Beyond the Broken Angel

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Giselle didn't know if it was the exhaustion that knocked her out or if it was the fact that she was so comfortable wrapped up in Will's arms, but she fell asleep in minutes.

When she woke up what felt like hours later, Will was still wrapped around her, his chest rising and falling slowly in slumber.

She watched him like a total creep, wishing she could wake up with him next to her everyday for the rest of her life.

But that would never be able to happen, a sobering thought hit her. Hard. Her smile shriveled up, withering away into a sad frown.

They shouldn't even be in this position. They had both agreed to move on. To try and stop loving each other.

Letting this happen was a mile-sized step back from their goal.

Giselle carefully unwound his arms from her body and rolled out of bed, somehow not waking him in the process. She padded across the floorboards to the door, her feet hurting more than anything. She ignored the pain, and paused to look over at Will one more time before she slipped on his large, navy-colored robe and exited the room.

She was on her way to the kitchen when she heard a feminine giggle cut through the air, followed by a throaty male chuckle.

She paused, inching closer to the voices, coming to a stop at the foyer where Marguerite and Lawrence stood, a medical bag in the doctor's hand.

Giselle took a minute to watch the two, the old black-and-white picture Ajay had found of them flashing across her mind.

Marguerite noticed her first, her smile dropping into a frown of concern as she rushed to Giselle.

"Heavens, Ellie! You look a fright! Are you feeling well?" she exclaimed, smoothing down Giselle's hair with her hands, as if to make her more presentable for company.

"I'm okay," Giselle answered, her eyes flickering to Lawrence. "Hi, Lawrence."

Lawrence nodded his head, a small smile on his lips. "Hello, Giselle."

"Oh," Marguerite said, "I called Lawrence to come check you over." She leaned closer, voice dropping. "Will's still asleep, right?"

Giselle nodded.

"Good!" Marguerite breathed out in relief, placing a hand to Giselle's back and pushing her to the opposite end of the house as Will's room. "You two can go to my room. I'll keep a look out for Will."

Giselle said nothing as Marguerite showed them to her room, setting Giselle down on the side of the bed. She left them shortly after, Lawrence awkwardly shifting on his feet next to the closed door as Giselle looked down at her hands in her lap.

"Um, I guess I'll get started, then," Lawrence said, setting his bag down on the bed next to Giselle before grabbing the chair at the vanity and dragging it to a stop in front of her.

He looked at the bruise first, poking and prodding at it before asking her questions about the pain, headaches, her breathing, and then moved on to her neck.

Giselle winced as he peeled back the bandage, his eyes examining her cut suspiciously. He looked back up to her. "This . . . this is a clean cut. Almost like someone took a knife to your flesh."