“Micah, sweetie,” Tessa said, sounding exasperated, “he’s been here since they brought you in. He even rode in the ambulance with you. He hasn’t left the hospital – not even after he got into it with your father and Abram threatened to arrest him. He’s been skulking outside your room this whole time. Honestly, the only reason your dad hasn’t tried to drag him out in cuffs – besides the fact he saved your life – is that he brought a couple of goons with him to watch your door, bodyguards or something. One has a particularly interesting mermaid tattoo on his neck.

Micah numbly wrote on the board.

That’s Geoffrey.

“Geoffrey?” Tessa snorted. “That figures.”

But Micah had more important things to focus on. Damon was here.

But that didn’t explain why he hadn’t come in to see him. He had to know Micah was awake between all the alarms he’d set off in his panic earlier and the sudden barrage of visitors.

Why hasn’t he come in to see me?

Tessa sighed. “Has it occurred to you he might be scared to face you after everything? That he’s not sure how his presence will be received?”

Micah shook his head.

Damon doesn’t get scared. He underlined the words.

“You didn’t see him at the station when he found out you were missing,” Tessa immediately disagreed. “That man definitely gets scared, at least when it comes to matters concerning you.” She paused, and then carefully asked, “Do you want me to send him in?”

Micah almost forgot himself and opened his mouth to blurt out “yes!”

But then he remembered the last time he’d seen Damon – not counting when the man had rescued him – and his stomach came alive with nerves. He’d been so angry at Micah.

Ultimately, Micah’s desire to see the man outweighed any doubts he had, so after sucking in a grounding breath, he nodded.

Tessa smiled, pulling him into one last suffocating hug before rolling out of bed. “I’ll be back later,” she promised before crossing the room and shutting the door behind herself.

Micah stared at it – waiting for it to open and for Damon to come striding in. Except a minute passed, and then another, with the door remaining perfectly still, and he began to think that maybe Tessa was wrong.

Maybe Damon didn’t want to see him.

Then the handle twisted, and the man stepped into the room, carefully closing the door behind himself. Damon kept his back to Micah, facing the door for a long, drawn-out moment before finally turning to meet his gaze.

Micah wasn’t sure how he pictured his reunion with Damon after everything that had happened, but it certainly wasn’t this.