Courage Under Duress (SYTYCW)

Chapter 17

I woke to the all-too familiar scent of disinfectant.  The beeping of machines in my ear, the static from a radio dispatch machine, horrible nausea and an indescribable fog floated about in my head.

I became aware of something covering my mouth and panic set in before I had the chance to take in my surroundings.  I felt suffocated—trapped.  I tried to move my legs, I couldn't.  My hands were of no help to me.  I was restrained.

The machines began an erratic beeping which only fueled my panic.  I heard voices, none recognizable, shouting out commands, dosages to names of drugs I had never heard of and when a wave of sleep washed over me, my head lulled to the side and I saw him leaning against the wall, tears streaming down his face in total helplessness.  Thomas.

I don't know how many times I repeated that same cycle: groggy, panic, sleep.  Every time, I fell back into darkness to the vision of Thomas' tearful gaze.

There came a time when my eyes opened, the nausea was gone, the fog had lifted and my eyes were able to focus a little more.  I felt different this time.  I remembered Thomas being there before and I turned my head sideways.

Brown eyes met bloodshot emeralds and I had never been more thankful for the smells, the sounds or the tubes protruding out of me in my entire life.  It meant that I was alive.

"Hi, beautiful," his voice croaked with emotion.  I tried to reach out for him but forgot that I was restrained.  He was quick to reach out and hold my hand, squeezing it for added reassurance.  "Are you back for good this time?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The doctors think that you had drug-induced terrors.  I've never been more scared, sweetie."

"But I did wake up," I whispered.  "I remember seeing you.  I remember the hand that tried to suffocate me.  Why am I tied up?"

"Sweetie, you'd wake up for a few minutes and we had to knock you out because you were going to injure yourself by straining.  That's why they bound your arms and legs.  They didn't want you doing anything to open up the incision," he explained.

"Incision?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" he asked.

"We were at the hotel.  We had breakfast brought up to our room.  I was restless," I paused and Tom was nodding with a small yet sad smile.  I licked my lips, swallowed the cotton feeling in my mouth.  "We decided to gather some clothes and..."  I stopped and the memories came flooding back.  Flashes of the change-room, the bikinis, the knock on the door where I opened and...  "Dominic!  Dominic was there.  He stabbed me, told me if I screamed, you would be dead too.  How did he...why didn't you...I heard screaming.  I heard you," I said and I felt the tears stream down my face.

He let go of my hand to stand and lean over me, cupping my face in his palms and wiping my cheeks with the pad of his thumbs.  His close proximity helped me regain control over my breathing and calm my emotions.

"You're okay now.  I'm here and besides two medical teams, no one else is allowed in here," he said, dropping his head so our foreheads touched.  "Thank God you're okay.  I don't know what I would have done if I had lost you.  I never saw him.  I-"

"I'll be okay," I whispered.  "I said I would stay, didn't I?"  He chuckled at my light humour.  "Now," I started, "I need you to do me a favor and get those bands off of my wrists so I can touch you."

"Only if you promise me two things," he said.

"Anything."

"First, that you'll stay lying down until the doctor tells you that it's okay to move.  Second, next time we go shopping for swimsuits, I'm coming in that change-room with you whether you like it or not."

"Deal," I said smirking.  My hands flew up to his face as soon as they were free.  I pushed his tussled hair out of his eyes and cupped his cheeks.  He turned his head to kiss the inside of my hand before bringing his gaze back to mine.  "Come closer," I whispered.  I nuzzled his nose with mine as I brushed my lips over his.  "I needed that," I said over his lips.  My eyes were still closed while I kept his face in place.  Before I released him, I tilted my lips to his again.  This time, he returned the kiss with as much gentleness and feeling as I had.  It was a testament to him needing me as much as I needed him.

***

When the surgeon came in to check my incision, he had gone over and explained the procedure that saved my life.  I had lost a lot of blood due to internal bleeding but what baffled me the most was the fact that Dominic had managed to miss any vital organs in his attack.  The man had been trained to kill.  So why wasn't I dead? 

Because he didn't want you that way.

I had been out for nearly forty-eight hours.  It explained the look of exhaustion on Thomas' face.  Provided that I fared well over the next few days, the doctors told me I would be able to be released.

The nurses had left, the police had come and gone with the unfortunate news that they hadn't been able to find Dominic but after the closing of our bank account, he had fallen off the grid.

Airport security had picked him up on some footage but it had been twenty hours too late.  He flew under an unknown alias and they didn't seem too optimistic in finding him as each lead was a dead end.

Part of me felt like they hadn't tried hard enough.  After all, they had never done much when I had tried pressing charges against Dominic after my first beating.  I knew where loyalties laid.

The thought of my psychotic husband roaming free kept me on edge.  The more the drugs wore off, the more agitated I became.  Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was his satisfied smirk and the glistening of the bloodied blade he had used to exact his revenge.

When Dominic found out that I had survived his attack, he would come back to finish me off.  I only prayed that next time, when he showed up, that I was ready for him.  Enough was enough.  If the man wanted a game of cat and mouse, I was more than prepared to oblige.