Dorran nods, then straightens again. “We need to…get out of here,” he grits out. “All that noise could have attracted unnecessary attention.”
My eyes sting as I notice the exertion on his face. I glance at his hand on the wound – now covered in his blood – then look at Jayce. “Hold him.”
He immediately switches positions with me, and as I step away from them, I hear Jayce say, “I’m sorry, Ledge; I fucked up,” to Dorran, who grunts and replies, “Just don’t let me bleed out, and we can call it even.”
I walk over to the nearest table, grab its white tablecloth, and place my clutch on one of the chairs. Dorran and his crew watch me as I tear the tablecloth into two long pieces, fold those pieces into thick rectangular blocks, then walk back to them.
“Take your hand away from the wound,” I tell Dorran, then glance at Alex. “Grab another tablecloth and tear it in half for me.”
He nods and gets to work.
I look at Dorran’s left side, and, because his hand isn’t covering it, I can see the wound quite clearly. The outer shell is swollen, and the hole is as wide as a bullet wound would be, but in his case, there’s no actual bullet to stop him from bleeding out.
I swallow and press the cloth pieces over the wound, and Dorran cries out – a sound that’s so sudden it makes me jolt.
“I’m sorry,” I say, then glance at him. “I’m so sorry.”
“This won’t be enough, Cignette,” he tells me.
“I know. But it’ll be enough to get you out of this place without losing too much blood.”
His eyelids droop a little as he scans my face. “Thank you,” he whispers.
I cup his jaw and kiss him once. “Don’t. I just want you to be okay.”
“I will be.”
I move back. “That better be a promise.”
He chuckles –triesto, more like – but ends up hissing in pain.
“You’re so damn corny, Little Swan,” he muses.
“Fuck you,” I counter, then roll my eyes.
“Here.” Alex comes to stand next to me, and offers the requested tablecloth pieces.
“Wrap one of these around Dorran’s waist,” I tell him.
Varsha lifts Dorran’s jacket from behind, and Alex starts wrapping the cloth around his waist. Jayce steps closer and support’s more of Dorran’s weight on himself. With the folded pieces still covering his wound, I pull my hand away, just as Alex secures Dorran’s left side with our makeshift bandage. I take the other piece from him and wrap it over the first one, tightening it overall.
Dorran grunts again, but says nothing.
I tie the ends of both the pieces into a knot, then sigh and take a step back. “This’ll do for now.” I then look up at Dorran, and when he gives me a lazy smile, I swipe the sweat off his brows, fix his disarrayed hair, button-up his suit jacket, and return his smile with one of my own.
“Let’s get you outta here,” I tell him, then grab my clutch and brace myself as I start making my way towards the door.
33.
It’s uncomfortable as fuck here, and the pain in my side isn’t helping one bit.
The five of us were almost atImperia’sexit, but an elite interrupted our path by approaching Cignette and deciding to engage in small-talk with her. It’s a relief that my crew and I were a few steps behind her, and were able to take cover behind the foyer’s stairs before we could be spotted. Still, I’d have much rather gotten out of here than hide and spend another moment inside this fucking hotel.
Rizwana’s attack had been an unwelcoming surprise. Me of all people knows how deadly some of the mundane things we use in our day-to-day lives, can be. I killed my mother with a goddamn nail file, for fuck’s sake, so for Rizwana to use a hair accessory – most definitely custom-made for her protection – is kinda plausible.
Unexpected, too, but I guess that was one of the intentions with which it was made.
I glance at Cignette again, and scowl at the sleazebag who just won’t let her go. She’s trying to wrap up their conversation by physically stepping away from him, but he keeps shifting closer to her. If I wasn’t feeling like I could drop and fall asleep at any moment, I’d have cut the fucker open. But alas, he gets to live.
