“We have to keep you safe, Pretty girl,” Gage says hotly.
“What about them?! Let me the fuck go!”
My brain is short-circuiting, getting madder by the second. They’re stopping me from getting to my sweet hacker. My Holden. I wasn’t registering that they’re trying to protect me. I let go of a scream that rivals a banshee and drop to my knees, using my body weight to break their hold. I’m up and running before they can grab me again.
“Alessa!” Gage yells, right behind me.
Ryder comes out of the house, coughing, covered in soot. Dex comes out next, with Zane on his heels, carrying a limp Holden.
I skid to a stop, dropping to my knees when Zane lays him down. “Holden,” I whisper, hands fluttering around his face. “Oh god. Please wake up.”
Zane drops beside me, checks for a pulse, and I watch his face change. He shoves me back with his arm and starts giving Holden mouth to mouth. Ryder drops to Holden’s other side, clutching his hand.
“No. No, no, no,” I chant. Dex drops beside me, pulling me close. Ihear yelling around me, but I can’t even pick it up; all I can see is Zane frantically closing his mouth over Holden’s, begging him to wake up. Ryder has tears streaking down his soot-covered face; his lips are moving like he’s silently praying.
“Come on,” Zane growls. “Come on, Sweet boy. Goddamnit, wake up!”
I hear sirens getting closer and look over to see an ambulance screaming up the back entrance, Leo and Gage jumping out of the back. The paramedics run up, shoving Ryder and Zane out of the way. Both their eyes snap up, and the paramedics step back from the looks on their faces.
“Bello,” Ryder cries. “Please don’t leave us.” Zane seals his mouth back over Holden’s, blowing as hard as he can.
We all collectively hold our breath when we see Holden’s arms twitch and start coughing. All the fight leaves my body, making me go slack in Dex’s arms.
Paramedics jump into action, sliding an oxygen mask over his face. Zane and Ryder finally move back so they can do their jobs. I jerk away from Dex and grab Holden’s hand, tears streaming down my face.
“Holden.”
His eyes latch on to mine, slightly unfocused but alive.
“Ma’am, we need to get him to the hospital.”
My first instinct is to argue, but someone just blew up our hospital room here. “I’m going with you.”
“Me too,” Ryder says, standing up, roughly wiping tears from his face. The look on his face is daring them to say no.
“We’ll meet you guys there,” Dex says, kissing me on the forehead.
The paramedics get Holden loaded onto the gurney and put him in the back of the ambulance, Ryder and I climbing in behind them.
I know who did this and what I have to do.
They just hurt one of mine again. It’s time to play it their way.
Dirty.
“Bright eyes.”
That voice snaps me straight up in the chair where I must have dozed off.
“Holden,” I sit up and grab his hand, tears pouring down my face in relief.
When we got to the hospital, he was rushed away from us while they worked on him. They finally let us into his room in the intensive care unit two hours ago only because Ryder threw out so many threats that they finally took him seriously. The rest of the guys are waiting patiently in the waiting room.
Ryder grabs his hand on the other side. “Hey,Bello.”
“What happened?” Holden croaks. Ryder gets up, pours some water into a cup, then holds the straw gently to Holden’s lips so he can drink. He still has oxygen on, but it isn’t the face mask anymore. He has a concussion, bruising, and a cut on the back of his head. The doctor said the blast must have knocked him out, causing him to breathe in the smoke. Which eventually made him stop breathing. He told us if we had gotten there five minutes later, Holden wouldn’t have survived. It’s Zane’s quick thinking that he’s here with us now.
Ryder gently explains everything to him while I squeeze his hand, so damn thankful he’s still with us. I could feel my soul leaving my body, knowing that Holden was dead, that the guys couldn’t get him back. There is no way I can come back from that. I can’t lose any of my guys.
