She nodded and stood back up. "I'm calling the police."
"No," I begged, turning toward her. My ribs shrieked sharply and I screamed, folding in half.
"Emma!" Evan called out, his arms back around me. "Where else did he hurt you?"
My chest tightened against the panting breaths, tears streaming down my face.
"Emma, we need to look, okay?"
I slowly sat up and carefully lifted my shirt. My side was dark reddish-purple where his foot had made contact. Evan winced and squeezed my hand. I quickly looked away, unable to witness his aggrieved reaction.
"I don't want to go to the hospital," I pled to Evan.
"Then I'm calling Michelle," Vivian retorted from beside me, drawing my attention. "We'll go to her office, and the police will meet us there." By the set look in her eye, I knew this wasn't a choice. She bent down next to us and put her hand on the side of my face, smiling affectionately. "Let us care for you, Emma."
It was difficult to face myself in the fogged mirror after stepping out of the shower. The right side of my jaw was deep red. My lower lip looked like it was still packed with gauze, even though I'd removed it a while ago, once the bleeding stopped. A small cut ran over my lip where my tooth tore into it.
I gingerly spread the clear gel over the swollen, discolored skin, cooling it instantly. I turned the tube over in my hand, wondering if the homeopathic medicine would really get rid of the bruising as quickly as Dr. Vassar said it would. There was no way I was going to school, or anywhere in public for that matter, until it went away.
I eased Evan's t-shirt over my head, holding my breath against the sharp pain triggered by simply raising my arms. Four to six weeks. That's how long it would take for the two fractured ribs to heal. I hoped the pain would subside in less time than that, considering breathing was a form of torture.
I walked into the guest room feeling as broken as I looked. I stopped at the sight of Evan pacing next to the bed, staring at the floor with his hands on his head, unaware that I was there.
Evan strode back and forth, lost in whatever torturous thoughts had overtaken him. He'd been so calm all day―holding me, comforting me, quietly watching as Dr. Vassar examined me. He listened silently while holding my hand when the police asked questions. Remaining by my side, strong and supportive, he'd hardly said a word.
But now he looked like he was coming apart. He flexed his hands, breathing in exaggerated breaths. Seeing him this disturbed paralyzed me. He raised his head and stopped abruptly when he noticed I was watching.
I inhaled sharply at the sight of his glassy blue eyes. He hid the despair under his lids and tried to regain composure, but his jaw only became tighter and the tendons along his neck, rigid.
"Evan?" I whispered, not moving.
He opened his eyes. They glistened in agony, and the line between them deepened when he looked at me. We remained still for a moment. His tormented transformation ripped through me.
"I promised no one would ever hurt you again." Despite his strained appearance, his voice was calm and strong. I looked into his eyes and was suffocated by the weight of their despair.
"What?" I shook my head in confusion.
Evan remained still, not moving toward me―the muscles along his arms remained taught, like he was in physical agony just saying the words. "That night, when you were lying there, broken and barely breathing, I promised. I promised to always love you and that no one would ever hurt you again."
My mouth opened in shock, but I was too stunned to speak. I moved to the bed, still trying to understand, and lowered myself to sit on the end of it, staring blindly at the floor. My first thought released through my lips, "What did I do to you?"
Evan knelt before me. It felt like the air was being crushed from my lungs.
"You were there?" It's one of the details I'd never heard, because I'd refused to learn what had actually happened to me that night. And he never told me.
Evan swallowed with a slow blink and nodded his head. "I knew I couldn't convince you to leave, so I stayed. I waited in my car, making sure nothing happened. But I fell asleep, and when I woke up, she was there."
"Oh my God," I gasped, having a hard time accepting what he was telling me, shaking my head. "No."
"George was already in your room, trying to get her off of you, but he couldn't. I pushed him out of the way and threw her off, but―" He stopped and closed his eyes. I watched his chest rise with a heavy breath before he continued. I wanted to make him stop. I didn't want to hear it. He wasn't supposed to be there, in my nightmare.