Page 99 of Let Me Love You

“We were all so fuckin’ worried about you, Ev,” Tyler croaks out. I can tell he’s holding back his emotions.

“Do you recall anything from that day?” Archer asks.

“I remember the party…” I say, glancing at him, then at Tyler.

He doesn’t need to know the details of Archer fucking my brains out the night before.

Tyler speaks up. “So you don’t remember anything from that day or who was at the door?”

I shake my head. “No. I’m drawing a blank.”

“Damn.” He blows out a breath, then glances at Archer.

“I gave the detective the license plates and a brief description of the woman, but I didn’t recognize her,” Archer says.

“Better than nothing,” I say, wishing he were closer to me. “Are Gemma and Katie here?”

Tyler grins. “Yeah, they literally talked to you for an hour straight after surgery. They were here this morning but left about an hour ago to check on the kids. I’m gonna text them and let them know you’re awake. They’ll be relieved.”

I clear my throat. “Is there any way you can get me some water? Maybe let a doctor or nurse know that I’m awake? I have some questions.”

“Absolutely.” Tyler nods and walks out.

As soon as the door closes, Archer takes my hand and kneels beside the bed.

“Everleigh,” he whispers, his voice hoarse with worry as he studies my face. “I’ve never been so fuckin’ scared in my life. I thought⁠—”

“Kiss me.”

Archer doesn’t waste any time pressing his soft lips against mine. I fist his shirt, wishing I could pull him onto the bed with me, but our alone time is limited.

“I love you,” I say when we pull apart.

“I love you too, baby. The thought of losing you had me ready to burn down the world without an ounce of regret.”

I lift a brow. “I kinda like the thought of that. Avenging my death and all.”

He shakes his head with a grin. “Making jokes at a time like this is one of your better qualities.”

“Will you tell me what happened? I didn’t wanna ask in front of Tyler.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered. I already told him everything because I felt like he needed to know the truth.” Archer gently sits on the edge of the bed and brushes the hair off my face.

“Everything, everything?” I ask with raised brows.

“I didn’t tell him about us.”

“I’m not sure you’d be alive right now otherwise. Okay, gimme a play-by-play on what happened.”

“We were in bed when the doorbell rang. You said you scheduled a breakfast order, so you got up to answer it. I followed you out to go use the bathroom, but then I heard a woman say, ‘What do you have that I don’t have?’ and I knew it wasn’t the delivery. When I walked over to ask what was going on, the woman came at you, and I caught you just as you were falling to the floor. I didn’t realize she stabbed you until I saw the blood. She ran and drove off in the same black Escalade that’d been following us. I quickly grabbed my phone and called 911.”

“So you saw her face?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t recognize her. She had short red hair and dressed like she had money. The look on her face was fuckin’ frightening like she had nothing to lose.”

“The only person I know who looks like that is Eric’s wife.”

“That’s what Tyler said too,” he tells me. “We gave her name to the police as well.”