Beyond Black & White Series Book 1: Bishop
highlight_author
A. Duncan
highlight_reads
1,1M
highlight_chapters
44
Chapter 1
KALLIE
Iāve never been aware of my own heartbeat until I could no longer hear it. The sound of life beating through your veinsāwhen itās gone, thatās when you miss it.
The noise. Itās the noise you never realized youād adjusted to. The sound of the television you werenāt paying attention to while cooking dinner, or the humming of the air conditioner running in the background.
The wind whipping outside just before a thunderstorm, and the noise the bees make in the spring as they get ready to pollinate everything.
I miss those noises like I miss my own laughter. Thatās what I took most for grantedābeing able to laugh anytime I wanted, and never just doing it.
Looking up, I see the man in a long white coat and a white button-up shirt. His pants are a dark blue, hugging his thighs nicely.
The tie, though, is maroon today and stands out against the color of his tan skin. Heās writing on a small whiteboard and turns it around in his hand.
On a scale of one to ten, how is your pain this morning?
I carefully hold up seven fingers. Itās a lie. Itās more like ten.
He raises his eyebrow in question and erases the board. His jacket says Dr. B. McKenna.
I have yet to see him smile or even smirk. Heās young, thoughāprobably not much older than me, with dark-brown hair and blue eyes the color of the clearest sky in the springtime.
I noticed a small scar across his eyebrow last week. I wonder if he got that when he was a child. Maybe he fell off his bike or was playing sports.
Overall, with that chiseled face and built physique, heās pretty handsome if youāre looking.
Iām not.
Though by the look the nurse usually gives him, she definitely is, and without a wedding ring, Iād say heās fair game.
I see him nod to the nurse. Sheās more than happy to grab the board while he walks over toward me. I immediately go stiff, and pain shoots through me.
He notices and stops moving. I see his eyebrows dip and his lips move.
I look over at the nurse, who is writing on the whiteboard, then turns it.
I wonāt hurt you, Kallie. I just need to listen to you.
I pause, then look at that pretty face with those blue eyes that are asking me to trust him, and I hesitantly nod.
I wait for the panic to set in when he leans over with his stethoscope and listens. Heās much too close.
So close I can smell his cologne. It surrounds me like a blanket, and I focus on that small scar on his eyebrow.
I can tell his jaw is clenched tight. It makes that blood vessel on the side of his head bulge. I focus on that small blood vessel as my breathing becomes faster.
I may not be able to hear it, but I can certainly feel my heart beating out of my chest.
He knows this. He knows his presence is affecting me because those blue eyes keep snapping to mine every time he makes a move.
His cologne is a mixture of something earthy yet smoky. It works for him, and the smell is the only thing keeping me calm at the moment.
His lips move, and I look at the board.
I need to see your ribs.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. His smell is still surrounding me, still anchoring meābarely.
I feel my gown being lifted from the side, then slightly cold, deft fingers carefully prod. I jump at a particularly sore spot, which causes an avalanche of pain throughout my body, and I bite my lip until I taste blood.
I must have made a noise. When I open my eyes, I see the nurse is getting my pain meds ready to put in my IV. I canāt help but feel the pity that comes from her eyes before she injects it.
Dr. McKenna taps on my hand and turns the board around.
Youāre a very lucky woman. Anyone else would not have survived.
He erases and keeps going.
It will take time and therapy, but you will get through this.
He erases again, and I watch as he scribbles.
I have the best audiologist coming. Iām hoping to have more answers soon. For now, sleep is best. Pain meds will kick in any time.
He erases one last time, and I watch his hand, with those confident fingers, write. This time thereās an emotion that crosses those blues and disappears quicklyātoo quickly for me to decipher.
Next time, please donāt lie to me about how much pain youāre in. Let me help you, Kallie. Please.
He leaves that one on the table without erasing it and nods before walking out the door.
I try not to close my eyes. I try not to sleep, because when I do, all I see is blood.
All I hear are the screams I can no longer physically hear. What I do see is his faceāhis beautiful face twisted in hatred and anger.
The biggest mistake of my life was trusting a beautiful man.
***
For the first time in weeks, I donāt dream, and I feel myself waking to my foot being gently stroked. I know itās Dr. McKenna. This is his way of waking me without freaking me out.
Looking up, I see he has a blue shirt under his white coat. It almost matches his eyes perfectly.
This time, itās paired with a charcoal tie. Itās then I notice I have slept through the night. I also notice the man standing beside Dr. McKenna.
I freeze, and he immediately starts to write.
This is Dr. Fox. Heās the best audiologist we have.
Itās one thing to let Dr. McKenna get near me. I didnāt have a choice. For much of the time he was treating me, I was in a coma.
Now, Iām just barely dealing with him while awake. He knows this.
Before I can even shake my head no, he turns the board around again.
Iāll be right here with you the whole time.
He then grabs the board and slowly walks around the bed, watching me the whole time like Iām a feral cat.
If the situation werenāt so dire, I would laugh, but then I rememberā¦ I wouldnāt hear it.
He carefully sits on the edge of the bed, leans over, and pushes the button that sits me up. He watches, making sure Iām in no pain while he adjusts my position.
I watch his face, those eyes, and know by instinct alone they see much more than he says. He looks over and nods at the man patiently standing at the end of the bed.
Dr. Fox smiles and slowly walks around while rolling a machine. His name suits him. Heās tall and lanky, with red hair and a red beard shaved close to his face.
His nose is slender and pointed, with lips that are a little on the thin side. But it doesnāt take away from his smile. Itās warm and goes all the way to his eyes.
Yet it still doesnāt take the anxiety away from me. The fear that nothing but pain will come from his hands.
He holds up a couple of wires attached to the machine. On the ends are plugs that go into my ears. I start to shake.
Itās not something I do consciously, and I feel Dr. McKenna nudge my leg. He holds up the whiteboard.
Itās okay, Kallie. Iām right here with you.
I see he says something to Dr. Fox. They speak back and forth before he slowly leans over and puts one in one ear and one in the other.
By now, my breathing is fast, and I can feel my heart beating. Nausea is close behind.
I close my eyes and breathe in the scent of something earthy and smoky. It somewhat calms me.
When I finally open my eyes, I look at Dr. McKenna and find that heās looking down. Following his line of sight, I see what heās staring at. Itās our hands.
Somewhere within the panic, I must have grabbed hold of his hand. I go to pull back, but he must have realized this and tightens his hold, threading our fingers together.
He puts his other hand on top and runs it back and forth. His blue eyes watch me as Dr. Fox removes the earplugs, and I see them speaking.
I feel his hand tighten within mine. Dr. Fox then moves and inserts two small devices, one in each ear.
He nods at Dr. McKenna, and then several things happen consecutively. Dr. McKenna finally smiles, and it changes his whole demeanor.
I also hear those blue eyes speak. āEverything is going to be okay, Kallie,ā he says, his voice gentle.
Then, I finally cry for the first time since my husband tried to kill me.
