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Chapter 19

I watched Benji sleep on the hospital bed next to me. He hadn’t stayed awake long seeing that all of his energy had been put into his fight for survival. But he had been awake long enough to hear a quick recap of what had gone on after he had lost consciousness, including my millionth talk with the police and the fact that they still had no idea where this man had gone. I yawned, but I didn’t even feel tired. I’d given up on sleep because now not only did I have images of my attacker plaguing me, but I was also forced to relive the moment that Benji had been shot. Seeing Benji on the floor bleeding and not knowing if he was going to be okay and without being able to do anything about it scared the shit out of me even now, having already been through it and knowing that Benji was okay.

I sighed, becoming bored. Joel had left about an hour ago to go home and take a shower and what not. He said that he would be as quick as he possibly could then I could go home and do the same, but I knew there was no way that I was going to be able to do that. First of all, I didn’t want to leave Benji. I wanted to be at his side when he woke up or if he felt any pain and I couldn’t do that if I was at home taking a shower. Secondly, and probably the most frightening reason I wouldn’t go back to my house for a shower was that I was deathly afraid that this guy would come back for me. After all, he had directly said to me that he would be back and I didn’t want to be there when he did, in fact, return. I wanted to be as far away as physically possible.

Shaking my head, I pushed those thoughts from my mind, at least for the moment. Right now, I just wanted to make sure that Benji was alright and got everything that he needed. I looked up at Benji’s face, he seemed so content in his sleep. It didn’t seem like he was feeling any pain at the moment and I was thankful for that, at least he could have some slight comfort if even it only lasted for a few moments. Gently, I raised my hand and ran my fingers through his hair and smiled softly. I was so happy that I could feel him again. I’d almost lost him, lost this feeling, twice in one night.

“Mornin,” Benji’s dry, raspy voice greeted me, though he still hadn’t opened his eyes. My smile grew slightly upon hearing his voice.

“Hey,” I replied gently, my fingers still running through his hair. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay for having been a gaping hole in my gut,” he replied, finally opening his eyes and a playful smirk playing on his lips.

“Benjamin, that’s not funny,” I answered seriously. He looked into my eyes for a moment, the smile disappearing from his lips.

“Sorry,” he said honestly. “I was just trying to lighten the situation a little.”

“Don’t,” I replied, my voice soft. “It’s hard for me to see you like this. It’s hard for me to have the memory of what happened fresh in my mind, and it‘ll probably be fresh in my mind for a long time….”

“Ang, relax,” Benji cut me off as my voice began to shake from pain and the fear of the situation. “Everything’s gonna be alright.”

“I wish I could believe that Benji,” I pathetically uttered. “Everything just seems to be falling apart. First the nightmare then my breakdown. I thought things would get better and it looked like they would for a while then all this shit happened. I pushed you away and seeing you leave nearly killed me emotionally then that ass hole came back and tired to hurt me,” I paused and looked at Benji. His eyes were locked onto me. I looked at him for a moment longer but he didn’t say anything, he was just waiting for me to continue venting my emotions. I could see in his eyes that he wanted me to get all of this out. I wanted to get it out, I needed to get it out. After another moment, I took a deep breath and continued. “Then you came to my rescue once again and for a second, everything looked like it was going to be okay again then he shot you and I thought it was all over for good. Shit Benji, I don’t know how much more of this I can take.” I looked at Benji as tears started to pour from my eyes. He reached his hands up to my face and brushed the tears from my cheeks.

“Please just hang on for a little longer,” Benji urged me. I looked into his eyes and I could almost swear that I saw tears in them. “I know it’s hard right now, it’s hard for me too right now. I don’t know what’s going to happen but I do know that we both need to be strong in order to get through this. So please hang on, for me.”

“Anything for you Benji,” I whispered before placing a soft kiss on his forehead.

“I love you Angela,” Benji replied with such sincerity that I was breath taken. My heart fluttered knowing that he really did love me.

“I love you too Benjamin and I’m sorry for pushing you away.”

“Don’t be sorry, you were scared and you didn‘t know what to do,” he assured me, his hands still on my cheeks. “It’s over now and we’re together.” I smiled weakly and I looked into his eyes and saw the love that he had. I was completely amazed by what had just happened. I had expected that Benji would be angry with me for what I had said to him but I was shocked to see that he was completely understanding. If Benji wasn’t perfect I don’t know what perfect is.

“Where’s Joel?” Benji asked.

“He went home to take a shower and make some phone calls,” I told him. “He should be back soon.”

“Maybe you should go home too. Get some sleep, eat something decent…” Benji started before I interrupted him.

“No, I’m not going back to that house until they get that guy,” I told Benji sternly. “He said that he would be back and I’m not going back to a house that he knows how to find.”

“Well, you can’t stay here cause who knows how long I’m gonna have to stay here and you’re going to have to eat sometime,” Benji stated.

“I’m not going back to that house,” I said sternly once again. Benji sighed.

“Then at least go to Joel’s house, at least for a couple hours,” he said, and it almost sounded as if he were begging. “Please, for me.” I looked at him for a moment. He was slick. I had just said that I would do anything for him and now he was using that to his advantage. I sighed, giving in.

“Alright,” I said softly.

“Thank you,” he said, taking my hand up to his lips and placing a kiss on it. “I just want to make sure that you’re alright.”

“I know,” I said. “Thanks.”

“Look who’s up!” Joel’s voice sounded from the door of the hospital room.

“Hey!” Benji greeted his brother.

“You feelin’ okay?” Joel asked.

“Yeah, considering the circumstances,” Benji answered. Joel nodded his head, understanding.

“Oh Angie, Billy took Alana to school this morning and he’s gonna bring her by my house when she gets out until things clam down. She already packed her stuff and she got a back ready for you too so that you have some stuff. I don‘t know how safe it is for you to go back at the moment so I‘d rather have you two stay with me,” he said to me.

“Thanks Joel,” I replied. “I didn’t want to go back to my house anyway.”

“Alana said that you might not want to so we decided to take care of you guys,” Joel answered with a comforting smile. I couldn’t remember a time when I felt that I was so protected from the world. Benji and Joel were truly amazing people.

“You guys are amazing, you know that?” I asked, looking from Joel to Benji.

“Duh,” Benji replied jokingly with a smile. I laughed softly, finally relaxing for the first time since last night.

“I talked to the doctor also,” Joel said after a moment.

“What he say?” Benji asked curiously. I just looked at Joel, waiting for him to speak.

“That you seem to be doing alright but you’re probably going to have to stay here for about a week or so,” he answered.

“But everything else is okay?” I asked, just wanting to be completely sure.

“Doctor says Benji’s gonna be just fine.”