“Contain that?Fuck you! What the fuck did you do to her! I’m going to kill you myself, motherfucker.” Jade lashes out at me, and Colton wraps his arms around her shoulders and pulls her away. “Get the fuck off me.” Her head jolts backwards, connecting with his face.
“Fuck.” He doesn’t loosen his grip. “You need to stop before you hurt yourself. In case you forgot, you’re a little bit pregnant,” Colton tells her. “He didn’t do this.”
“I’m not pregnant, asshole. I just like to eat cake. Fuck you!” Jade attempts to throw her head back again, but Colton expects it this time and manages to dodge the blow.
And then the paramedics come rushing in with their gear.
“She has a knife wound to the abdomen,” I say while carefully setting Hayley’s body on the stretcher. My hand still holding the now-soaked towel around her wound. “You need to save her.”
“Sir, you need to step aside. Let us do our job,” one of them says.
“Her name is Hayley. Hayley Wade, my wife. I’m August Wade.” I wait for recognition to sink in. She’s not my wife, but if it will make these assholes care about actually saving her, Idon’t careabout this lie. “If she loses her life, you’ll lose yours,” I tell them before stepping back.
“What the fuck!” Jade is still yelling.
One of the paramedics looks over at her. “Are you okay, ma’am?”
“My best friend has been stabbed. What do you think?” she hisses. Colton still has his arm wrapped around her. He’s whispering something into her ear, the palm of his hand stretched out over her stomach, and then I watch her relax a little.
I follow the paramedics out to the ambulance and climb into the back. I’m not leaving Hayley.
“We’ll be right behind you,” Colton says, guiding Jade to the car.
I don’t give a fuck if her friend hates me. Hayley is mine, and I’m not moving aside. I send up a prayer to anyone who could be listening, begging them to save her. I just found her, and I’m not losing her.
I am going to find the fucker who did this, and I’m going to fucking make them pay.
Hayley is rushed into an OR as soon as we make it to the hospital, and I’m left sitting in the fucking waiting room. Her blood all over me. This is my fault. Whatever happened to her is because of me. I’m aware of this, and yet I’m still not prepared to let her go.
“Who would do this?” Jade asks, her voice much quieter now. She sounds defeated.
I don’t answer her. I don’t think it would help her if I did.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Beep, beep, beep.
What is that? My eyes blink open, only to shut tight again when I’m blinded. Trying to sit up, I squint againstthe light and then stop moving when a searing pain rips through my stomach.
“What?”
“Hayley, babes, it’s okay. Don’t move. I’m right here.”
Jade’s here.I sink back down into the bed.
“What happened?” I ask. And then I remember, and my eyes shoot open. “August. Where is he?” I look around the room. I’m in the hospital and he’s not here.
“Hayley, calm down.” Jade pushes on my shoulders when I try to sit up.
“August!” I yell as loud as I can. “I need to find him, Jade. I need to find him.” I shake my head.
What if that guy’s already gotten to him? I didn’t warn him. I need to find him.
“He’s coming back. He just stepped out. He’ll be back,” Jade tells me.
“Where’s my phone?”
“I don’t know.” She shakes her head. Then she takes out her own phone, presses a button, and puts it to her ear. “She’s awake and she’s screaming for you, asshole,” she says before passing the device over to me.
