looking at me like I might fall apart any second.

I reach over and take his hand in mine.

"I’m fine. I just need some sleep, and I’ll be good as new."

I close my eyes again. I might sleep a bit, and when we get back to the apartment, we’ll have our talk. That’s the last thing I remember because I don’t wake up when Blake carries me from the car to the elevator, or from the elevator to our bedroom.