ALEX
IN BETWEEN
A fire.
The fragrance calls to me.
I cannot see, for my eyes are sealed shut against the wicked glow in his stare.
I cannot hear, for my ears have blocked out his appalling promises.
I cannot feel, for my body has long since shattered.
But, as I lie in the cool stillness of the night, waiting for my final peace, that comforting waft of burning bark and twigs and crispy leaves encases me.
It whispers to me that everything will be okay.
And I so desperately long to believe it.
***
Beep . . .
". . . basilar skull fracture . . ."
Beep . . .
". . . collapsed lung . . ."
Beep . . .
". . . ruptured spleen . . ."
Beep . . .
". . . frostbite . . ."
Beep . . .
Beep . . .
"Will she live?"
Beep . . .
"I honestly don't know how she has survived this long."
Beep . . .
"We need to keep this quiet for now."
"Gabe, you just showed up on the doorstep of my hospital with a half-dead girl. How am I supposed to do that?"
"You just do. Call me if she wakes up. No one questions her but me. No one, Meredith."
***
"Don't try to talk yet," someone-a woman-warns softly. I can't see her. I can't see anything; my lids open to mere slits, enough to admit a haze of light and a flurry of activity around me-gentle fingertips, low murmurs, papers rustling.
And then that rhythmic beep serenades me back into oblivion.
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Burying Water
RomanceExcerpt The highly anticipated start of a new romantic suspense series from the beloved, USA Today bestselling author of Ten Tiny Breaths. Left for dead in the fields of rural Oregon, a young woman defies all odds and survives—but she awakens with n...
