Page 204 of I Never Stopped Loving You

“I don’t know, babe. I think your voice is the one that just got his heart racing,” Jenna laughs.

“Can someone get a boner while in a coma?” Jeremy asks, then busts out laughing.

“Okay, everyone out. Now!” Willow snaps.

This has to be a dream.

The last thing I remember was bleeding out on the staircase. I turned off all the lights in the labyrinth and waited as a cold sensation spread through my body. My veins felt like ice. My hands were numb. The world was silent until I heard her scream my name. It felt like I was swallowing gulps of fire as I struggled to wake up. I heard her scream, and then all I remember was the sound of a gunshot before everything went black.

The sound of a door shutting is followed by silence. Ear-deafening silence. The kind of silence where you can only hear your heart pumping the blood through your veins.

She left me…

Or was she ever even here?

Maybe I’m in Hell.

“I need you to wake up, Noah,” her soft voice calls to me.

I can suddenly feel a warmth against my palm before a gentle squeeze. She’s here. She’s holding my hand. Why the fuck can’t I open my eyes?

“Please, Noah. I can’t live without you. I need you to come back to me.”

There’s so much pain in her voice. I can practically hear her tears as they trail down her face. I’m hurting her. I need to fucking wake up!

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

Fuck that annoying sound.

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

“Noah? Oh my God.”

The warmth wrapped around my hand disappears causing me to cry out in the darkness demanding her touch, but my cry is silent. I can’t make a single fucking noise.

“He squeezed my hand as the heart rate monitor started spiking. His eyelids were fluttering, and I felt his fingers move.”

“Good, that’s very good. He seems to have a good amount of brain activity going on now. Have you been talking to him today?” a man’s voice I don’t recognize says.

Jealousy fills me to my soul at the thought of another man near her right now.

“Yes. Do you think he’s going to wake up soon?” she asks.

Her voice is so full of hope. I promise, Little Rabbit, I’m trying to wake up. I’m trying to get back to you. I just don’t know how.

“Only time will tell. He lost a lot of blood, and the coma is helping his body heal. There’s no way to tell when or if he’ll come out of the coma.”

“If?” her voice breaks. “I thought the other doctor said…”

“I know what Dr. Bellanger said, but it’s been a week and the patient…”

“Noah. His name is Noah!” my Little Rabbit practically growls. That’s my girl.

“Sorry. Noah hasn’t shown any improvement in brain activity in that time until now. With that much blood loss and the fact that he coded on us twice…I don’t want to lie and give you false hope.”

“But I felt him just now. He squeezed my hand. His eyelids fluttered.”

I can hear her crying now. I’m going to kill that fucker when I wake up. No one makes my little rabbit cry and gets to keep breathing.