I can’t process what he’s just said. It’s like the words don’t make sense except for one. Noah.
Hold him down, Noah. I’ll get some rope.
I’m trying like hell to move my hand, and it’s like learning how hands work all over again. One won’t move at all and it feels like it’s strapped down, the other I’m inching toward the edge of the bed, biting back the pain. I finally reach Coop’s hand, and he jumps, then looks down at me. I mouth the name over and over again until his eyes light up.
“Noah?” I nod, fucking exhausted. I have to stay awake, though. At least until Coop figures out what I’m trying to tell him. “Do you know him?”
I pinch my index finger and thumb together and do the best I can to pull my wrist up. It’s the closest I can get to signing. I learned ASL when I wasn’t speaking and Coop learned it because he’s my friend, but we haven’t used it in a while.
“Wait, shit, I remember this one.” He snaps his fingers and hits his forehead with the palm of his hand as he tries to remember. “FIND!”
My hand drops back down to the bed as he shouts the word again and Steve comes in, trying to figure out what’s going on.
“He signed ‘find’. I told him about Lex and—wait, Dani found Alexis?” He stares at me and I roll my eyes. “Don’t be a dick. This is hard!”
“What else did you say?” Steve asks, joining the most frustrating game of charades ever.
“Find…find… I don’t know… find…he said…NOAH! Find Noah?” He looks at Steve after I nod and then back to me. Some days I think I can see the wheels turning inside Coop’s head when he thinks hard enough. Right now, I’m watching his face go from complete confusion to realization to rage. He and I have always had this kind of connection. “They did this to you, then went after her? Jesus fuck.”
“Shit, I’ll get the cops. They’re downstairs with Alexis,” Steve yells as he runs out the door just before I pass out again.
I was supposed to protect her. I promised her.
* * *
There’s a distinct scent in the room. It’s what wakes me up the next time. It breaks through the cleaners and antiseptic hanging so heavily in the room I can pick them out with a broken nose. It’s a sweet scent that makes my heart monitor race. As badly as I want to open my eyes, I’m too scared to see the pain in her eyes.
“Hey,” Steve whispers, “Chase and I are going to grab a coffee. Do you want anything?”
“No. I’m okay, thanks.”
“Text us if anything changes and we’ll come running.”
I hear the door close, then her voice again. “You can open your eyes now. I know you’re awake again.”
I force my one working eye open. When I see her, the pain disappears, replaced by broken butterflies trying to fly with torn wings. She leans over, her lips grazing mine, and I whimper as she pulls away from me.
“I’m sorry, did I hurt you?” she asks in a panic, but I shake my head and try to smile. My eye never leave hers as she moves to the other side of the bed and picks my hand up. The second she does, I squeeze as hard as I can since I’m fairly sure a baby has more grip than I do right now. She pushes the hair away from my eyes, careful not to brush against the one I still can’t open. “Guess you were tired. You’ve been out for two days.”
I open my mouth, but she covers my lips with two fingers. “No talking, pretty boy. Besides, I already know what you’re going to say.”
I want desperately to hold her, to tell her how sorry I am. I want to tell her I’m here for her, that I’ve got her now and she can fall apart if she needs to. She needs to, I can tell, because the stars in her eyes have gone out.
* * *
“Wakey, wakey! No eggs and bakey for you, James, sorry man,” Sam sings as he comes into the room three days later with bags of food. There’s some guy in a suit following him and carrying coffees. I’d kill for a coffee right now. “Where’s Lex?”
“Therapy,” I whisper, and Chase smacks me. He rolls his eyes when I add, “Sorry.”
He hasn’t left the hospital since I got here, taking turns with Lexi to make sure someone is always in the room with me but also giving each other breaks from the boring room and that fucking beeping that never stops. It’s why they keep people drugged in hospitals. I swear, how else is anyone getting any sleep in here? I wonder how much the studio and his agent hate me right now.
“Alright, we can at least get your part of things started. This is Stan Morgan. He’s a lawyer, a damn decent lawyer, and I’ve hired him for you and Lexi. Stan, this is James Barton and his buddy Chase Cooper.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Barton.” He shakes my hand, carefully. I’m not sure what to make of all this. I still have a lot of pain medication running through me and it’s made me more than a little loopy when I can stay awake. “Mr. Cooper, my kid, loves your movies. Before I start, though, I have to ask James if he wants you and Sam in the room for all this.”
I nod. If I can’t trust Sam and Coop, then I’m beyond fucked.
“I don’t have all the details yet since it is an active and ongoing investigation, but they have arrested both Ronald Miller and Noah Jones for their assault on both you and Ms. Strauss. James, I’ve tried a lot of cases, and looking at the police reports, these two are going away for a long time. There was evidence all over them, their vehicle, and the house. They were so sure they’d get away with it; they were both still wearing blood stained clothing when the police showed up.”
