His side.
Maybe he stumbled off.
Maybe he didn’t.
In the confusion, it was hard to tell. The world was as distorted as the frozen windshield absorbin’ the blood red of brake lights.
I groaned when my wife fell to her knees beside me, screamin’ for help. Then I took a shudderin’ breath and let the pain take me under.
Chapter41
Maeve
As soon as the last petal fell, I knew I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. I told Keely we could just drive past the bar. If nothing was wrong, we’d keep going. If something was…I needed to be there. Keely had loaded up her archery set, and we left.
Mac, Mari’s husband, was only there to keep enemies out. Either he didn’t know we’d left, or he felt it wasn’t his place to stop us. I thought it was the latter. He was too intelligent for the first theory.
I drove as Keely searched out the window, as nervous as I was, it seemed. We pulled up to the bar just in time to see Dermot stalking behind Cian, and then the moment Dermot lifted the knife and came down with it.
Keely wasted no time jumping out of the car, grabbing her gear, which was ready to go, and hitting Dermot three times in quick succession. She was so quick, it was hard to tell how fast she’d reloaded, and she was so precise, she was able to hit Dermot in an area that made him drop the knife.
I’d already started running and fell next to my husband.
One minute I was crying out for help.
The next, the men were carrying him to the car, and Keenan told me to step on it. He was basically holding Cian’s body together, trying to staunch the flow of blood. Cash and Keely were following close behind as I sped to the small seaside town to see Dr. Higgins and Dr. Estrada. Fiona was on the phone with one of them.
I kept mumbling, asking,beggingfor help.
It felt like my heart had melted underneath my skin, but it was still pounding.
“Concentrate on drivin’, Maeve,” Keenan said in a calming tone. “The lad’s skin is a lot tougher than most.”
No one stopped me this time. Even if they had, it would have been a high-speed chase. This wound seemed a lot worse than the first. The amount of blood…I had to breathe through it. I took the corner of the street where the practice was on two wheels and then came to a screeching halt. I threw it in park and jumped out.
Cash and Keely pulled up to our bumper. Cash rushed to the opposite side of the car we were standing on, and between Keenan, Fiona, Cash, and the two doctors, we figured out a hasty plan to get Cian inside.
Once inside, Dr. Higgins started directing Dr. Estrada, who was giving her sister directions. The door slammed in our faces, and we all seemed helpless. From what I’d learned last time, the room was reserved for Cian, or whoever needed it. It was always kept clean, and no animals used it. I stared at the closed door the longest.
Fiona took me by the shoulders and all but forced me into a seat. My leg rarely bounced, but in that moment, all my anxiety seemed to be trapped there.
An hour passed, but it felt like a century.
My stomach didn’t feel right. It was cramping. I had to use the restroom. I stood up and sat directly down again, that cramp feeling like a knife through my womb. I breathed through it until it disappeared.
“Maeve,” Kee said. “What’s wrong? You look pale, but you’re sweating.”
I shook my head. “I’m panicking. I need to use the bathroom.”
She nodded. “I’ll come with.”
She stood up with me, holding my arm. Fiona took the other. The three of us went to the bathroom. The practice had been converted from a house, and it was just a bathroom. No stalls. Fiona and Keely said I could go first. They were going to wait outside.
My head felt light, and when I touched my thighs because they felt wet, I pulled back dark smears of blood. It wasn’t the dried and caked blood from my hands either. It was much too fresh.
I called for Fiona just as my head went woozy, and I collapsed in her arms.
* * *
