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“I should have fucking killed you that night, but she begged me not to.” His laugh is cold blooded. The second he drops his head back in a mocking laugh, I smash my finger on the trigger. The gunpowder ignites as the hammer strikes the primer in the gun. The ricochet echoes through the trees, and he stumbles backward in shock, almost as if he couldn’t believe I would actually do it. His hand drops to his wound where blood is pouring out of him. Face dropping in shock, I watch as his brain processes what happened. I’m immediately off the ground and running toward him.
My brain is hazy, my vision blurry from the lack of adjustment from being hit in the head to standing. Grabbing his gun, I rip it away from him and stare down for a moment. I try, and fail, to place him in my brain. He is not familiar, but I know who he meant when he talked about the kiss.
I don’t have time to dwell on it right now. Shoving both guns into my waist, I level back down with Birdie to see her eyes closed. Loud chatter comes down the hill as the gun shots quiet down. Looking up, several men come storming down toward us, and I’m able to quickly recognize them as Massimo’s men.
Two others go around to the passenger side and start blasting it with foam from an extinguisher. Massimo meets me at her side of the car, and together we rip the door open with adrenaline force. She stays pinned to the seat by her belt as welts have already embedded themselves into her and are seeping blood. Grabbing a knife, I quickly cut through the seat belt. With a snap, her small body tumbles from the vehicle, blood pouring from her head and lower body.
“I called medical, it will take them too long to get here. We need to get her to the hospital,” Massimo says, bringing the phone back to his ear. Checking her fingers and toes, she moves and flinches after being poked, so I can only pray that she doesn’t have a neck injury.
Hoisting her bridal style into my arms, I trek out of the ravine as gently and quickly as possible. She moans and groans as we go, complaining quietly of pain in her stomach and shoulder. I don’t give myself time to focus on the potential of her stomach pain.
“It’s going to be alright, baby bird,” I murmur softly into her hair, pressing my toe on a root to ensure it's stable. Once I’m sure it’s not going to give way, I push our weight up on it and keep climbing. Massimo and the driver hustle up to the top and yell at one another to get the vehicle flipped around.
“He is going to take photos. We’ll figure out who did this,” Massimo assures as I get to the top. Another guy from his car steps out and begins taking a bunch of pictures of the car. I want to ask him about the man, who he is and what he was talking about, but Birdie is my priority right now, and I can’t afford to lose her.
Thankfully they were able to put out the flames before it could explode. He opens the door and helps me situate Birdie into the backseat. I hoist myself up onto the seat next to her and place her head in my lap. Her eyes are closed, her face almost peaceful despite the blood coating her face.
“Scout,” she croaks again, her hands shaking in an effort to reach up to me. I grasp her bloody hand in mine, twining our fingers together. “I’m sorry.”
“Shh,” I hush, rubbing my thumb over her cheek bone while I keep pressure on her head. “You have nothing to be sorry about.”
“The baby,” she chokes, blood sitting on her teeth as she coughs harshly. It’s wet and unsavory, making me wince for her pain.
“It’s okay, my love. It will be okay.”
Chapter Four
My body is on fire. I’m not sure how, but I can feel it. It’s like my bones are submerged in lava and simmering on low until they finally boil over. At this point, I think they are waiting for the explosion.
Beep.
“…not good.”
Beep.
“You’re sure…”
Beep.
Each voice is muted. I can hear them. I hear several people talking around me, though I can’t hear. It’s like a river rushing through my ears or waves crashing nonstop against the shoreline. It’s impossible to make out full sentences, yet they are here. The more important question is: who are they? A sharp trilling beep is the only clear thing I can make out. It’s annoying. If I could, I would topple the damn thing over just to shut it up.
I do my best to open my eyes, let them know the amount of immense pain that I’m in, but they refuse to do anything besides remain closed. From inside of my body, it feels as though I’m wiggling around and making my fingers twitch. From their continued conversation, they either don’t see it or I’m not actually moving anything.
“…clavicle grade three separat…” Irritation blossoms in me as they speak as though I’m not here.
Groaning internally, I finally manage to grip the sheets under my fingers and squeeze. The change in feeling is the only indicator that I actually did it. Bubbles form in my throat, liquid seemingly coming up my neck and into my mouth.
I inhale, only to realize that I can’t. Eyes flying open, bright light immediately blinding me as I fight my limbs to move. No noise comes from me, my hands barely raising from the bed while I choke. I see people in the room, I don’t know who they are, but they are not paying attention to me at all. Their arms are raised, waving around while I wish they would look back at me. Finally, one of them looks over their shoulder to see me struggling. He doesn’t waste any time in running out to the hall. No noise passes through the overbearing whooshing in my ears, yet when nurses flood the room and kick the rest of the people out.
Heat breaks over my face, my brain turns foggy. I can barely feel the prodding of hands along my body as I fight to breathe.
Chapter Five
Irub my thumb over Birdie’s pale hand. Her fingers lay limp around mine as I grip hers for dear life. If I hold on just a bit tighter, it might make her realize there is someone here for her. Grounding her. Protecting her. It’s been a living, breathing hell since we brought her in. They wouldn’t let me back with her until they got her in the ICU and stable. Even then it was a struggle. Finally, Massimo ended up pulling his weight to get them to let me in.
Birdie and I are practically fucking married…just without the wedding or the proposal.
“Well, shit,” I mutter to myself, dropping my sight to her slender fingers. It would be easy to slip a ring onto her digit and she would be none the wiser. When she wakes up, she would get a happy shock.
