A First Love to Die For

Chapter Fifty - Butterflies

(Josie's POV)

The entire ride to the hospital, Lincoln held my hand. When Viola, the paramedic riding in the back with us, needed my hand, he simply shifted hands. Still keeping contact in some way. It was as if he was trying to reassure himself that I was there. That I was all right.

I wasn't complaining. I didn't plan on going anywhere any time soon. We had a lot of lost time to make up for.

I wanted to tell him what I had discovered. About all of Candy's confessions but I didn't want to do it with an audience. It would have to wait.

"I can't believe that it was fucking Candy." Viola was a little bit younger than us and she was absolutely spinning out about the fact that I had just been held captive and kidnapped by Candy.

Join the club.

Lincoln cleared his throat. "That information is not going to be for public consumption yet. I would appreciate it if you could keep that quiet."

Viola nodded seriously and then laughed. "You do know that we're talking about Fenelon falls right? There were 4 paramedics at that scene and then however many nurses and doctors at the hospital."

The hospital was actually in Lindsay, it was about a 15-minute drive from Fenelon. Our ambulance was not going to make record time and it eased my mind that neither of our medics seemed to be in a rush to get me there. "There is no way that this isn't going around the area in the next twenty minutes."

She wasn't wrong but obviously felt bad about it. "Sorry chief. I won't tell anyone though."

Lincoln shook his head, probably at the fact that she was dead to rights. He sighed and gave me a little wink. Then closed his eyes and leaned his head back. I did the same, enjoying the way that he played with my fingers for the rest of the ride.

I opened my eyes again as we came to a stop and Viola threw open the doors. Lincoln helped me stand, obviously recognizing my dislike for the idea of the stretcher.

I knew it didn't make sense but for whatever reason walking made me feel like I had won. It reminded me that I was okay and that good had prevailed.

Was it ridiculous? Probably, but the fact that he realized that avoiding the stretcher mattered to me, without me needing to explain it, meant a lot.

Declan's smiling face greeted us from below and as I stepped down, he reached out and wrapped his arms around me, making sure that I came down gently.

"Jesus Christ, Josie. What a welcome home, eh?"

I had to laugh as Lincoln gave him a gentle push and then pulled me back in to lean on his body. I could feel Declan taking note of my injuries, the ones he could see anyway. Viola had given me some slippers and covered me with a hospital gown so that I was decent.
Declan's voice quivered as he said, "I'm really glad your okay. Everyone else too?"

He spoke from behind me and I stopped and turned around in time to catch his flushed cheeks. Internally celebrating a match that I really hoped would happen, I kept my tone casual. "Everyone else is just fine."

I caught the relief on his face. Then he moved in front of me. "Come on, I already have you registered and booked into a room. Figured I could save you the hassle."

He led us to a private room, got me situated on the bed and then explained that his attending was going to be in shortly. He gave me a gentle kiss on the forehead and then was gone.

I leaned back against the pillows, as Lincoln pulled up a chair. He again reached for my hand and played with my fingers. I gave him a squeeze and then wasted no time in sharing. "Candy shared a whole shit ton of information while she had me but there's something that applies directly to you and me."

His grip on my hand tightened, "Do you want to talk about it right now? It's okay if you want to just rest. There will be time later."

I considered it for a moment. I was exhausted but I kind of wanted to rehash it, report it all and then hopefully once I had purged the whole day out of me, I would feel better.

I would start at the beginning after so that we could make a report. Right now, I wanted to ease his guilt.

I paused for a moment thinking about how to break the news to him and figure the best approach was just to bandaid it.

"She admitted to the fact that not only did she roofie you. You guys didn't have sex. You were both naked so that I would catch you, but you were in no shape and form for anything else."

His fingers laced with mine. "I'm so god damned relieved that we were right."

I was too but there was a bigger part that was infuriated. We had lost so much time to the smoke and mirrors of Candy's machinations.

There was a heavy dose of guilt too because our lost time felt like my fault. I believed this of him when he was her victim.

She's such a dick.

He laughed and I realized that I had said that out loud. "I'm sorry." I whispered and he looked surprised.

"Why are you sorry? None of this is your fault."

I shrugged, feeling uncomfortable with my guilt. "If I hadn't left that night, if I had asked more questions, if I had talked to you about what had happened maybe we would've known all of this sooner."

He was silent for a minute. "Maybe I would agree with you if it had been a word-of-mouth thing.  If Candy had told you I slept with her, rather than you seeing it with your own eyes. But she made sure that you saw it. This wasn't a case of you not trusting me, it was a matter of you being tricked and that's not on you."

He pulled on my hand until my eyes met his. "I'm not upset with you. I'm glad you told me. Don't you feel like we've wasted enough time?"

He stood up and leaned down, his eyes watched me as his head eased down. I knew he was going slowly, making sure that this is what I wanted. When he realized that I wasn't going to push him away, his eyes flashed with happiness.

He took his time, letting his lips brush mine. They were feather soft. Pressure, I wanted more pressure.

He pulled away too soon. "I knew that I wanted to be with you when I was eighteen. Josie, that hasn't changed. I know that there will be all kinds of obstacles that we'll need to navigate and figure out together, but I want this."

Then he leaned down again, letting our lips touch again but still just the briefest hint of a kiss. I understood why he was being so gentle but in this moment I didn't care. My hands found their way into his hair, sliding through the silky curls. As he went to pull away, I stopped him. Pulling him back in.

I felt his smile. I was feeling the same way. There was a feeling of rightness, like everything had aligned for this moment. I hadn't felt like this in a long time.

"No more wasted time." I tried to pour everything that I couldn't put into words into the kiss. My regrets, my hope and my love. His lips were warm, his breath a brief caress over mine as he repeatedly brushed them back and forth over top of mine. I needed more. I gave a soft nibble to his bottom lip and groaned into the kiss as our tongues touched.

Everything was better than I remembered. As our lips remembered, savoured, he reached down connecting our hands again. My heart fluttered with the butterfly caresses of his fingers and the exploration of our kiss. He jumped away as a throat cleared loudly.

His hand stayed in mine as we turned to a smirking Declan walking towards my bedside with another doctor that I could only assume was his attending. He squeezed, as if sending me a silent message. Later.