I brace myself.
“Two…”
Her other hand goes to my back, avoiding the bandaged area.
“Three.”
She lifts as I push.
The movement is sharp and fast, and for a second, the world whites out behind my eyes from a wave of agony.
A low grunt escapes my throat, the only sound I can make. I slump back against the pillows, breathing hard, sweat beading on my forehead.
“Adrian?”
Her voice is right beside me, laced with a genuine concern I have no right to expect.
I lift a hand. “Fine,” I manage. The word is a lie, but it’s the one I have.
She doesn't believe me. I can see it in her face in the dim light. But she doesn't push it. Instead, she reaches for the glass of water on the nightstand and presses it into my good hand.
“Drink.”
I do. The cool water helps clear my head.
She takes the glass back and sets it down, then perches on the very edge of the bed, her back ramrod straight, her hands clasped in her lap. She is close enough that I can feel the warmth radiating from her.
We sit in silence for a long moment.
The only sounds are my breathing, still ragged, and the faint cry of a baby from another room, quickly soothed.
“You should be asleep,” I say when I can trust my voice again.
“You’re one to talk,” she counters. “You’re the one who got shot.” She looks down at her hands. “I keep replaying it.”
“Don’t. It won't help." I speak from experience.
“I can’t help it,” she says, her voice quiet. “The fight. You yelling my name. The stairwell.”
She hesitates, then looks at me, and in the faint light from the window, I can see the raw fear in her eyes. "How did you know? I keep trying to figure it out, but all I saw was a fight."
I shift my weight, a small, careful motion that sends a hot, sharp warning through my side.
“One of them looked at you.”
Her brows draw together. “That’s it?”
“He zeroed in on you in the middle of the fight. People in the middle of a fight, actually losing control, don’t check their surroundings with that kind of focus.”
Her throat moves as she swallows.
“The fight was a distraction for security and a way to get you closer,” I say. “Guests were scattering. Everyone else was reacting to noise. They were using it.”
Her face goes paler in the dark. “And I was walking right toward them.”
Her eyes close for half a second.
“I didn’t know.”
