Before I could answer, my dad replied, “They said her vitals were good, but they want to keep her overnight to do some more testing. They’ve already drawn blood and did an exam. That’s all we really know right now.”
“Okay, good.”
Mom looked over at Dad as she said, “We should give them a little privacy, dear. We could go downstairs and grab a cup of coffee.”
“Okay,” I could hear the hesitation in my father’s voice, “if you think so.”
“I’ll be okay, Dad. I’m in good hands.”
My father’s eyes skirted over Noah with uncertainty. He gave me a quick nod, then walked out of the room. As Mom followed him out into the hall, she announced, “We’ll be back soon.”
As soon as the door closed behind them, I gave Noah’s hand a quick tug, pulling him towards me as I pressed my lips against his. I kissed him deeply, then looked up at him and asked, “Did they get Mathews?”
“They did. He’ll be going away for a long time.”
“The police were here earlier. They asked my parents lots of questions. I’m sure they’ll be back any minute.”
“I’m sure they will, but I’ll be here. I won’t let them take things too far.” His eyes locked on mine as he sat down on the edge of the bed. “This will all be over soon, and then we can get on with our lives.”
“I can’t tell you how I’m looking forward to that.” I gave him a little nudge as I teased. “Maybe when I get out of here, you can take me out on a real date.”
“I’ll take you wherever you wanna go. As long as you’re with me, I don’t care what we do or where we go.”
“You’re so good to me. I don’t know how I got so lucky.”
It seemed so strange to me. If I hadn’t gone out with Thomas that night and hadn’t been attacked by those men and left for dead, I would’ve never met Noah. I would’ve never felt the love I have for him nor the love he feels for me. I would’ve never felt so utterly complete. Without that night, my entire fate would’ve been written in different ink, and that was something I simply couldn’t fathom. I loved Noah. He completed me in ways I never dreamed possible, and I would spend the rest of my life trying to make him as happy as he’d made me. I slipped my hand down to the nape of his neck and inched him closer, pulling him in for another kiss. His lips had barely touched mine when I heard someone clear their throat and say, “Excuse me, Ms. Taylor. I was hoping to ask you a few questions.”
Noah quickly turned to look at the man. “You got a name?”
“Yes, sir.” The officer held up his badge as he replied, “I’m Officer Wade. I know you’ve been through quite an ordeal, so I won’t take up much of your time.”
“Oh, okay.”
Wade reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small notepad. With a click of his pen, he asked, “You and Detective Long had met for dinner on the night you were attacked, is that right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“He was walking you out to your car when several men appeared and threatened you.”
“Yes.”
“Can you describe these men who attacked you and Detective Long?”
“Not all that well. It was pretty dark, but I do remember that they had a lot of tattoos. One of them being a skull on their throats.”
“Very good. It was at that time when you both were kidnapped and taken to Detective Mathews’ home?”
“I’m not really sure where we were,” I lied. “To be honest, I’m not sure about much after that.”
“Yeah, Long mentioned that he thought you’d been drugged.”
“You’ve spoken with Thomas?”
Wade nodded as he answered, “Yeah, I was able to talk to him for a few minutes before they took him up to surgery.”
After seeing how bad he looked, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Hell, Mathews had beaten him something awful, but I’d hoped his wounds weren’t anything serious. “Why is he having surgery?”
“Got a shattered hand and a few wounds that are pretty infected. They’re hoping they can save his hand and keep him from going septic.”
“Oh, that poor man.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty rough.”
Officer Wade asked me a few more questions, but nothing I couldn’t answer. Something told me that I wouldn’t have gotten off so easy if it hadn’t been for Thomas. As promised, he paved the way, making it clear to everyone concerned I’d already been through enough and was off-limits. I was surprised that they’d agreed to leave me alone, especially with a case as important as this, but I could only assume he had enough on Mathews to put him away for a very long time. The officer asked for my contact information, then after stating he’d be in touch, he said his goodbyes and left.