I knew it.
But hearing Tyson say that Dash had woken up, hearing it out loud, outside of my head, made me breathe a whole lot easier.
Dash was awake, and Ariel was going to be alright.
Everything would be okay.
Chapter Thirty-Two
I slumped back in the chair, exhausted. My cheek felt tight, nothing hurt but it felt like my skin was stretched. There were twelve stitches in my cheek and I was going to have one wicked scar when all was said and done. I could live with a scar, just so long as Dash was okay. That was all I cared about.
I had been sitting in this chair in his hospital room for over an hour now, waiting for him to wake up. Quinton had tried to get me to go home but I had refused. Which home would I have gone too? The half empty one filled with moving boxes? Or, the one with blood all over the walkway? When I’d asked Quinton, he’d snapped his mouth shut and stormed off in an angry huff. I knew he hadn’t been angry at me, it was the situation he was upset with, and I couldn’t blame him for that, either. I imagined he was not feeling very good about himself at the moment. He’d been downright hostile to everyone since I’d woken up. And, when I insisted on sitting in here with Dash, he looked like he was going to explode and that’s when he’d told me I needed to go home.
I could only imagine how guilty Quinton felt about everything. If he hadn’t forced the love potion on Chucky, none of this would have happened. Then again, Quinton didn’t freak out and stab Dash in the stomach multiple times and he hadn’t been the one to slice open my cheek with a knife. I didn’t blame Quinton for anything. In fact, when I saw him next, I was going to give him a hug. He could use one.
Movement on the bed caught my attention and I looked up in time to see Dash’s head on the pillow turn in my direction. His gray eyes were open, his demons shining bright for all to see. Now he had more because of me.
I leaned forward and placed my elbows on my knees.
“I should have gone inside when you told me to,” I whispered in a hoarse voice.
“What the fuck happened to your face?” He croaked, and I flinched.
I got up from the chair and grabbed a cup of water off of a tray on a side table. I held the cup to his lips and held it there while he sip
ped at the water.
“We got into a knife fight,” I told him as I moved the water back to the tray and sat back down in my chair. I knew I shouldn’t be joking about it, but it was either joke or cry. “I’m pretty sure we both lost.”
He blinked slowly at me and asked, “Where is everybody?”
I sighed heavily as I sat back in the chair and told him, “When they found out you were going to be alright, Damien and the twins went to the police station to find out what’s going to happen to Chucky. Quinton needed to walk off some steam and Julian followed him to make sure he didn’t hurt anyone. And, Tyson went to get us some coffee.”
I think I covered everybody. There were so many if them it was hard to keep track.
“But you stayed,” he said as he reached out with a hand, searching.
I immediately placed my hand in his and squeezed.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I promised him.
He smiled softly and closed his eyes. It didn’t take long for him to fall back asleep.
I sat back in the chair and watched over him. Which is exactly what I did for the entire four days he was in the hospital. It drove Quinton crazy, but I didn’t care and, eventually, he stopped trying to get me to go home.
When Dash left the hospital, I went home with him.
Mr. Cole had showed up at the hospital to check on me and when I had told him I was moving in with Dash, he seemed relieved. I tried not to let his reaction hurt me, and failed miserably. I wasn’t looking forward to saying goodbye to him, but I also wasn’t dreading it anymore. I had Quinton, and Tyson, and my Salt and Pepper twins. Now, I had Dash, too. I had a family to call my own, and I wasn’t alone anymore.
Everything would work out just fine. In time.
The End.
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The next book in the Ariel Kimber series will be Blood Magic and does not have a release date at this time.
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