•Find Me By Christina Grimme•

When I woke next, it was to greet the city lights as they twinkled in the darkness. Rain spilled over the windows. I laid there for a long moment, letting myself wake up. My hand slid down my side to the bandage around my stomach. My abdomen felt hard and heat radiated from it. I breathed a deep sigh and plopped back against the pillows, my exhaustion spend just from moving that little bit.

"The doctor said the inflammation should start to go down soon." A voice spoke to the right of me.

I jerked in surprise, letting out a small gasp as I whipped my head to the side. Tendrils of heat caressed my insides as I found her eyes in the darkness. She was barely visible in the corner, but the barest of lights the city gave off made her silver eyes shine.

She leaned forward, her mahogany colored hair spilling forward as her striking features came into view. My eyes devoured every plane and crevice, like a starving man being offered the tastiest morsel. I had deprived myself of her for too long.

Evelyn laced her fingers underneath her chin, leaning her elbows on her knees as she studied me.

Heat rose to my face under her sharp gaze, but I could do no more than look back at her. Shame rose within me, my eyes filled with tears. I bleakly wondered how I'd become this, a blubbering mess. I never used to cry. Well, I suppose that's what love does to you, forces you to feel what you wish to bury.

Unlike the many other times I'd fallen apart, she didn't comfort me this time. She just let me cry, offering her form of silent comfort to me as I buried my face into my hands and sobbed. I am unsure how long I cried, but when I finished my eyes were puffy and swollen, my stomach burned. I was sure that I was quite a sight.

When I finally gained the courage to look back up at her, she wasted no more time. She abruptly stood and walked over to me, climbing into the bed beside me and wrapping me gently within her arms. My head fell into place against her chest, my weak heart pounded in tune with her powerful one.

I felt we did not need to speak to say what we were feeling. The bond we shared wrapped around me and tugged us together. Evelyn understood me, I'd give my last breath to atone to that. I felt her soothing words through the soft caress of her fingers tips as they danced across my skin.

My own fingers traced her form with familiarity, aching. My body sighed, relieved to finally be near her again. My eyelids drooped as every ache and pain washed out of me. Evelyn mimicked my sigh and placed a soft kiss into my hair. My lashes fluttered at the sweet sensation.

I suddenly had a need to see her face and started to push myself away from her. She unwrapped her arms from around me and watched me carefully, her expression slightly confused. Her storm cloud grey eyes swirled with love.

I slowly reached out my hand and palmed her cheek, rubbing my thumb over the softness of her. How was it that I, someone so battered and broken and lost, had come to receive such a priceless gift? I did not understand.

She watched me carefully, her body sinking into my touch, her lips placing a gentle kiss into the palm of my hand. Her fingers entwined in mine, melding together perfectly. New tears formed in my eyes. "I am sorry." I whispered.

Pools of silver glinted at me in the light, softening. "You have nothing to be sorry for, Scout."

Unable to bear a gaze I didn't deserve any longer, I looked down at our entwined fingers. "I hurt you."

A soft finger gently tipped my chin up, and when I stubbornly refused to look into her eyes, she gripped my chin lightly.

Determination and stubbornness was etched across the sharp, Romanian plains of her face as she stared me down. "I pushed you. I pushed you into something that you weren't ready for. I thought that it would help you. I wanted you to get better so badly, to be better. To see the confidence you have the potential to build. I wanted you to see that for yourself. You are so strong, so powerful. I thought, "if only I could make her see it" but this was not my decision to make. I am in the wrong here. Not you."

I shook my head, pulling away from her. "No. That does not excuse my behavior. I should've controlled myself."

She must've saw that I wasn't going to crack and dropped her soft look. Her hands framed my face, gripping the skin there as she forced my eyes to hers.

"Enough. I pushed you, you reacted. It does you no good to blame yourself for things that you can't control in the moment. Stop. Blaming. Yourself." She shook me slightly, a fire lit in her eyes that dared me to contradict her.

"Okay." I whispered, unable to argue with her any longer.

She breathed a sigh of relief and pressed her lips to my forehead, exhaling a low breath. "Charlotte will be by to see you tomorrow."

My heart leapt in my throat at the sound of my daughter's name on her lips. "How is she? Where is she?" The questions tumbled out of my mouth as I looked at her eagerly. Her lips curled in a smile as she brushed the hair from my face.

"She is fine, staying with my sister." As the events of yesterday played through my head, so did Evelyn's sister's face.

I rose a brow at her accusingly. "Why didn't you tell me about her?"

Evelyn shrugged and gave me a sly smile. "The topic never came up."

I opened my mouth to argue but a knock on the door of my room halted my sentence. The door opened a second later and in walked a young woman with honey-colored hair and soft blue green eyes. She was very pretty, and obviously a doctor judging by the clipboard and long white coat. She didn't seem too alarmed as she noticed there was another woman in my bed, or the fact that we were sitting in an intimate position with my back pressed against her front.

"Hello." She smiled at me. "I am Doctor Lawrence. I have been assigned to your case."

Evelyn shifted behind me, awkwardly moving her leg over the other side of me as she struggle to move back to her chair. I threw her a questioning look but she just smiled softly at me and winked.

"Hi." I croaked, my voice scratchy from crying.

Dr. Lawrence turned to Evelyn and extended her hand. "Nice to meet you." She spoke. Evelyn repeated the phrase and soon the doctor's eyes were on mine once more. "How are you feeling today?"

I took a mental assessment and tried not to wince. My stomach hurt like a bitch, my face throbbed. I had bruises everywhere from where they grabbed me. My lip was split and burned whenever I moved my mouth. Everything hurt. It hurt to move, to breathe.

"Hurt." I rasped.

The woman's eyes turned sympathetic and she nodded remorsefully. "Yes, I'd imagine that you do. I'll have a nurse come up in a few hours with some pain killers that should help you sleep-"

"No." I interrupted sharply. "No painkillers."

Evelyn gripped my hand in hers. "Scout, love, you need them." I shook my head.

"No."

She sighed and looked at the doctor. "Perhaps there is something you can give her that won't make her sleep? The medicine disrupts her ability to sleep soundly."

The doctor's eyes flicked to mine as she assessed me. I was grateful that Evelyn stepped in. Because I did not want to tell this woman that the medicine they gave me sent me into a living nightmare.

"Very well." She complied finally, scribbling notes down in her notebook. "I will see what I can do."

I breathe a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

She nodded and crossed her arms. "I'm afraid that I have some not so good things to bring up."

I stiffened, fear crawling up my body. "Yes?"

She eyed Evelyn. I waved her off. "Whatever you have to say to me, you can say to her as well." I cast my brunette a soft look. "We have no secrets." She smiled back at me with love in her eyes.

The doctor sighed. "I'm afraid we've detected a slight murmur in your heart. At this moment it's nothing to worry about, but just in case, we will be bringing in one of our best to check you out."

My hand unconsciously rubbed at my chest, feeling the slight tug within. "Okay."

She must've sensed my worry because she flashed me an encouraging smile before whisking her way out the door. Evelyn and I stared at each other for a long moment before she leaned over to brush a featherlight kiss against my cheek.

That was all the reassurance I needed and I sunk happily into sleep.

❤️😘