Hayden

I could hear voices all around me, but I couldn’t seem to wake up. My mom and dad were there, and so was Michael, but most important, Derek’s voice never seemed to leave me. Apparently, I spent two hours in the ER, where they put eighteen stitches in my arm. The sedative Jeremiah used on me—strong enough to put down a horse—had to work its way out of my system, and I had a throbbing headache, but luckily, there was no damage to my internal organs. What a sick bastard he turned out to be.

Judging by the sun shining in my face, I knew it had to be daytime. “What the hell are you doing? Shut the fucking curtain,” Derek snapped. Groaning, I turned away from the bright light and opened my eyes, meeting Derek’s gaze. He jumped out of his seat and knelt down beside the hospital bed. “How do you feel?”

I groaned again. “Like hammered dog shit. My arm and head hurt.”

Michael rushed over and knelt down beside Derek. “I knew the sun would wake you up. You’ve been out for hours.”

I snorted. “I wonder why.”

Derek sighed and held my hand. “The cops want to talk to you. Jason wanted me to call when you woke up.”

“Who’s Jason?”

“A cop I’m friends with. He wants to get your statement on what happened. As of right now, no one knows but you.”

Closing my eyes, I could see everything play out in my mind. “Believe me, it’s something I wish I could forget.”

Michael’s phone buzzed and he stepped out into the hall, shutting the door behind him. As soon as he was gone, Derek broke down, and my chest ached. “Don’t you ever leave in the middle of the night like that again, you hear me?” he warned.

Wrapping his arms around my neck, he held me tight while I cried. “I’m sorry. I had to find out what happened, and I did. It was all Jeremiah.”

He kissed me hard and wiped away my tears. “It’s all over now. However, the media is all over this story. Your phone will be blowing up as soon as you get out of here.”

“I’ll give all the credit to my rescuer. You’re the one who saved me. If you hadn’t shown up, I’d be dead.”

He flinched and sat back down. “I was going to wait on you to come back, but I was so pissed at you leaving. That’s why I went after you.”

I glanced down at my arm, bandaged with a gazillion layers of gauze. “I’m glad you did.”

“But on a brighter note, you’ve had a fuck ton of people come by, hoping to see you. Your parents went down to the cafeteria to get coffee. They came as soon as they found out. I think they like me.”

The thought made me smile; I knew my parents would love him. Taking his hand, I squeezed it and brought it to my face. When I was with Jeremiah, I was afraid I’d never see him again. “How long was I out?”

He swallowed hard. “Half a day. You lost a lot of blood.”

“What about you? I saw Jeremiah cut you with the knife.”

A slow smile spread across his face. “It’s just a scratch, babe. I can’t say the same for him, though.”

“What did you do to him?”

He cleared his throat. “You wouldn’t recognize him right now. I broke his wrist, left leg, nose, and several bones in his face.”

“Good,” I said without remorse. “If he hadn’t drugged me, I would’ve done it myself. Wilford had hidden cameras set up throughout the office, and I watched the videos. That’s what I was doing there. Jeremiah had come in at night and infected my animals. He even killed Lady.”

“What a fucking psychopath,” Derek spat. “I knew he was hard up for you, but I never thought he’d try to kill you. If Jason hadn’t stopped me from beating his head in, I don’t know if he’d still be alive. All I could think about was you. Did he say why he was doing it?”

“He was upset with Wilford for offering me the practice. His first goal was for us to run the clinic together, but when he saw that wasn’t going to work, he wanted to get me out of the way. What’s crazy is that he had me completely fooled. I thought he was trying to help me get my job back. I didn’t know he was in the office when I showed up; when he found out what I was doing, he took his chance.”

Derek tensed. “That son of a bitch. I should’ve killed him.”

I shook my head. “But then you wouldn’t be with me right now. You’d be stuck in jail.”

“What about you? Where do you think you’ll go from here?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Not sure.” I looked down at my bandaged arm, knowing I was going to have a scar there for the rest of my life. “It just sucks that I’ll have a constant reminder of what happened.”

Derek brushed a hand down my cheek. “It’ll also show that you’re a survivor. If it makes you feel any better, I’ll have a scar across my back from where the fucker cut me.”

I patted his hand and gave him a sad smile. “It doesn’t, but it was a nice try. Do you know when I can get out of here?”

“Soon. And when you do, you’re moving in with me.”

“I am?” I laughed.

“Yep. That way I can make sure you don’t run off again. I’m tempted to tie you to the bed every night so you can’t.” He gave me a mischievous grin.

“How can I say no to that? I’m kind of turned on right now. Not only are you protective, but you have a possessive streak, too. I think I’m going to like it.”

He winked. “Don’t worry, you will.”