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“Damn…” One of the guys breathed from across the room.
I was too busy gaping at my best friend to take in the rest of the reactions around us. Finally, after a moment of letting all this sink in, I demanded, “Why’d you keep this from me?”
“Come on, O,” Jay pleaded pathetically. “It would’ve broken your heart to learn she never got away from that monster. You thought wesavedher. I…I couldn’t do that to you. Besides…” She shook her head. “You never went through anything like that again, so I thought maybe it was just a phase that you grew out of.”
“A phase?” I shrieked in dismay, gaping at her in betrayal. “You’re unbelievable. You even knew my apartment was quite possibly haunted and didn’t tellmethen. Did it not occur to you that my roommate might not have been of the livingeither?”
“Well…no,” she admitted with an apologetic wince. “You had me convinced it was the aunt haunting the place. And you didn’t mention experiencing any paranormal activity, so I just shut up about it so you wouldn’t get freaked out.”
“But…but…you’ve always—always—been an adamant nonbeliever.”
“No.You’vealways been the adamant nonbeliever,” she countered. “And I didn’t want you dropping me because you thought I was crazy.” When my mouth opened, she winced in apology. “And you obviously had no idea what kind of abilities you had. I didn’t want to scare you. So I just acted as if it was a bunch of malarkey to keep you from thinkingIwasn’t off my rocker.”
“Oh, Jesus.” Pressing a hand against my brow, I told her, “You’re just like Damien. That was the big secret he was keeping from me, too, by the way. You know, all that stuff you were suspicious of him about…?” When Jay nodded, I said, “He didn’t know how to tell me his sister was already dead, the same way you couldn’t tell me about Lizzy Maine. God. This makes it official. Every important person in my life kept this from me.”
Wasn’t that just lovely?
Jay squinted as she glanced around at Damien’s friends. “Whereislover boy, anyway?”
Tears filled my eyes all over again. “He was stabbed,” I sobbed. “Professor Zweifel stabbed him when he showed up to save me. He could be dead right now, and it’s all my fault.”
“Oh, sweetie, no…” Jay insisted as she popped from the chair to pull me into a big hug.
“Yeah, that’s bullshit,” Keene said. “None of this was your fault. He—”
“Guys,” Thane broke in suddenly.
I looked up to find a doctor in the doorway, looking weary as he took a surgical cap off his head to address us.
With a gasp, I surged to my feet. “Is he…?” Unable to finish the question, I squeezed my fingers around my lips and held my breath.
The doctor nodded at me and answered, “We finally have him stable.”
Around me, all the guys murmured their relief. Alec hugged Keene. Foster pressed a hand to his brow and blew out a relieved breath. Parker and Thane clasped hands as if congratulating themselves. And Hudson threw an arm over my shoulder, hugging me close in support, which I was grateful for because my knees suddenly felt like jelly.
“We had four puncture wounds to address,” the doctor was saying, “All to the liver. It was touch and go there for a while, but we were able to locate all the bleeders and get him patched back up. Thankfully, the liver starts healing itself as soon as it begins to bleed, so I expect a full recovery. But for now, we plan to keep him under close observation in the ICU for the next twenty-four hours at least.”
I nodded and clutched Hudson’s hand for dear life. “C-can we go see him?”
The doctor sent me a soft smile. “His anesthesia should start wearing off any time now, so I expect he’ll wake soon. I’ll allow one person to go back with him so he’s not alone and can see a familiar face when he comes to.”
I whirled toward the others, already begging with my expression.
Parker rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Vargas?” he grumbled. “Of course, we’re going to let you be the one.”
“Thank you.” I sagged in relief and followed the doctor back to a single-occupancy room where a ton of machines were alive and working.
A nurse was already in there with Damien, and she turned when the doctor showed me in.
“Right on time,” she greeted. “We just got the breathing tube out, and he’s already been giving signs of waking up.”
“Can… Can I hold his hand?”
“Sure.” She invited me closer.
I lurched forward, immediately taking his fingers. His face was blanched; I’d never seen him look so pale. And his hand was chilly.
I squeezed my fingers around his, trying to share some of my heat with him, and his hand shifted within mine.
