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I glanced over at Trace, and stuttered, “I l-l-love y-y-ou.”
A calm stole through my body as I finally confessed my feelings to him. He smiled, bringing my hand to his lips, where he pressed a small kiss. “I love you too, Olivia. Sweet dreams. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
My lips couldn’t help but turn up in a smile at his words.
???
“Hey, sleepyhead,” Trace crooned when I opened my eyes.
“Hi,” my voice was stronger and steadier this time, but dry and crackly like sandpaper. “Was I asleep for long?”
He nodded sadly. “Two days.”
How was it possible to sleep for that long and not be aware of it?
“Your mom’s here,” he nodded his head towards the door. I could see the nurses’ station through a rectangular pane of glass. “She went to get a bite to eat in the cafeteria so she’ll be back soon. Avery and Luca have been by too. Even Marcy and Alba came to see you.”
“Like this?” I asked incredulously. “I look horrible.”
I hated the thought of anyone seeing me, beaten and bruised like this, and smelling like old meat…because I was pretty sure that nasty smell was me. Then again, it could be Trace, because he was still in the same clothes he was wearing two days ago.
Trace’s laughter shook his body, and although I was serious, it was nice to see him laugh.
“Yeah, like that, silly girl,” he shook his head.
“I hope they all still want to be my friends after this,” I grumbled.
“You don’t look that bad, Olivia,” Trace rolled his eyes at me.
“I know I won’t be going near any mirrors for a long time,” I snapped. “I probably look like my skin has been tie dyed with all these bruises.”
Trace opened his mouth to say something but the door to my hospital room swung open and stopped him.
“Olivia!” My mom cried upon seeing me awake, dropping her coffee on the floor, in her haste to reach me. The brown liquid seeped across the white tile floor; reminding me of the pool of blood I had seen in Trace’s apartment.
I closed my eyes in remembrance, trying to block out thoughts of that day. I didn’t want to relive it. I wanted to put it behind me, but I knew that would be impossible.
When I opened my eyes again, my mom was peering down at me, with tears streaming down her face. She was desperately seeking a place to touch me but my whole body was battered. Finally, she hooked her index finger with mine and sighed in relief.
“You have no idea how worried I’ve been, Liv. I thought I was going to lose my baby girl,” she bit her lip. With her free hand she clutched at her chest. Trace stood and grabbed a tissue. She took it from him and wiped her face free of tears. “Thank God you’re going to be okay. I would’ve never forgiven myself. I didn’t think the divorce papers would have that much effect on him, since so much time had passed. I’m still in disbelief that he showed up here, and went after you, Liv. This whole thing doesn’t seem real,” she sobbed and Trace reached for more tissues.
“Mom, please don’t cry,” I begged. “This isn’t your fault. Aaron’s a nutcase.”
“Only you, Liv, would be bruised and battered in a hospital bed, and comforting me,” she wiped her nose.
“Seriously, mom,” I curled my finger tighter around hers, “this is not your fault. This is no one’s fault but Aaron’s. What—uh—what happened with him?” I asked reluctantly. I really didn’t want to keep talking about Aaron. Just thinking his name was causing flashbacks of my beating to come back to me. Did it make me weak, since I didn’t want to remember?
Trace cleared his throat. “I knocked him unconscious, but since he wasn’t seriously harmed, he’s in the local jail right now. Thank God he doesn’t have anybody willing to bail his sorry as out of jail, because if he was free and walking around, I would go after that fucker and…” He paused. “You don’t want to know what I would do to the bastard that hurt you. And—uh—sorry for the cussing,” he muttered the last part at my mom.
“What’s going to happen to him?” I asked. I needed to know if the man who had tried to kill me was going to walk free.
“He’s going to go to jail for the rest of his life,” Trace promised me. “My family and I are doing everything we can to make sure there’s no chance of him walking free. You have nothing to worry about, Olivia. He won’t hurt you ever again.”
“Will there be a trial? Will I have to testify?” I questioned, swallowing thickly. The thought of getting up in front of a jury and describing what Aaron did to me— God, I couldn’t even think about it.
“We’re trying to avoid that,” he explained. “Everything is pretty cut and dry. The evidence of what went down was obvious.”
Relief flooded my body and surged through my veins. I took a deep breath, which hurt my chest, and let it out.
