Page 82 of Unpacking Secrets
Even with them closed, the room was too bright for me to bear. With a soft sigh, I let sleep overtake me once more.
When consciousness finally pricked at me again, the room seemed darker and my eyelids cooperated after only a momentary struggle. As I blinked away the haze, I saw Henry slouched in a chair beside me, his eyes closed, his face shadowed with stubble now thick enough to be considered a beard.
One of his hands clasped mine on the bed, and with no small effort, I managed to squeeze it. Those hazel eyes I’d come to adore shot wide.
“Juliet.” My name caught in his throat as he leaned forward. “Hey.”
I watched drowsily as his gaze traveled over every inch of my face, like he was searching for any sign of pain or fear. Though he looked utterly exhausted, he was blessedly, beautifully alive.
Emotion welled up in my chest and I squeezed his hand tighter. I tried to reach for him with my other hand, but it was trapped close against my rib cage. I watched him for a minute before I tried to speak.
“Hey,” I replied, startled when the word came out a hoarse croak.
Henry flinched slightly at the sound, but he reached out to stroke my cheek with his other hand. It was a moment before I realized he was avoiding the bruise where Heller hit me, coasting his fingertips across my skin like his affection could erase the mark of violence.
I cleared my throat and spoke again, mollified a bit when the second attempt sounded more like myself. “Hey. Where are we?”
Even in the dimness, the room looked wrong.
“At the hospital. You—” His voice broke and he lifted our entwined fingers to press his lips to my knuckles. “You were shot. Left shoulder, not too much damage, but the bullet was lodged in the muscle there and you needed surgery to remove it. The doctors said you were damn lucky.”
At that, I smiled. “I feel lucky.”
“Jesus, Red, you took a bullet for me. Pretty sure that makes me the lucky one.”
He gave me an unreadable look, but my vision wasn’t so bleary that I couldn’t catch the shimmer of tears in his eyes.
“I guess I did. Gerard, is he okay? He was bleeding.”
Panic flooded me just as swiftly as it had when I found his grandfather on the ground. The details of what happened in the forest started coming back to me in a rush of sound and color that left me dizzy.
“Gramps is fine, just a little banged up. He was released this morning. My brother came up to get him, so he’ll stay with Aaron and Lee for a few days until he’s back on his feet. You’re the one everyone’s been worried about. You lost a lot of blood.”
“What happened with . . . him?” I asked.
Henry sighed softly and lifted his free hand to stroke the tangled curls back from my face. I leaned into his touch, more grateful than ever that he was there to give it.
“After he shot you, he opened fire. The cops tried to disarm him, but he kept shooting until they finally took him out.” He paused, then said quietly, “He’s dead, Juliet. Chief Roberts said they found enough evidence at the cabin he’d been staying in, over by Cooper’s Point, to pin over a dozen unsolved murders on him.”
My eyelids fluttered slightly under the weight of exhaustion and relief, but I forced them upward again to smile weakly at him. His lips brushed across my forehead as my eyes closed once more.
“Rest now. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
I let his reassurance drape over me like a cloak and drifted back off to sleep.
Thirty-Three
Henry
WhenJuliet’seyesfinallyfluttered open again, she smiled faintly at me. As promised, I was still seated by her side, but when her gaze caught on her friends Sarah and Andre hovering near the foot of the bed, she blinked several times, like she was afraid she might be dreaming.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered.
“Jules,” Sarah cried, flying to her side.
Since Juliet’s left arm was strapped tightly against her side with a black sling, Sarah very carefully slipped hers around Juliet in an awkward embrace.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Sarah whispered into her hair before drawing back.
