“Let’s go get some lunch in the cafeteria before you come back,” Beth said, sliding her arm through hers. Lily slid her arm through the other as they made their way through the hospital.

They sat and talked for over an hour, and it was the most normal she had felt since the party. Then Rachel returned to Cash’s room.

She had grown used to the nurses’ curious stares, but Shade had gotten the doctor’s permission for her to stay in the room with him.

Two days later, the prognosis was looking even grimmer.

Cash was free of the coma-inducing drugs, but he had yet to wake. Their efforts to wean him from the ventilator had led to two serious crises that Rachel had been afraid he wouldn’t pull out of. The latest attempt had been the worst.

The doctor straightened, tired and worn after stabilizing Cash. “You should call his friends and grandmother in to see him. He won’t survive if he crashes again.”

Rachel could only nod as the doctor and nurses left. She walked closer to his bed, looking down at the man she had loved most of her life, and knew she was going to lose him.

Deep in her heart, she knew why her powers hadn’t worked. Lying in this bed for this last week, he had been hers. This was the only way she would ever have Cash—when he was unable to physically leave her. It was sick and twisted, but she had lied to herself each day. If she wasn’t honest with herself, she was going to lose him forever.

Rachel shut the door and pulled the curtain across the glass to the observation room before going back beside his bed. Ever since the doctor had told her Cash was no longer in a coma, she had felt his consciousness stirring.

She drew her focus into her hands the way she had been taught by her grandmother. Her gift would be at its full strength since she deliberately hadn’t used it, unconsciously building it for this moment.

Relaxing, she touched Cash, letting her mind forget the last time she had seen him, going back to when she was a young girl and had come across him in the woods.

He had been having a picnic with one of the cheerleaders from school, and they had been lying on the blanket sleeping. His hair had glinted in the early morning sun, and she had thought he looked like a male angel. She had stared at him several minutes then run off when he woke, staring at her. They had never mentioned the incident, both pretending it had never happened.

She touched his shoulders, running her hands down his arms. Moving to his feet, she ran her hands up his legs then touched his waist and chest. She let her energy flow from her fingertips into his body. Gracefully, she slid her hand under his neck and carefully glided her hand under his back, letting her hand rest for several minutes where he was injured the worst before coming to a rest on his lungs.

Praying for her grandmother’s and mother’s help, she gave what she could, infusing healthy energy into the damaged organs. She made herself stop briefly only because she was covered in sweat and trembling, feeling like she was going to throw up. She took a seat, making herself drink several glasses of water while she regrouped.

She had never worked on anyone this injured, heeding her grandmother’s warning that the energy required to heal someone of a critical injury could only come from one source. Rachel prayed for His help as she once again went to Cash, this time placing her fingertips against his temple.

* * *

Cash lay in the darkness, comfortable in the warmth surrounding him. He had tried to get to his feet in the darkness, but every time he tried, the agony overwhelmed him. The darkness wasn’t so bad, though; it was a hell of a lot better than the pain.

Somewhere in the void, Cash heard her voice first. She was calling his name.

“Rachel?”

“Cash!” He felt her take his hand in hers.

“What are you doing here? Where am I?”

She didn’t answer him, beginning to pull his hands, wanting him to get to his feet.

“Come on, Cash, you have to leave. You can’t stay here.” She tugged at his hands harder.

Cash attempted to get to his feet, but the sharp pain in his back hurt, forcing him back down.

“Wait. Rachel, it hurts like hell.”

“It’s going to hurt a lot worse if you don’t get up!” Giving in, Cash used what strength he had to get to his feet with her help. As she braced him with her weight, Cash was able to stand—barely—with her support.

“You have to do this, Cash. I can’t hold you much longer. Move!”

Cash placed one foot in front of the other, taking one step after another.

“Where are we going?”

“You’re going back to the life you’ve left behind, Cash. All your friends are waiting for you.” Rachel kept him walking inexorably forward. “See the sun, Cash? Keep moving in that direction.”

With each step, it became easier to walk, but he didn’t take his weight away from Rachel, not wanting her to run away again. Suddenly, he felt a threshold, an invisible line he knew he had to cross.

“Hurry, Cash. I can’t hold you much longer,” she pleaded.

“Are you going to run away again if I go through?”

She remained silent.

“Promise me you’ll stay.”

“Go, Cash!” Her scream hurt his head, but he refused to let her go. He looked down at her face and realized he was hurting her. Straightening up, he took his weight off her, releasing her. She began to waver and dissipate before his eyes.

“Rachel!”

“Go, Cash. You don’t need me anymore.” Her sad eyes weren’t something he would ever forget.

Cash frantically looked around for her, but she was gone; she had run away from him again. Cash took another step toward the light, hoping she would be on the other side.

He opened his eyes, blinking as he attempted to focus his eyes in the bright room. Carefully, he looked around the blindingly white room. It held no trace that she had ever been there, but Cash knew she had. He still felt the tingles of energy on his skin, and the feel of her palm placed directly over his heart.

Chapter 13

“He’s coming home today.” Rachel didn’t look up from watering her plants at Mag’s voice.

“That’s good.” She moved on to the next set of plants, carefully tending the buds just breaking the soil.

“He’s walking.”

“I’m glad.”

“You going to go see him?” Cash’s grandmother wasn’t going to be ignored.

Rachel put down the watering can. “No. I’m sure he’ll have a big enough welcoming committee without me there.”

The old woman gave her a harassed look. “You go from spending every day with him when he’s in the ICU to not seeing him at all for four months. Why?”

“I only stayed with him while he needed my help. He didn’t need me after they moved him to rehab.”

“Girl, he needs you. He has for a long time.”

Rachel laughed. “Cash doesn’t need or want me. I’m just another woman in town who made a fool of herself over him. He’s fine now; he’s walking. Shade told you the doctors are amazed at his recovery.”

“Thanks to you.”

Rachel shook her head. “I didn’t do anything. The only thing I did was nudge him awake. Cash worked his ass off in physical therapy. He refused to come back to the clubhouse because he didn’t want the others to have to help him the way they did Winter. He’s done it all on his own.”