Cruz captures my hair, holding it back for me. “You’re okay,” he whispers in my ear as he strokes my back gently. “You’re safe, he can’t hurt you again,” he tries to assure me.
I stare at the gravel below me, vomiting until I’m dry heaving. I suck in breaths, trying to get the spinning and nausea under control. It’s the blood I can’t handle and the sickening feeling of when I sank that knife into his back. I will never forget how horrific that felt. My body heaves again, but this time nothing comes out. I don’t have anything left.
Cruz pulls me back to him, his arms wrapping around me in a warm embrace. The combination of leather and cigarettes I never knew could feel like coming home. But with his muscular arms wrapped around me, I feel at home for the first time in so long.
“Cruz, I’m all disgusting,” I murmur, mortified he’s so close to me right now, but he just pulls me in closer and strokes my hair until I snuggle in. His kindness makes tears scroll down my face. “I thought he was going to…”
He cuts me off. “It’s okay, he didn’t.”
But he was going to. If I didn’t find that knife in Asher’s car, he would have, and there would have been nothing I could have done about it.
“You need to see a doctor, make sure you don’t have a concussion,” I overhear Sloane comment from behind us. I think she’s talking to Asher.
“It’s just a bump on the head. I need to drive Daisy home,” Asher slurs, and I know it’s more than that. He was out cold. He could be really hurt.
I look his way, doing my best to look only at him. “You should listen to your sister. That was a hard hit.”
He gets shakily to his feet, and Sloane catches him, pressing him into the wall. “I’m fine, princess.”
“Get in the car, Ash, I’ll drive you both home,” Cruz calls to him.
“He might have a concussion, Cruz,” Sloane snips back, looking like she’s ready to fight him on this.
“I’ll watch him. If he shows any signs, I’ll call the doc.”
She huffs out a heavy sigh. “Take them home to my place, but I’m calling Ricky now to meet you there.”
Cruz moves me, helping me get into the front passenger side of the car. My body shivers, so cold even with Asher’s jacket on. I stare out the front windshield. If Asher and I hadn’t been flirting with each other and had just gotten in the damn car in the first place, this never would have happened.
Cruz looks me over, his forehead creasing. “Fuck,” he growls. But I don’t know why. He takes off his jacket and places it over my legs, tucking it in around me. “You got a blanket or some shit? She’s going into shock,” he calls back to Sloane.
“In my office, Onyx,” she calls to him. I didn’t even know he was here.
Shock, what’s he talking about? My teeth chatter, and I clutch Cruz’s leather jacket like it’s a lifeline. It’s warm and smells of him, but even that won’t stop the violent way my body trembles suddenly.
I make out Sloane and Cruz helping Asher get in the back of the car, by the way he moans in protest. He reaches his hand into the front to me. “Hold my hand, please, Daisy,” he asks, his voice all soft and sleepy.
I do, wanting to comfort him. I feel so terrible he got hurt because of me. His hand is warm, and the way he squeezes mine back is so comforting. I grip him tightly, needing him as much as he needs me.
“I’m so sorry, princess. I should have protected you.”
“He hit you,” I whisper back, knowing there is nothing he could have done.
The next thing I know, a soft, warm, woollen blanket is thrown over my lap, and Cruz tucks it all around me. I close my eyes and try to tune out the weird feeling coming over me.
“Daisy, we need to keep Ash awake, okay. Can you help me?” comes Cruz’s voice from beside me.
I nod, not able to do much more.
The engine roars to life, and the car moves forward, but I don’t open my eyes. I snuggle into the blanket and do my best to block out every awful thing that just happened. I have Asher and Cruz, and they are taking me away from that hell to safety. “Ash, why did you have a knife under your back seat?” I ask, remembering I’m supposed tobe keeping him awake, and that question is all I can think about right now.
“For emergencies,” he responds, his voice sounding a little lighter, more like him. “Good thing too.”
Chapter 12
Every Breath You Take
WhenIwakeup,I find Cruz leaning against the headboard of my bed, watching me. His stormy eyes look almost lost. I blink up at him, trying to get my foggy brain to wake up properly. But I feel strange, out of it and groggy, like I have been drinking when I know I only had one vodka with Paige at the bar.
