Chapter 35 – Promise

I rushed into her room, not caring that the nurse was still in there. “Chloe?”

“Trent.” She attempted to jump out of the bed, but she was tethered to an IV.

“I’ll give you two some privacy.” The nurse left.

I rushed to her side. “Chloe.” The relief in my tone was palpable. I pulled her into a hug, and she clung to him. “I was so worried about you.” I attempted to release her so I could get a better look at her, to ensure she truly was okay, but she held tightly to me.

“You were there. You came for me,” she said as if she couldn’t believe I had.

“Of course, I came for you.” I kissed the top of her head, then tilted her face, kissing her forehead, her cheeks, and then finally, her lips. “I’ll always come for you, Chloe. You’re everything to me.”

The fact that she was here, alive, and in my arms was the answer to every single prayer I’d uttered the past week. I was never letting her go again.

“I thought I was dead.” She froze. “Hannah.”

“She’s dead. For good this time.” My tone was cold and hard. “She was responsible for all the deaths, and the missing kids.”

“I know.” She rested her head on my chest, and I rubbed her back. “She was working with Isach. He’s the cure, Trent. He cured her.”

I hesitated. So much hope filled Chloe’s voice, and I didn’t want to be the one to crush that for her, but she deserved to know the truth. “No, he didn’t. He manipulated her mind to make her appear like she was fine, but she wasn’t.”

Chloe’s shoulders slumped, and I wanted to kick myself for making her feel worse than she already did.

“Hey.” I put my finger under her chin and lifted her head. Her eyes were big and sad and shimmering with tears, and I’d do anything to be able to take that pain away from her, to shoulder all of her hurt and burdens. “All that matters is that you’re okay. I—”

“Oh my God, Chloe.” Beth barged into the room, shooing me away from Chloe and wrapping her in a hug. “I was so scared. I didn’t know what happened, and then we couldn’t find you. You didn’t have your phone.” She pulled back, took Chloe’s face in her hands, and scrutinized her. “Are you okay? What happened? Do you remember anything after you left the house that day?”

Chloe’s gaze sliced to Abby, who stood in the corner, head down. My earlier suspicion about Abby resurfaced. Something was going on with her, and I needed to find out what. I had a feeling Chloe knew, and the first moment we had alone, I was going to ask her.

“Go easy on her, Beth.” Dean gave an apologetic shrug, but then he hugged Chloe, too. “Glad to see you awake, kiddo. We were worried.”

“I’m glad to be awake.” Chloe laughed nervously. “Um, how long have I been here?”

“Trent found you and brought you.” Beth sat on the edge of the bed and took hold of Chloe’s hand. “You were in and out of consciousness, muttering about dying and being bitten.” She waved her hand as if to dismiss the horrible memory. “They kept you sedated to keep you calm. You’d lost a lot of blood, so they had to give you a transfusion.”

“And how long was I missing?”

“Six days.”

Chloe inhaled sharply. “When can I go home?” she asked.

I moved away from the commotion and momentarily closed my eyes. Chloe had been held hostage and tortured for six long days. I couldn’t imagine how shocking that news was to her. I had no idea how she’d survived that, but she had, and I’d never again question her strength and determination.

“Tomorrow. They want to keep you another night for observation.” Beth stood and fixed the blankets, tucking them in around Chloe. She smoothed hair from Chloe’s forehead. “They’re waiting for some of your test results to come back, but until they figure out what kind of animal attacked you and what damage was done, they want to be vigilant.”

Chloe looked to me, and I raised a brow, silently pleading with her to understand why I had to lie. She turned her attention back to her aunt. I’d fill her in on the truth later.

“So, that’s why the nurse gave me a rabies shot?” Chloe asked.

“It’s a precaution.” Beth nodded. “Are you hungry? It’s past dinnertime.”

“Not really.” Chloe yawned.

“We should let her rest. Besides, visiting hours are almost over,” Dean said, gently ushering Beth away from Chloe’s bed. “The nurses have strict instructions to call us if anything happens, but you call us if you need anything, okay?”

Chloe nodded. After another round of tearful hugs, Beth and Dean headed out of the room, Abby following reluctantly behind them.

“Abby?” Chloe called before she made it out of the room.

She stopped and turned back to Chloe. “Yeah?”

“Can I talk to you for a sec?”

Dean gave an approving nod. “Don’t be too long. Chloe needs her rest.”

They obviously needed some privacy, and I could give them that knowing I had no intentions of leaving Chloe’s side tonight—or ever again. “I’ll give you two a minute.” I kissed her cheek and whispered, “I’ll be right outside the door, okay?”

I sent Jax a quick message to let him know what was up.

Me: Chloe is awake and doing okay. Used your cover story and she played along.

I then sent a similar message to Dad, leaving out any mention of Abby and her odd behavior. Rather than texting, I should be listening to what Chloe and Abby were saying, but I didn’t want to impose on Chloe’s privacy like that. Hopefully, she’d tell me what was going on.

Slipping my phone back into my pocket, I leaned my shoulder against the wall and waited for Abby to leave. A few moments later, she walked out of the room, her face red from crying. She gave me a sad smile then rushed toward the elevator.

I didn’t waste a moment getting back to Chloe. My gaze landed on hers as I closed the door and sauntered toward her. Her heart rate sped up, and she slid over on the bed to make room for me. The fact that she wasn’t screaming at me to leave was a good sign. I half expected her to yell at me, to blame me for all that happened to her—and she’d have every right to do so.

I settled beside her with one hand tucked behind my head, and then I hesitated with my other hand, unsure where to place it. “I don’t want to hurt you,” I said.

She took my hand and placed it on her side, right below her ribs. “There is good.”

We lay facing each other—or rather, she was facing my chest; I was so much taller than her that if we were eye level, my feet would hang off the bed.

I’d be content to stay exactly like this for the rest of the night, but yet again, I couldn’t simply be with her. There was too much we needed to talk about.

“Everything okay with Abby?” I asked.

She nodded. “She remembers her part in everything, but she didn’t have any control over her mind or actions.” She snuggled up to me. “Will you stay with me tonight? I don’t want to be alone.”

“There’s not a force on this earth that could make me leave you here alone.” I flexed my hand against her side, drawing her closer.

“Thank you.” She looked up at me, and I lowered my head, my lips brushing over hers. Her eyes fluttered closed as she welcomed my kiss and flattened her palm on my chest.

Her touch branded me, and I wanted more. I wanted every part of her she was willing to give me, but I had to be careful not to hurt her. I was self-assured but gentle, my mouth working against hers with heated perfection. She ran her hand up my chest and neck until her fingers tangled in my hair. I’d never get enough of her. Not when she was so warm and inviting and just as eager for me as I was for her. Groaning, I deepened the kiss.

“Trent, stop.” She gasped, pushing me away.

I quickly pulled back, completely removing my hand from her waist. “Did I hurt you?”

“No.” She took a few breaths, then swallowed. “You were doing that thing again, with the memories. I really don’t want to relive that whole ordeal.”

“Sorry.” I frowned. “I guess my emotions are still running high.” I hadn’t even known I was sharing my emotions and memories with her just now; I’d been too consumed with her.

“It’s okay.” She fidgeted with the front of my shirt, and I put my hand back her my waist. “How is Jax dealing with all of this? I’m sure seeing Hannah again wasn’t easy.”

“No, it wasn’t. He took off as soon as he knew you were okay. Said he needed some time to get his head on straight.” I trailed my hand up her side, eliciting a shudder from her.

“I’m sorry.”

“He did the same thing the first time, too, when we’d thought she’d been destroyed. He came back after a few months.” Taking off what how my brother tended to handle things, so I wasn’t too concerned that he’d so now.

“And Isach? Where’d he go?”

“He took off, too, after he led us to you.”

“What?” she said much too loudly. “He was the one to tell you where I was?”

“He’d used his magic to mask your location, made it impossible for us to follow your scent. Then he dropped the veil and pointed us in the right direction.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” She shook her head. “Right before you showed up, he’d told Hannah to kill me. It doesn’t make sense that he’d help you find me.”

“I have no idea why he did it, and I don’t care. You’re alive. That’s the only thing that matters to me.” I moved my hand around to her back, my fingertips featherlight against her skin.

“You saved my life, you know.”

Her words, though meant to be complimentary, cut straight to my soul. She gave me too much credit. I rested my chin on the top of her head and let out a heavy sigh. “If it hadn’t been for me, you never would’ve been in that position in the first place. I’ll never be able to tell you how sorry I am for that.”

“I don’t blame you for what happened.” She inched up so she could kiss me.

I reached up with my free hand and shut off the lights, the only illumination the glow from around the door and what little sunlight filtered through the slats of the blinds. And then I was kissing her again, slow and sultry, as if we had all the time in the world.

She didn’t, which was a harsh reality I needed to face, but for right now, in this moment, we had all night, and that was good enough for me. I’d stay here with her for as long as she wanted me, and when she finally decided she’d had enough, I’d go on my way. But my feelings for her would never change. Not in a year or a hundred years. I was eternally hers. If only she could be mine for eternity, too.

“I love you, Chloe,” I whispered, the words pained as I dragged my lips along her jaw to kiss her cheek.

Her heart hammered in her chest, the sound almost distracting me.

“I know I shouldn’t, but I do.” I had no right to love her as much as I did, not when such a simple act had nearly cost her life, and probably would in the future. I kissed each of her closed eyelids. “I’ve loved you from the moment you punched me in the hallway.”

She started to laugh, but I silenced her with a passionate kiss, cutting off anything she might have wanted to say. She whimpered, and I deepened the kiss. I couldn’t bear to her to say she didn’t love me back, or that she wanted me out of her life. But if that was my fate, so be it. In the meantime, I needed her to know how I truly felt, even if speaking the words aloud would break me.

“I know this entire thing is impossible, and we’re on borrowed time, but I don’t care.” I punctuated my words with a kiss to her lips, quick yet firm. “If the price I have to pay for loving you is an eternity of loneliness, then I’ll take it, because I can’t imagine an existence where I don’t love you.”

I pulled back and stared into her gorgeous brown eyes, waiting to see what she’d say. The second ticked by painfully slow, and not for the first time I began to second guess my decision to tell her the truth.

“Am I your soulmate?” Her voice trembled.

“What?”

“That day in school when I threatened Isach and you almost killed him, Jax cornered me and said you thought I was your soulmate, and that you wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice yourself for me.” She pressed her palm over my heart and gazed up at me. “So, is he right? Am I your soulmate?”

My eyes fluttered closed. I didn’t know if I should thank Jax for running his mouth or kill him. “Yes.”

“What does that mean?”

“To me, it means everything.” I smiled sadly. “But it’s also complicated, and not something we should talk about right now. You need to rest.”

She was quiet for a few moments, and I let the truth hang between us. It was something we’d have to talk about eventually, but I was already emotionally raw. I imagined she must be, too.

“I love you, too,” she said softly, cupping my cheek. “We’ll figure out the rest.”

My entire body sagged with relief. Chloe loves me! I couldn’t believe it. In fact, I braced myself for her laughter, for her to tell me she was kidding, that she could never love a monster like me. But her expression was loving and genuine.

I smiled, removed her hand from my cheek, and pressed a lingering kiss to her palm before placing her hand back on my chest. “Get some sleep. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

She yawned. “Promise?”

“Promise.”