Page 32 of Reverie
Leaning to get Summer from me, Veronica takes the opportunity to kiss my hairline.
She keeps her face close to mine as she says, “When you want to talk about all of this, come find me. I love you.”
I murmur, “Okay.”
When Luna and Veronica leave the room, Hunter and I are silent for a long moment. The other nurses file out after them, flipping the switch to turn off the under-cabinet lights before departing. The sound of the IV delivering another bolus of fluids and meds is loud as he stares at me.
His eyes shift as they travel across my face and down my body, but when his gaze lands on my stomach, he closes his eyes and swallows hard.
I can’t stand it.
“Hunter, I?—”
Hunter moves so quickly that I almost get confused at the suddenness of it. He sits on the bed, leaning over to rest his head on my stomach.
Then he shudders, and a choked, strangled sound erupts from him.
“H,” I rasp. “I’m…” There are so many words I want to say. I’m sorry. I’m glad you’re alive. I’m still fucking mad at you.
The latter one feels trivial in the grand scheme of things, though.
“I’m glad you and Bean are okay, Winter.” He rubs his face against my stomach. “I’m so fucking glad.” He sighs, the sound ragged against my ears. I bring my free hand to his hair, running my fingers through it.
“Bean?” I question with a half-smile.
He shrugs and lets out a slight laugh. “It felt appropriate to give them a name. At least, until we give them one that’ll stick.”
He lifts my top—a hospital gown, which is alarming because who changed my clothes?—and places a gentle kiss against the flesh over my rib. Kitty moves to the foot of the bed.
“H, is it all over?” I whisper the question, not adding the rest of it. The rest of it being that August shot Blair in the face, or that Marcus Law is in on things, or that our house may very well be in ashes.
He sits up and wraps his palm around mine. And doesn’t answer my question.
“What happened while you were gone?” I ask, sighing as he rubs the back of my hand with his thumb.
“You first, Sunbeam. Tell me how everything went down.”
I blow out a breath and close my eyes to recount the night’s events.
“Ella, August, Veronica, the baby, and I were watching a movie in the media room when August left to get more food. When he was gone for too long, I went to find him. That’s when I ran across a body in the hallway.”
Bile wells in my throat as I recall the blown bits of brain matter on the floor and walls. Sensing my distress, Hunter lies next to me, pulling me in so that I rest on my good shoulder as he presses his front to my back.
“It was Rex. I can only imagine that he was with August when he was taken.” I look down at my trembling fingers. I didn’t know Rex very well; not like I know Rio. Or, I guess, like IthoughtI knew Rio. “August must have been so scared.”
Hunter’s arm tightens around me a fraction.
“I overheard two men talking and I recognized one of them as Rodrigo, the guard from when I first interviewed with you. Do you remember him?”
His response is immediate and dark. “Of course I remember him.”
“Right,” I say. “I used the tunnels to get back to the media room and grab everyone.”
Hunter’s arm flexes across my chest, and he presses his mouth to the back of my head. When he inhales sharply, I close my eyes and try to ground myself in the now.
“What else happened, Sunbeam?” he murmurs into my hair.
“Once I got everyone into the bunker, Rio came. He was shot and…” My head starts to hurt.