Page 28 of Vow of Vengeance (Destruction & Vengeance Duet #2)

twenty-three

Soren

Motherfuckinggod.

If being clumsy was an Olympic sport, I'd medal.

I bite my lip, immediately hating myself for the scream, not being able to bite back the pain.

It took me by surprise more than anything when the wall crumbled around me.

I'd gotten lightheaded all of a sudden and tried to brace myself against the wall.

Unfortunately, I must have hit it harder than I thought I did, because I went right through it.

"Fuck!" I hear Declan shout in surprise, and then hear his footsteps running toward me as I try to gather myself to sit up.

The drywall dust hangs in the air around me, making me cough, unable to breathe. I lift my hand to press it to my mouth and see the nail.

It takes a moment for my brain to work out what I'm seeing as I blink at it, wondering where the fuck that came from. But it doesn't matter where it came from.

What matters is that it's piercing my palm, the head of the nail sticking an inch or so out of the back of my hand. Blood drips down my wrist as I stare, transfixed.

"Shit!" Declan shouts, dropping down in front of me. "What happened? Are you okay?"

His hand closes around my wrist and turns it for him to view my palm, and I see his eyes widen in surprise. He glances around, like he's looking for the source of the nail.

"I just... I fell through." I swallow, looking around to try and figure out what exactly I fell through.

One minute I was in my bedroom, throwing the bag over my shoulder. It's probably what made me lose my balance in the first place, the reason I reached for the wall. But I sure as fuck didn't expect to go right through it, like it was made of paper.

I blink, looking around to try and take in my bearings.

The unfinished wood is my giveaway.

The attic.

When we bought the house, the realtor explained the attic wasn't traditional, that it was added in above the garage after the trusses had already been put in place. It was created by sectioning off a small portion of the primary suite.

It didn't mean anything to me, since I could care less about an attic when we had an entire garage for storage. I never cared enough to go up there, and I sure as hell never realized it was right on the other side of my bedroom.

I moan, the first semblance of pain hitting me, like my body is trying to remind me that I just fell through a fucking wall and impaled myself on a nail.

"Pull it out." I tell Declan, gritting my teeth as I try not to look at it.

I've slit my wrists before. I know that was a lot more blood than this, but it still makes me feel oddly faint as I look at the crimson dripping down my arm fast and thick.

It's nowhere near fatal, and it could have been way worse.

That could have gone through my fucking eye.

But it doesn't make me feel any less woozy.

"Declan." I pant. "Please."

"I don't think you're supposed to pull it out." He says slowly. "It could cause more damage that way. That's your dominant hand... we don't want to risk nerve damage."

"Well, we can't leave it in!" I snap.

"Just ‘til we get to the ER. You're probably not current on tetanus shots, anyway, right?"

"It's not bad enough for the ER." I shake my head, but he's right. I don't think I've ever had a tetanus shot, and this is my writing hand. I can't risk him yanking it out if it means I may not be able to grip a pen anymore.

Fuck.

"Come on." He doesn't argue, just helps pull me up to standing and grabs my bag off the floor, shepherding me toward my bedroom door. "You go ahead, I'm just going to grab a towel."

I'm not even to the steps when he's beside me again, pressing a hand towel gingerly against my palm.

I try not to focus on the burn in my hand. It's certainly not the worst pain I've ever felt. The embarrassment of being so graceless that I fell through a fucking wall burns a little brighter than the physical.

Declan's quiet as he helps me into the car and buckles my seat belt for me, letting me hold my own hand without moving it much.

The pressure counteracts a bit of the pain, so I focus on that and close my eyes, breathing through it.

If I think too hard about the fact that there's a nail in my hand, I feel woozy all over again.

It feels ridiculous to go to the emergency room with this, but it's not like I could schedule in with a primary. That's why I don't feel too bad when the nurse goes from looking bored to intrigued when she peels back the towel, sticky with drying blood, to look at my hand.

I look away from her as she prods around my hand, and bite my lip when the motions jostle the skin around impact. Declan growls at her when I wince, and it makes her freeze to turn her eyes on him. I'm sure she doesn't have people growling at her often.

Who the fuck even does that?

"Stop fucking around and get the nail out or give her something for the pain." Declan snaps, as if that explains why a grown man just made a sound like a pissed off pit-bull at an ER nurse.

"I can't give her anything until she fills out the paperwork." The nurse indicates the clipboard in my left hand, the one that I never even got a chance to view before they pulled me back here. The ER was so empty, I suspect they jumped at the chance to treat someone.

"I'll do it," Declan insists, taking the clipboard and balancing it against his knee with the pen poised in his hand.

I expect he'll ask me for the answers so that he can write everything down, but he doesn't need to.

He runs down the paper while the nurse asks me again to explain what happened and I try not to suffocate on my embarrassment, because seriously, who the fuck falls through a wall ?

I watch Declan hesitate only once, probably over my blood type, and then he brandishes the clipboard for the nurse who steps back to take it.

She glances down at it like she's looking for something.

"Any chance of pregnancy?" She asks, and I shake my head.

"No allergies?"

"No."

"And this was really an accident, right? You didn't 'fall'?" She puts air quotes around the word, implying sarcasm. Her eyes shoot to Declan meaningfully and I shake my head quickly.

"It was an accident. I lost my balance and went through the wall. Declan came running when he heard the crash."

The nurse nods summarily, her blonde ponytail bobbing.

"It's not a straight through and through.

Normally, I could get this out on my own, but I don't want to risk any soft tissue damage, so I'm going to have a resident come take a look and get this out for you.

I'll get you something for the pain in the meanwhile, okay? "

I nod.

"On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate the pain? With ten being the worst you've ever felt?"

I blink. I hate this question. I especially hate it because the most excruciating thing I've ever felt wasn't the physical manifestation of pain.

"Like a four."

"Good." The nurse looks impressed. "Tylenol should do it then. I'll be right back with that."

When she takes her leave, I turn my attention to Declan. "You did awful good filling out that form for me. It's almost like you're a stalker or something."

That gets a grin from him, and I relax a little as he moves onto the bed and pulls me against his chest. Sitting here with him feels natural, right. I fucking hate hospitals, but I'm not staying this time, and I know he won't leave me. That makes me feel better.

"Did the blood type one get you?" I chuckle. "I saw you pause."

"B positive." He says easily, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. "Fitting, since you're the most positive person I know."

I snort at that. Clearly, he doesn't know many people.

"Well, the good thing is, the owner of that house is rich. I smell a lawsuit."

That gets a good laugh out of him. I feel it rumble through his chest as my body moves against his, and I laugh, too.

"Don't bankrupt me, little bird. My future wife deserves all the finest things..."

I grin to myself at the mention of his future wife.

Me.

I'm going to marry Declan Evers.

We're going to find Marissa, and I'm going to marry this man with my best friend beside me.

Maybe Declan will even let Khan be his best man. I'm sure he won't say no when I ask.

But that's a topic for another time. I refuse to plan any part of the wedding, or even accept a real proposal, until we find Marissa.

Maybe it's foolish of me to hold onto hope.

Maybe she's gone, and I'll have to learn to accept it.

But not yet.

Marissa wouldn’t give up on me. I won't give up on her.

Maybe Declan's right. Maybe I'm not as negative as I thought. Because in this moment, I feel an inexplicable sense of peace. I don't know why, or what brought it on, but I'm suddenly more confident than I've been from the moment I realized she was missing.

We'll find her.

And soon.