I'd Kill Just To Protect You

Chapter 10

I don’t remember much that happened. All I remember was being transferred into the ambulance. Everything else was blank after that. I woke up in a ward, attached to a drip. My chest ached and I was afraid to move. I glanced around the room to see Chloe sitting in a chair beside me. Our eyes met each other’s as she glanced up from her phone.

“Oh thank goodness, Noah!” she leaped off the chair and wrapped her arms around me, squishing me.

I couldn’t breathe and my chest ached as Chloe hugged me. “Chloe, you’re squishing me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Chloe said as she stood up. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m just so relieved that you are still alive.”

“What happened after I got shot? All I remember is the killer getting away and this couple helping me. Everything else is a blur.”

Chloe sat down on the bed beside me. “Marley rushed into your room and said that something has happened to you. I tried to reach you but your phone is disconnected. An hour later the hospital called to say you had been shot. The bullet just missed your heart and nicked an artery. You were lucky that a couple found you. You could have died, Noah.”

I sat there for a moment replaying everything in my head. I could hear the laughter of the killer as he stood over me, watching me die.

“How’s Eric doing?” I asked. I could imagine how my brother would feel about almost losing me, especially when we both lost Dad a month ago.

“He is alright. He is with J.J. and Marley in the cafeteria. He kind of didn’t want to come in here and see you like this. You have been unconscious for a week.”

I stared at Chloe. “A week?”

“Yeah. You have been unconscious since the surgery. You were in ICU for two days before they moved you into the ward. It’s your birthday today. Happy birthday.”

I chuckled. “Thanks, but I don’t think I’m having a happy birthday.”

“Maybe not now, but I promise to do something later to cheer you up.” Chloe gave me a cheeky smile. “I will make sure to do something for you once you get discharged.”

I smiled at her. “What are you planning?”

“Oh something I was planning to do before you got shot.”

“And I can’t wait. So, um, does Chief Parker know what happened?”

“Yeah, and he is pretty pissed. He isn’t happy that you disappeared without telling me where you were going and never told him what you were doing.”

I rolled my eyes. “Great.”

“What were you doing out in that alley alone, Noah?”

I told her why.

Chloe leaned over to hug me. “Please don’t go anywhere without telling me what you are doing. If it’s part of looking for the murderer then I want to be a part of it. I’m your partner, Noah. We are solving this case and protecting Marley together.”

I promised her that I would do that and then she left the room to search for the doctor to tell them that I was now conscious. She came back a few seconds later with a doctor who checked to see how I was. I asked him if I could have some more pain killers for the pain in my chest. He asked for this nurse, Anne, who had followed him in, to give me some more morphine. He talked to me for a few more minutes before leaving me alone with Chloe and the nurse.

“I will go tell the others that you are awake.” Chloe kissed me softly.

“No, no,” the nurse suddenly said in a thick Italian accent, turning from where she was placing more of the morphine I requested into the IV that was connected to my hand. “No visits. He needs rest.”