At first I inwardly freaked out because I thought maybe something horrific had happened to me and I needed to be kept unconscious until the surgeons could fix it. But then rational thought seemed to kick in and I realized that this was probably another attempt from Nix to control me.
I decided he could suck it.
I needed to get up! I needed to find out what happened to Ryder. And then I needed to get the hell out of here.
I decided I would open my eyes first. That had to be step number one or I would never leave my hospital bed.
That was the other thing I realized. I was in a hospital room and that was where the beeping sound came from.
At first, opening my eyes felt like an impossible task. They were just too heavy. But the longer I focused and the more determined I became I realized I did have some control left.
Even if it was miniscule.
I heard the sound of another person entering my room and I almost stopped trying. I didn’t want them to up my dosage and keep me under for good. But then the other person started whistling happily and I decided that this could never be Nix or his goons. They just weren’t the whistling types. This was someone else, possibly a nurse.
And maybe they would help me.
I forced my eyelids open with the kind of considerable effort that instantaneously exhausted me again. And when I finally got them open I immediately wanted to close them. The room lights were dim and soft but they blinded my fragile vision.
I used every ounce of strength and energy I had left to keep them open while I watched a male nurse fiddle with my IV. He continued to whistle brightly while he played with buttons and flicked tubing with his middle finger.
The tune started to register in the recesses of my mind, slowly working its way to the front. Soon enough, it became familiar. The room hazed around the nurse’s blue scrubs and made me certain I had fallen unconscious again. This was a dream.
It had to be.
Because the male nurse turning off my IV looked exactly like Hermes and the tune he whistled sounded exactly like the song of Ryder’s I’d started singing the night of the auction.
Those two things just could not be possible.
And that’s exactly what I thought when I abruptly passed out again.
The next sound that woke me wasn’t the obnoxious beeping of hospital monitors but the low voices speaking above my head.
This time when I woke up, I had a lot more clarity. I wondered about my weird dream and if maybe it wasn’t a dream after all.
Could Hermes really have walked in here disguised as a nurse and shut off the drugs they were using to keep me sedated? Was that possible?
After what Nix showed me outside and the power Ryder suddenly came down with, I started to think that anything was possible.
Even the messenger god showing up in my hospital room and making it possible for me to escape.
Although why he didn’t just zap me out of here with his crazy god-skills was beyond me.
“We’ll leave tonight,” I heard Nix declare.
“Can she be moved?” I recognized the other voice but it took longer to place the speaker- Ky.
“Yes,” Nix answered immediately. “All they found was a slight concussion and heavy bruising. She will be fine. We’ll take a private plane so that I can keep her sedated the entire time.”
Ky sounded amused when he asked, “And when she wakes up?”
“You mean if I let her wake up?” Nix challenged. There was a subtle pause before Nix explained. “We’ll be in Greece. She will have nothing. She will not escape my villa; there will be nothing left for her to fight for.”
“But the boy-”
“The boy bears the protection seal of Zeus,” Nix spit out.
I didn’t know anything about the protection seal of Zeus or what it did; but it sounded awesome. And it sounded like Ryder would be safe from Nix.
Della had been right.
“And if he tries to come after her?”
“How can he come after her if he does not know where she is?” Nix let out a throaty laugh and continued. “He can scour the earth and he will not find her. There will not be a way to hunt her down. And in the summer we will march on Olympus. Once I am seated on the mountain I will not be anxious to leave it. She will not meet him again.”
“So we continue as planned?” Ky sounded appeased by all of this.
I started to freak the hell out.
“Yes,” Nix confirmed. “Everything goes as planned.”
“That is all I needed to know.” It sounded like Ky had started to move out of the room.
“Ares,” Nix called after him. “Have the witnesses been dealt with?”
Ky let out a vicious chuckle. “Everything has been taken care of. I will arrange for your plane. It should be ready within the hour.”
“Good.” I could hear the smile in Nix’s tone.
Oh, gosh.
An hour?
There was no way, just absolutely no way, I was going to let Nix fly me to Greece and keep me there until he decided it was time to invade Olympus. No way.
Besides, now I knew that Ryder had some kind of protection seal on him, this would make my escape easier.
My stomach dipped and my heart cracked in the corners. My escape. I hadn’t made it yet. I had failed at every turn.
But this was my very last chance.
If I didn’t get away from Nix tonight, I never would. I would never be free of this world. I would never have control over my life.
I had the hardest decisions I would ever make set before me but I had to do what was right for me and what was right for Ryder. I had to make the smartest choice or I wouldn’t get to make another choice again… for the rest of my life.
I breathed evenly as Nix paced around the room. Now that I was awake, all I wanted to do was move and wiggle. My nose itched, my fingers felt restless, my back didn’t like this particular position. But I could not move. I could not show Nix in any way that I was not still conked out from his drugs.
Eventually, and after what felt like hours but was probably only fifteen minutes, his phone rang. He answered it tersely and answered questions with simple answers. I heard him sit down in a chair, shift and then stand back up again. He grew impatient after a while and clearly agitated.
“The police?” I heard him bark into the phone. “You told me you had everything taken care of.” He listened for thirty more seconds and then snapped, “Figure it out, Ares. I don’t have time for this.” Another few seconds ticked by and then he said, “Obviously, I can’t wait around for the police to show up. You’re going to have to come back and watch her until they’re gone. I don’t know! Pretend to be her father. God’s sake, Ares, make the arrangements from here. I don’t care.”
They were clearly talking over each other but Nix seemed to be winning. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck in a room with Ares for any amount of time, especially if he was going to pretend to be my dad.
There were so many things wrong with that.
I tuned back into Nix when he snapped, “I’ll obviously have to take them with me. I can’t live those two buffoons hanging around for the police to interrogate. Get over here now. Call me when they’re gone.” I heard clothing rustle and some papers shuffling and then his crisp footsteps as he walked to the door. Once there he ordered, “Come on. Let’s go get something to eat.”
“But the girl,” one of the ogres asked in the deepest baritone voice I had ever heard.
“Ares is two minutes away.” Their voices faded as the door to my room closed.
My eyes popped open and I squinted against the soft lighting of my hospital room. I sat up slowly so I could keep my bearings and worked to slow my rapidly panting breath. I had two minutes to get out of here.
Two minutes.
Think.
Think, Ivy. Think!
I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stared down at the white tight-like-socks that covered my feet and calves. I noti
ced for the first time that I was dressed in a hospital gown and had only been left with my underwear.
A quick search of the room revealed that my clothes were nowhere in sight. I started tearing off all of the things hooked up to me. I ripped the chest monitor thing off and it started beeping faster. I yanked the blood pressure cuff off and started pulling on the tape connected to my IV.
I knew at any moment either Ares or a bunch of nurses were going to burst in the door and strap me to the bed for being a horrible patient.
If it was Ares that came first, I had no doubt the drugs would be restarted and I would be unconscious before Nix ever returned.
The tape hurt like crazy coming off, but not more than when I ripped out the IV. My hand bled a little from where I yanked the needle out, but just a few drops.
I scrambled to my feet and felt the cold brush of air all over my backside. I couldn’t leave the room like this, but I didn’t know what else to do.
And then I saw them. Under my sheet at the end of the bed, somebody had hidden a pair of light blue nurses scrubs.
Had Hermes really been here? Had he really made escape possible?
Maybe he was the one that called the police.
If so, I couldn’t make all his energy a wasted effort.
I kept the ugly socks on because I didn’t want to deal with pulling them off right now. There was a hole right on the ball of my feet so I could gain some traction on the slick tile floor at least. I pulled on the scrub bottoms and tied them quickly so they wouldn’t fall off. Then I tore off my gown and shoved it under my sheet. I pulled the top on and refastened my hair in a better ponytail.
I didn’t bother giving the room a second glance, even though some shoes would have been nice. I ran to the door but opened it slowly and quietly. The hall was empty outside of my room. Every other patient door was shut and the nighttime lights kept the hallway lighting soft and dim.
I realized the hour must be very late. That might work in my favor.
I slipped down the hall but turned around quickly when two uniformed police officers rounded the corner just twenty feet in front of me. They were talking to each other and I didn’t think they saw my face, but I didn’t want to stick around and find out.
I hurried as inconspicuously as I could down the hall and stopped abruptly when I saw a chart still in the plastic holder outside a room. I pulled the chart from the mounted holder, pretended to read it and then walked purposefully into the room.
I closed the door behind me and held my breath for a full minute.
The policemen did not follow me.
I was just about to leave the room when I started paying attention to the darkened space for the first time.
A body lay still and unmoving in front of me. His long figure was tucked into his sheets and his monitors watched his vitals carefully. His head was cradled in the pillows and he slept peacefully.
It was his tattooed forearm resting on top of his chest that caught my attention.
Sugar skulls. Even in the dim light I could see their intricate designs all over the muscled limb.
Ryder.
He was all alone. There was no sign of his uncle Matt or his dad and I wondered if they’d even been notified yet.
How had I managed to find him?
Honestly, it didn’t matter. Pure luck? Divine providence? A fortune cookie?
It did not matter.
I was here. I had another chance to talk to him.
Even if he couldn’t hear me… this was my last chance.
I slowly walked to the side of his bed and stared down at his beautiful face. Maybe it wasn’t very considerate to call him beautiful, especially while he slept and couldn’t defend his masculinity.
But he was beautiful. He was so beautiful to me.
His closed eyelids hid his silver eyes and his dark lashes fanned out over his cheeks. His hair was out of control against the stark white pillowcase. I ran my fingers through it without ever deciding that I should. The thick strands rubbed at the pads of my fingers and I cherished the touch, the feel, the memory of this moment.
His high cheekbones were both bruised and purpling. His eyes were also swelling. I wondered if he would be able to open them tomorrow. His bottom lip was split wide open but still so inviting. His so-very-masculine chest raised high with each intake of breath and then dipped low as he slept through the worst night of his life.
I had asked so much of him. Before I even knew what I was doing, I’d asked too much of him.
He had suffered for almost a year because of me. First, I put him through hell with my attitude and callousness. Then he suffered because I shared a truth with him that had been impossible for him to carry or fully comprehend. My reality had stripped away his perfect happiness and left him a man that needed action. I gave him a cause and then let him believe I was too broken to go on without his help. Third, I’d asked him to give up his entire life. I’d asked him to walk away from everything he had ever known and loved. And for what? So we could get caught and he could suffer through Nix’s rage?
No.
I wasn’t okay with any of that.
And worse than all of that, I’d asked him to love me. I’d asked him to love me unconditionally when deep down I knew we would never be able to be together.
I knew that something like tonight would happen. I knew it because it had always been inevitable.
I had destroyed Ryder’s life in one short year. I had treated him just like I had treated Sam.
This was what I did.
I took good men and I annihilated all of their happiness and any prospect of a future they should have.
I turned them into debilitated, helpless, despairing shadows of their former selves.
I turned them into me.
I was the Siren that called them into the deep and then asked them to drown in order to be close to me.
I had been wrong about Ryder.
He wasn’t any different than any other man. I’d attracted him, I’d trapped him and then I’d destroyed him.
There were parts of him that were different… there were moments between us that were real and genuine and true.
But the ending was the same.
His ending was the same as it would have been with any man.
I could see that now.
The only thing different about Ryder and Sam was me. I hadn’t learned anything from Sam. I’d let myself be consumed with grief and fear and I’d let Nix take care of me.
Well, those days were over. I might have hurt Ryder beyond repair but I’d learned from him during this time.
I knew he carried the seal of Zeus.
I knew that Nix couldn’t hurt him.
At least Nix couldn’t kill him.
And I knew that I wouldn’t hurt him anymore, either. He could be free of all this. He could be free of me.
I pulled my hand from absently stroking his hair and let my fingers trail down his jawline. He moaned in his sleep and leaned into my touch.
It was the most appealing sound I had ever heard and my fingers tingled from his roughened jaw.
His eyes fluttered open suddenly and I was stunned to find clear gray eyes staring back at me while I memorized every last detail of his face.
I wanted to remember that face. Even bruised and broken he was still so gorgeous he made my stomach flip. I didn’t want him to see me; I didn’t want him to know what I was doing.
But I couldn’t regret seeing those gray eyes one more time. I couldn’t regret enjoying their intense profoundness and the kindness that reflected from his very soul.
“Ivy,” he tried to say.
I put my finger over his lips and shushed him. “Shh…” I let my hand drift down his chest and then up the forearm that lay closest to me, running my fingers over his tattoos one last time. I drank him in. I absorbed his essence into mine.
I wanted to remember this for the rest of my life. I wanted to close my eyes and see this. Not as he lay in a hospital bed w
ith IVs and monitors hooked up to him; but him. I wanted to remember how he wanted to do anything for me, everything for me. I wanted to remember the perfect angles and lines of his body and the muscles that bunched and stretched in every delicious way. I wanted to take this image of him with me so I would never forget him, not any moment or piece or part of him.
I leaned down and brushed my lips lightly over his. He stilled as I repeated the gesture three more times.
When I finally pulled back, his eyes were huge with fear. He tried to lift his hand but he couldn’t manage to find the strength.
He had been through utter hell tonight and it would take a long while before he fully recovered.
If he recovered at all.
“I love you, Ryder,” I told him through an emotion-choked voice. “I will always love you.”
“No, Ivy,” he said instead of returning my sentiment. He seemed to understand my intentions without me ever saying them out loud. His eyes glossed over and he tried to sit up. He couldn’t get his body to cooperate. I noticed that he was also drugged, but I knew that his medication was for his own good. Every part of him looked abused. “Ivy, don’t,” he growled.
I backed up a step and swallowed a torrent of tears. “Please remember that I love you. Please know that I will never love anyone like I love you.”
“Ivy, no!” his voice had gotten stronger and he started to pull against all the cords and tubing that were attached to him in some way. Something over his heart detached and started beeping loudly. I knew it was time to go.
I walked backward to the door and then turned abruptly when he started calling out more desperately. I didn’t know where he found the strength but he started shouting at me to take him with me, screaming for me to stay with him.
I sprinted through the door and raced for the nearest elevator. I could hear chaos on the other end of the hall and instinctively knew it had to do with me. I ignored it and forced myself forward. Just as I rounded the corner, I ran right into a bank of them. I jabbed the button with my pointer finger and forced the tears back for as long as it took for an elevator to come to this floor and ping open.
Once I was alone inside, a sob hiccupped through me. I smacked my hand over my mouth and muffled the soul-deep scream that tore through my chest.
The Fall (The Siren Series) Page 30
