My shoulders slumped. A minute later, the headlights turned off, and I heard the sound of a door opening and closing. A man had gotten out of the SUV and was heading toward the door of Annalise’s building. At first I thought nothing of it. But then a dog barked, and the guy turned his head, giving me a glimpse of his profile. My heart started to pound. He looked a hell of a lot like Annalise’s stepfather, Matteo.

Rolling down the passenger window, I leaned over and called his name. “Matteo?”

The man turned. It took a few seconds for him to register who I was, but then he started toward me as I stepped out of the car. “Bennett?”

I nodded. “Do you know where Annalise is?”

“The hospital. Her mother, she stay with her. I just come to get some of her things.”

“Hospital?” I felt sick. “What happened?”

Matteo frowned. “You don’t know? She had a very bad car accident.”

Chapter 48

* * *

Annalise

My eyes fluttered open at the commotion. They felt so heavy. Just like my arms and legs.

An alarm I’d been hearing off in the distance started to beep louder. A woman in blue walked up next to me and did something, and the annoying sound silenced. I heard her speak, but it sounded muffled, as if I was underwater and she wasn’t.

“She needs her rest. If you two are going to upset her, I’m going to have security show you both to the door.”

I heard a man’s voice mumble something, or maybe it was more than one man’s voice, I couldn’t be sure. If I could just kick my feet a little bit, I could probably reach the surface and hear better. I tried to kick, but couldn’t get enough momentum going. The woman in blue put her hands on my legs, stopping the little movement I’d managed to muster.

“Shhh. You rest, Miss Annalise. Don’t let these boys upset you. God gave this nurse a mouth and a lot of back to toss visitors out when necessary.”

A nurse. She was a nurse.

I tried to speak, but my mouth was covered. I lifted my arm to grab whatever was blocking it, but couldn’t get it higher than an inch or two off the bed. The nurse moved closer and brought her face close to mine.

She had curly black hair, dark chocolate eyes, and lipstick on her front tooth when she smiled. “You’re in the hospital.” She stroked my hair. “There’s a mask over your mouth so you can breathe easier, and drugs are making you feel sleepy. Do you understand?”

I nodded a little.

She flashed her teeth again, and I stared at the lipstick. Someone should really tell her.

“You have two visitors, Miss Annalise. Your parents, and your friends are here, too. They’re out in the waiting room. Do you want me to tell these boys to let you rest?”

I slanted my eyes to the other side of the bed, and two faces leaned over.

Bennett?

Andrew?

I looked back at the woman and shook my head.

“How about we have them visit with you one at a time?”

I nodded my head.

She spoke to the men and then to me again.

“Do you want Andrew to visit right now?”

I moved my eyes to see his face, then looked back at the nurse and shook my head.

She smiled. “Good. Because the other one looked like he might rip my head off if I made him leave.”

A minute later, Bennett was at my side, his face right where the woman’s had been. He took my hand in his; it was so warm and held my fingers so tight.

“Hey.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead. My eyes locked onto his. “There’s my beautiful girl. Are you in pain?”

Pain? I didn’t think so. I couldn’t even feel my toes. I shook my head.

“I spoke to your mom. She said you’re going to be fine. Do you remember the accident?”

I shook my head.

“You had a car accident. There was a storm and a lot of rain, and the merge to the highway made you hydroplane.”

Memories started to come back in flashes. Raining so hard. Hitting the brakes. The bright lights. Headlights. The loud bang. Being jolted from side to side. Andrew.

I tried to lift my hand to take the mask off my face.

Bennett realized what I was attempting to do. “You have to leave it on for now.”

I frowned.

He bent to our joined hands and kissed the top of mine. “I know. Keeping your mouth shut is a challenge for you.” He smirked. “But I have a shitload to say, and I have no idea how long I’m going to get to sit here alone with you, so this kind of works for me.” His face turned serious, and he looked away for a minute before taking a deep breath.

“I lied.”

His gaze returned to mine. No words were necessary for him to know my question.

He squeezed my hand and moved closer. “When you asked me if we’d be together a year from now if one of us wasn’t relocated, I said we wouldn’t. I said I liked being single and having my freedom. But the truth is, I was terrified. I was terrified that I’d fuck things up if we stayed together. You don’t deserve to be hurt again and…”

Bennett paused, and I watched as he attempted to swallow his emotions. When he looked up again, his eyes were welled with tears.

“You don’t deserve to be hurt again, and I don’t deserve to have love.”

It crushed me to hear him say those words. He deserved so much good in his life.

Bennett closed his eyes and steadied himself to continue. “But I’m done caring about what I deserve or you deserve—because I’m selfish enough to not give a fuck that I don’t deserve you, and I’ll work hard every day to become the man you do deserve.” He smiled and brushed his hand down my cheek. “I love you.” His voice broke. “I freaking love you, Annalise.”

We were interrupted by the nurse wearing blue scrubs. She leaned over my face from the other side of the bed, opposite of Bennett. “Just going to add some medicines into your IV. They might make you a little groggy.”

Oh good. Someone told her about the lipstick on her teeth. I watched her push some medicine into my IV line. I turned back to Bennett, but my eyes became even heavier. So, so heavy.

***

Bennett was slumped over in the chair next to me, sound asleep.

I looked around. It was a different room than I’d been in earlier. Wasn’t it? Or did I dream the other room—the big, windowless one with a dozen beds and only a curtain separating me from the patients on either side. Now I was alone in a big room with a door, except for the man sleeping next to me. And a window behind him told me it was nighttime.

My neck felt stiff, so I tried to move my head from side to side. The slight brush of the sheets woke the sleeping giant.

He smiled and leaned forward. “Hey. You’re awake again.”

I lifted my arm to grab my mask, but Bennett stopped me. “Don’t take that off yet. Let me call the nurse. They lowered your sedation dosage, but they wanted to check your breathing and vitals before trying without the mask. Okay?”

I nodded. He disappeared and came back a minute later with a nurse.

I didn’t recognize this one. She listened to my chest, took my blood pressure, and watched the monitor for a minute.

“You’re doing great. How do you feel?”

My ribs were killing me, but I nodded to say I felt okay anyway while pointing to the mask.

“You want to take it off?”

I nodded again.

“Okay. Let me go get you some ice chips. When we take it off, you’re going to be really dry from all the forced air for three days.”

Three days? I’d been in here for that long?

When the nurse returned, she set a Styrofoam cup with a spoon down on the tray next to my bed and then reached around my head and loosened the strap that had been holding my mask in place. Slipping it off, she waited nearby, her eyes moving between the monitor and me.

“Take a few deep breaths.”

First I opened wide to stretch out my cramped jaw, and then I did as she instructed. My face was so sore, especially my nose.

She listened to my chest again, then slung her stethoscope around her neck. “You sound good. How do you feel?”

My hand raised to hold my throat. My voice croaked out a low, “Dry.”

“Okay. Well, we need to go slow. But I’ll keep an eye on your stats from the nurse’s station and give you two a little time.” She turned to Bennett. “One or two ice chips at a time. That should help moisten her throat.”

The door hadn’t even closed when Bennett had the ice chips in his hand and spoon at my mouth. I would have laughed at his eagerness if my side didn’t hurt so much.

He spooned some chips into my mouth and then leaned down and brushed his lips to mine. “That was a long nap you took. I finally started to talk to you about my feelings, and your response was to conk out for twelve hours.”

I’d almost forgotten about everything he’d said earlier. But once he reminded me, every word came back, crystal clear. Although I wanted to hear him say it again. So I put on my best confused face. “Feelings?”

Bennett’s eyes widened. “You don’t remember me pouring my heart out to you yesterday?”

I shook my head, but I couldn’t stop my smile. He noticed.

“You’re screwing with me, aren’t you?”

My smile widened. “I want to hear it again.”

Bennett stood and ever-so-carefully climbed onto the bed next to me. “Oh yeah? What part do you want to hear?”

“All of it.”

A smile spread across his handsome face, smoothing out some of the worry lines. He snuggled his mouth to my ear. “I love you.”

I grinned. “Again.”