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I looked down at my lap. Under the bandages, my wrists were bruised and cut from the rope, and my ankle was absolutely killing me. That didn’t even count the stabbing pain that throbbed in the back of my head or the ache under my eye.
I was lucky nothing was broken and that a concussion was the worst of my injuries.
“Did that help at all?”
“Yes. Thank you.” I smiled weakly. “Can we talk properly tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I’ll put in the report you’re not able to yet. I’ll let you rest,” Jamie said, reaching over the edge of the bed to gently touch my uninjured ankle. “Do you two need anything?”
“Tea,” Ash asked morosely. “Apparently, they won’t let us have wine.”
“It doesn’t mix with her meds, I’d imagine.” He looked at her with a small smile. “I’ll ask one of the nurses for—”
“No, tell Noah to be useful and call Granny to bring us some real tea and coffee, not this piss they serve here,” she argued. “If he’s not allowed in here, he should at least fetch tea.”
“You do know he’s on duty, don’t you?”
“That sounds like a him problem,” Ash said, taking my line from me and making me smile.
Jamie laughed, rubbing his hand over his jaw. “All right. Lottie, just let me know when you’re ready to talk tomorrow.”
“I don’t want Noah to interview me,” I said quietly. “Can it be someone else?”
He hesitated, then nodded his head. “Yeah, don’t worry.” He left the room, closing the door behind him.
Ash looked at me. “What happened with you and Noah? The last thing I knew, you were going over to his house to tell him you thought it was Stephanie, right before you went on your little crusade of justice.”
I sighed. “It went badly. We fought, and Kayla came out. She yelled at me, told me I had no business being there and that Noah didn’t care about me. She told me I was horrid and desperate, and I needed to leave their family alone.”
“I’m gonna kill her,” Ash ground out. “Wait, what does she mean? Their family?”
“She said she’s pregnant,” I whispered, staring at the plain, white walls. “So if you’re going to kill her, I’m pretty sure that’s considered a double homicide.”
“Oh, Lottie.” She wrapped her fingers around mine.
I averted my gaze. “I want to try and sleep. I’m tired.”
“Are you—”
“I just need some quiet time, Ash.”
She stood up with a sigh, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. “I’ll be here if you need me.”
I didn’t reply, and she silently left, pausing at the door to look back at me for a moment. I kept my gaze trained on the same spot on the bed, and the second the door closed, the tears I’d been keeping back spilled out of my eyes.
They trailed down my cheeks and onto the pillow beneath my head. I didn’t know what I cried for—the pain I was in, the trauma of what I’d been through, or the fact that that teeny tiny glimmer of hope I’d held onto for so long where Noah was concerned was now well and truly shredded.
Maybe it was a mix of all those things.
Whatever it was, it hurt like hell.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
“Knock knock.”
I smiled at Gwen when she poked her head through the door. “What are you doing here?”
“Bringing supplies,” she said, bumping the door open with her hip and hauling in two cooler bags. “I’ve been unfortunate enough to spend time in this place, and the food sucks. You’ll never get better and go home eating their shite.”
