Golden (Book 1 of the Golden Series)

Chapter 43

The welcome back has been immense!!!! You guys are the best people ever and I cannot even begin to explain how grateful I am for your love and support. It's extraordinary. 

Chapter 43

There's no longer ringing in my ears as I wake, but the sound of Obi barking instead and the feeling of being nudged.

My eyes blink open and I see that the light above us is getting brighter and the hole is getting larger, the pieces of the building moved out the way.

Is it Trent or is it the people that did this?

My question is soon answered as I hear his panicked voice shouting to me and his face suddenly appears in the light, relief covering his features as I give him a soft smile and reach for him, the sound that leaves his mouth almost tears my heart in two as his fingers touch mine.

If that had been the last time that I had seen him then I would have hated myself, and he probably would have too. I couldn't express how happy I was to see his face and be able to just see his smile.

"Trent," I whisper and he lets out what sounds like a laugh of relief as his arms reach down and he pulls me up and out of the collapsed floor, the brightness of outside making me curl my face up and that's when I realise that there is no longer a roof on my home and instead it's just the bright sky above me.

"Does anywhere hurt? Does anything feel broken? I can smell blood that isn't Coles?" His words are frantic and I smile lightly shaking my head, watching him crouch and take in every inch of my skin, shining hair looking as though his fingers must have raked through it a hundred times.

"No," I manage to whisper, a warmth flooding over me as I realise how much he truly cares about me and how I was almost silly to have ever thought that he could hurt me.

"Elle, tell me if there's even a slight thing-"

I shake my head and grab his face between my hands, stopping his blabbering as his golden eyes look up at me, the crease between his brows deepening.

My throat is too sore to say anything more and even if I tried I don't think I would have the words. Looking down at him I can't help the tears that come into my eyes and he rises to his feet, pulling me into him, enclosing me in his arms and I close my eyes as his lips touch mine, the comfort they bring flooding through me like the tears that slip down my cheeks. His lips are warm against my cold ones and I can taste the salt of my tears on them but I ignore how gross that might be right now.

It's a brief kiss as I quickly pull away and begin to cough, the pain in my throat returning as I do and Trent jumps back from me, shouting at someone to pass him water. In a blink, there's a bottle in front of me and I take it greedily, relishing the feeling that the cool liquid provides as it soothes the pain.

"If it's not your blood then it might have been the person who threw the bomb in here, maybe they didn't clear the space in time, it does smell like it's a bit of a distance away."

His hand gently rubs my back and I take a breath, everything rushing back to me as I turn and look at the other body getting pulled from the wreckage.

"Cole," I gasp and run forward, watching as they start attending to his wounds, their voices warping into a mass noise as I take in the damage to him.

It's as if someone has drawn a curved line through his body starting from the top of this right shoulder, down to the toes on his left foot - one side is perfectly intact apart from some dirt and dust, but the other side is damaged to what looks like beyond repair. I can't even start to put together all the pieces of him that appear missing.