Page 99 of Fake Dark Vows
I’m wading through mud to reach her, my movements sluggish, my thoughts a million miles away. Open your eyes, Rose. Open your eyes.
I reach her before they can stop me. “Is she alive?” I’m dreading the response, but I have to know.
“We’ve detected a pulse,” the paramedic says, discreetly guiding me away from the stretcher as they count to three and lift it onto the gurney. “Faint, but she’s still alive.”
Tears spill, and I don’t bother wiping them away. “Stay with me, Rose. I’m here, sweetheart. I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”
I hold her hand while they cover her nose and mouth with an oxygen mask and move her into the ambulance. The vehicle blue-lights us all the way to the nearest hospital, and I vow to protect her with my life, the mantra playing on repeat inside my head.
I’m so consumed by the notion that I can keep Rose alive by force of willpower that I don’t even notice the second container being lifted from the water.
CHAPTER 32
Rose
“Have you been sleeping in your clothes?”
Brandon leaps from the chair and perches on the edge of the hospital bed, his large warm hands closing around mine. There are dark circles under his eyes, at least two days’ worth of stubble on his chin, and a stain on the front of his sweater that can only be coffee.
“I didn’t pack pajamas for the trip. I didn’t think I’d be needing them.”
I smile beneath the oxygen mask. I’m not sure if he can tell, but the lines crinkling at the corners of his eyes tell me that I needn’t worry.
I’ve never felt so vulnerable. When Robbie and I split up and my job fell through, I felt lost, like I was moving through life in a dream state with no real direction. But I didn’t feel vulnerable. I was still strong, still determined to grab my life by the balls and make things happen.
Now, lying here in a hospital bed with an IV inserted into my flesh and a drip feeding me medication from a plastic bag on a nearby stand, I feel weak. Exposed. As fragile and dependent as a newborn baby, and I don’t know how to deal with the strange emotions being invoked inside me.
“How are you feeling, Rose?”
“Never better.” My eyelids droop.
When I open my eyes again, Brandon is dozing in the seat next to the bed, his mouth slack, his breathing even. He looks like a child when he sleeps, so innocent and serene that I can’t help smiling to myself.
“I wasn’t asleep.” His eyes fly open, and he smothers a yawn with one hand.
“How long have I been here?”
“Twenty-four hours. Not that I’m counting.”
“How did you find me?” A dry cough erupts from my throat, and Brandon raises the mask so that I can sip water from the plastic straw he holds to my lips.
“Long story.” He replaces the cup and sits on the bed, raising my hand to his cheek. “I only wish I…” He moves my hand to his lips and squeezes his eyes shut.
There’s another question that’s boring a hole through my chest and filling me with a chill that I think I’ll never be able to erase. The last thing I remember before I lost consciousness is lying beside Jennifer, wishing that I could’ve done more to protect her. I remember struggling to breathe, trying to quell the rising panic in my throat, praying that it would be over quickly. Then darkness.
“Jennifer?” I whisper her name.
“She’s going to be all right. I haven’t been to see her yet—I didn’t want to leave you—but Sam has been providing me with updates. They had to reset her jaw, and she had some internal injuries, but she’s a fighter. Like you.”
I shake my head. “She’s far braver than I could ever be.”
“Don’t ever sell yourself short, Rose. I can’t even begin to imagine how it must’ve felt. You must’ve been so scared.” He lowers my hand, his thumb playing with the engagement ring. “What do you remember?”
“Not much. Your car picked me up outside your apartment. I didn’t realize until I climbed in that someone else was already in the car. Then nothing until I woke up in darkness.”
“Did you see a face? Would you recognize them again?”
I shake my head. “If Jennifer wasn’t there, I don’t know what I would’ve done. I’m so sorry for dragging her into this.”