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“Kat.” I looked up and saw Georgie and Emily on the other side of the room by the bouquets of flowers. “You’re awake. Oh my God, we thought you’d never wake up.” Emily rushed over and hugged me, and I winced as the soft strands of her hair brushed against my cheek. She noticed and immediately pulled back. “Sorry, I just had to hug you.”
“You’re going to have to suck it up, ’cause I’m hugging you too, cupcake,” Georgie said as she pushed Emily aside and moved in. “Jesus. Look what that pig bastard did to your face.”
“Georgie!” Emily scolded.
I knew it couldn’t look good, and I suddenly wondered what Ream thought. I’d have scars on my face now; he couldn’t call me beautiful anymore, that was for sure. I curled my fingers around the note.
“Thank fuck he didn’t rape you. Christ, did he touch you?”
“Georgie,” Emily abolished. “I’m sure Kat doesn’t want to rehash what happened right now.”
Or ever. It made me cringe and sick to my stomach to think that his hands were on me intimately. I still heard the snap of his rubber glove coming off just before he touched me.
Georgie was animated as she talked, throwing her hands in the air and pacing back and forth. “When the police catch him, I’m going for his dick. And when I get ahold of it, I’m peeling it open like a goddamn banana.”
Emily groaned.
We chatted, well Georgie and Emily chatted, and they told me Crisis was picking up nurses while Kite was going for the female doctors. They’d supposedly snuck in to see me a few hours ago when I was sleeping with Ream passed out beside me in the chair. Logan was at the police station with Matt giving statements and going through mug shots to see if anyone the police had on their list was seen at the bar and on the condos security cameras. The problem was that the condo only had cameras at the front doors, nothing at the back, so someone could’ve let them in. Emily also told me that Matt and Ream got into a big fight earlier today and that was when Logan took Matt with him to the police station.
“Lance is here.” Emily put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “He’s been asking to see you. But Ream …” she half smiled. “He won’t allow him even on the same floor as you.”
“Where is he?”
“Suit-cake or rock star-cake?”
“Lance.”
“Downstairs in the waiting room. He says he won’t leave until he sees you.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
Georgie kissed me on the cheek. “I’ll sneak him by Ream. That crazy-ass piece of hotness is a vigilante. If Kite and Crisis didn’t lock him down, he’d have beaten the shit out of Lance for even showing his face here. He really doesn’t like that guy.”
Yeah, because Ream was a little crazy. But I realized that no matter how much I tried to stop him or deny it, ‘he’d keep coming,’ just like he promised.
“I’ll take Ream to the cafeteria for something to eat. I swear the guy has paced ten pounds off his weight in the last twenty-four hours.” Emily kissed my head then squeezed my hand. “You sure you’re good to see Lance? Matt told us you broke up with him last night.”
“Yeah.” I wasn’t sure, but his presence here showed he cared and was concerned about me.
Lance was completely distraught, blaming himself, saying that he should’ve stayed with me until Matt got home, thinking that it was a guy at the bar who followed us back to the condo. Both of us knew that no one was to blame and what he was saying was unreasonable.
He suggested delaying the show we had planned at the gallery in three weeks. For a second, I thought maybe he was saying that so that my scars had more time to heal and wouldn’t scare the prospective buyers away. Lance wasn’t like that though; at least I didn’t think so.
Georgie popped her head in. “Copious-orgasm-Lance, off-his-rocker-Ream is on his way back up.”
Lance nodded then turned back to me and ran his finger down my cheek, the one that didn’t have the sutures. “Your face …” He sighed then continued, “I have contacts. They’re looking into who did this.”
I nodded, uncertain what he meant by contacts but too concerned about Ream finding Lance in here and freaking out. The last thing I wanted was a fight between the two, especially when Lance was a master black belt and Ream wouldn’t give a shit.
***
Saturday night.
Anything was better than Friday nights.
Tonight was a young woman and she was pretty, like I’d have wanted my mom to look like.
The woman was nice to me. It didn’t hurt. She made me feel good.
“Anticipation. Make her wait.” Her voice was sugary and sweet. “Control. That’s what you want. Take it.”
I shouldn’t like this, but I did. I liked her. I liked what she gave me.
Control.
And I was never letting it go.
I hope she comes back.
Ream didn’t leave my bedside again until I left the hospital the next day, which was a bit of an issue with my brother. Actually, a big issue because Matt didn’t want him around. He relented because well, Ream wasn’t going anywhere unless he was “forcefully removed,” his words. I knew about his sister and how being in a hospital brought back memories of it, so it was a big deal that he was here with me. I did notice that he disappeared into the washroom numerous times and when he came back the strands of hair around the edge of his face were all damp.
We didn’t talk about us; actually we barely talked at all and it was … it was soothing. I was glad he never asked me the details of what the guy did to me, although I suspected he’d managed to get everything from the doctor. I mostly slept and he held my hand unless the nurse or doctor asked him to leave the room. His displeasure was made known with his grumbling about how he’d already seen everything. I hid my smile because the nurse had no fear of him or his attitude and shoved him out the door.
