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“I love you, too,” he returned. “Now go. I’ll see you at the hospital.”
I stole one more kiss before I turned away. My eyes burned. My vision blurred. I swiped at the tears with the backs of my hands, and then it was time to steel myself. The adrenaline was fading from my body and the pain in my head was returning, to say nothing of my broken nose. Gabriel went to scoop Kian into his arms, but I stopped him. “I’m not leaving James alone with Dani, even if she is wounded and half unconscious. I’ll get Kian out of here. You work on the chains.”
Gabriel must have seen the steel in my eyes. Without arguing, he stepped aside. I knelt next to Kian again, carefully helping him to his feet. He groaned with each movement, barely able to walk.
With slow, halting baby steps, Kian leaned heavily on me as we made our way out of the house. Every step sent jolts of pain through my body, and I could only imagine what he must be feeling. The moment we stepped outside, Kian took in a deep, gasping breath. That was a relief: at least the stake hadn’t punctured his lung. When we crossed the street, I sat on the cold, hard ground and Kian propped himself up against me, whimpering.
“You can do this, Kian,” I encouraged. “I know it hurts, just stay with me.”
I wasn’t sure whether I was speaking to him or myself, because I was feeling exceptionally weak. With every exhale, a little more fight left my body. I wondered what happened to the guy who overpowered the shadowed figure in the hallway, because I surely didn’t feel like that guy anymore.
True to Gabriel’s word, not a light was to be seen in either direction. The entire street was dark and quiet. Panting, I wrestled my phone from my pocket and called for help.
I don’t remember much from the next few minutes. The next thing I knew, sirens were piercing the air. Paramedics showed up and assaulted me with questions, but all I could get out was, “Remodeling accident.”
I knew they didn’t believe me, but Kian’s injury was too life threatening for them to argue. They demanded I ride with them to the hospital—Iwascovered in blood, after all—and I have a vague memory of fighting with them before the more muscular one hauled me to my feet and strapped me into the ambulance. I sat in the spare seat, barely clinging to consciousness. The door shut and the ambulance rumbled to life. The sirens started up again, and then we were moving.
We couldn’t have made it more than a hundred feet away before the ambulance screeched to a halt. A blast rocked the entire street, vibrating the asphalt and rocking the vehicle. I tried to peek through the rear window to see, but it was out of reach. I knew the explosion had come from James’s house, but I couldn’t see anything more than an orange cloud billowing across the pane of the ambulance window, and the flame-lit dark street beyond. One of the medics yelled at the driver to go, and we were gone before I could see if James made it out alive.
With that, the rest of the fight left my body. I laid my head back, closed my eyes, and let the darkness sweep over me.
Chapter 28
Fuck,my head hurts…
The absolute last thing I wanted to do was open my eyes. I’d been in a deep sleep, and I wanted to get back there. But slowly my memories started to come back to me.
I wasn’t at home.
An obnoxious beeping came from the machine next to me. Bright, fluorescent lights had me squeezing my eyes tighter instead of fighting to open them. I stirred, wincing against a pain in my right arm. I peeled my eyes open, looking down to see an IV sticking out of the vein. The smell of disinfectant made my stomach roil. I tried to look around, but moving my head wasn’t the best idea. Plastic covered my nose and mouth, and I grappled for the offending material, the beeping growing more erratic with my increased heart rate.
Where was James?
I opened my mouth to call out, but a voice said, “Shh, love. I’ve got you.”
“You’re here,” I panted.
He shushed me again, taking my hand in his. “I am. You’re safe.I’m safe.” James brushed my sticky hair away from my forehead. He continued stroking until my heart rate returned to normal.
With a calmer hand, I pulled the mask away so I could talk. “How long have I been out?”
“All night. You have a grade four concussion and a broken nose, but the doctors say you’ll be fine.”
“Kian?”
“Alive. He’s going to live.”
“I want to see him.” I tried to sit up, but James guided me back down to the pillow.
“You need to rest, love,” he told me. “He’s out cold. He’s not going anywhere today.”
When James removed his hand, I snatched it out of the air. Thankfully, he let me. Something peeking out from the edge of his sweater caught my eye, and I wanted to inspect it further. I pushed his sleeve out of the way, revealing deep burns around his wrist. I could make out each distinct link of the chain wrapping up his arm. Dropping his hand, I reached for the other, finding the same thing.
“You’re hurt,” I said, stating the obvious.
“They’re around my ankles too. And…” He straightened, glancing toward the door before he lifted his sweater. The same marks danced across his stomach. “But I’ll be okay.” He dropped the fabric and leaned over me again. “I’m already healing. You need to do the same.”
“I want to see Kian,” I reiterated. “I need to see him for myself.” My throat grew tight. “I need to call Hannah.”
