Never Far Away (The Never #2)
Anie Michaels
Dedicated to
All the readers who fell in love with Ella and Porter in Never Close Enough.
I could not ask for more supportive readers and wish you all knew how deeply your kind and encouraging words touch me.
I wrote the first book for me, but I wrote the second one for you.
Prologue
Ella
Thickness. Heaviness. Thoughts were trying to make their way to the surface, but Ella’s brain was full of confusing liquid, rushing her thoughts from side to side, making it hard to keep them straight. Ideas were treading through dense murkiness, floating to the top, trying to form into words, but no words would come out of her mouth. She heard a deep and unfamiliar voice. It warmed her immediately. Velvety heat flowed through her when she heard it.
“There you are, Babe. I’ve missed that mouth.” She listened, trying to place the voice. Then she felt the most gentle and soft kiss right on the corner of her lips. Who was kissing her? And why did it make her heart flutter?
“You are so beautiful,” the mystery voice again. She felt her eyes scrunching in confusion. This wasn’t Kyle. Why was he putting his mouth on her? “Ella? Baby?”
She tried to fight her way through; she didn’t know this voice, but she felt it. Whoever it belonged to obviously knew her. His voice was so soothing and it sounded full of gentleness. She needed to see whoever it belonged to.
As she tried to wake up, all of a sudden, there was loud commotion everywhere. More voices, more people, lots of footsteps and people touching her. And then the voice.
“I’m right here, Ella. I’m not going anywhere.”
Like lifting hundred pound weights with her eyelids, she struggled, but finally the light crept in – blinding light. Her hand instinctively came up to block it. She wanted to see, but the light was too bright. And why did her hand feel like it was full of sand? It fell back on the bed with a thud and her eyes snapped shut as her head fell to the side.
“What are her oxygen levels?” Another unfamiliar voice, but this one did nothing to her heart. It was cold and clinical.
“She’s at a ninety-eight, Doctor.” Doctor? “Her heart rate is elevated, but not too high.”
“Ella? My name is Doctor Andrews. You’re at OHSU. You’re going to be ok. If you can hear me, can you try to open your eyes?”
OHSU? Ella knew that was the hospital. Why was she in the hospital? She tried to pry her eyes open again and another sliver of light shone through as she blinked a few times. She saw blurred figures standing around the bed she was laying in and then she saw another fuzzy person enter the room.
“Ella, you’re awake!” Her mother.
“Ma…Mah…Mo…” Her throat hurt tremendously and every sound she made felt like sandpaper scraping up the inside of her neck. She swallowed hard. “Mom?” Ella was shocked by the sound of her own voice. Gravelly and weak.
“I’m here, Sweetie. Everything is going to be ok.” Her eyes closed again and she felt her mother take her hand. “Why isn’t she waking up?”
“This is totally normal, Mrs. Sinclair. It will take a little while for her to adjust and she still has the sedative in her system making her groggy. So far, she is responding wonderfully. She’s moving and talking, all good signs.” Ella could hear them, but she had no energy to try to open her eyes again and talking hurt too much. For a while Ella listened to all the people in the room fuss over her and every few minutes she would open her eyes, trying to get use to the light. Eventually, the pain lessened and she was able to look at her mother.
“Ella,” her mother said with tears in her eyes, “we were so scared.”
“It’s ok,” Ella whispered, wincing. “Water?” Ella pointed to her throat. A nurse brought her a cup of water with a straw. The water felt and tasted better than anything she could remember, like an icy, numbing salve running down her throat.
“What happened?” Ella squeaked.
“Oh Ella, don’t worry about it right now. Just focus on getting better. Your father and sister are waiting outside to see you.”
“Megan? I want…” Ella took another sip of the cool water. “Can I see her?” Her mother looked to the doctor and he gave a nod to one of the nurses. A minute later Megan came in the room and Ella smiled at her. Megan’s mouth curved up in a smile and tears welled up in her eyes.
“Ella, I am so glad you are ok,” Megan cried, as she gave her a gentle squeeze. Ella felt her eyes closing again, but wanted to talk to her mother and sister. It was useless to try and keep them open; they weighed a million pounds. She rested for a few minutes and when she opened them again she was looking at the smiling faces of the women she loved the most. Then she realized someone was missing.
“Where’s Kyle?”
“Don’t worry about him, Ella. We’ve got everything taken care of.” Ella’s eyebrow’s scrunched up in confusion. She shook her head a little, not understanding what her mother meant.
“Where is he? Is he outside? Can I see him?” Her mother’s face went from concerned, to angry, to shocked, to confused. Megan took a step forward and placed her hand on Ella’s shoulder.
“Ella, we told the police what happened and they are looking for him. But don’t worry, we won’t let him near you.”