I dodged the first hit, but his second one caught me in the gut. I retched, pain exploding through my midsection. And when I looked down, I saw why.
Red was quickly spilling down my abdomen, gushing from the stab wound. The knife in his hand was soaked with blood—my blood. Gripping my throat, he began leading me to the door. I clawed at his hand, but I was getting weak way too fucking fast. Too much blood leaked from my abdomen.
“Oh, my God!” Bonnie screamed in horror, staring at my stomach, her face ghostly pale. “You—this wasn’t—he’s going to die!” she yelled. “He can’t die, David!”
“You want the problem gone, yeah?” he snapped at her. “Problem solved. Get the fucking car.”
My arms dropped to my side. I was so fucking weak. Blood was soaking the floor and the front of my body. My head fell back on my shoulders, my mind hazy and my eyes droopy.
Would Kreed know what happened to me? Or would he come home to find the house spotless, clean of my blood, and me missing? Because if this guy was the pro I thought he was, he’d clean out my room, too. Make it look like I’d just… left Kreed. Left Corvus, too.
My mind went dark, but right before I lost consciousness completely, I heard Corvus shout, “What the absolute fuck?”
Chapter Seventeen
Kreed
* * *
My expensive shoes slapped against the concrete as I sprinted for the emergency room doors. I hadn’t taken a proper fucking breath since Corvus called me in tears, telling me Hudson was dying. I didn’t know what the fuck happened—just that there was a lot of blood and my man was unconscious. Corvus had to let me go, so he could ride in the ambulance with Hudson. He didn’t want him to be alone in case he woke up because Hudson would panic if he woke up surrounded by EMTs and no familiar faces.
Corvus stood as I rushed through the doors, barely hearing the security guard when he told me to stop running. Corvus’s face was blotchy and damp with tears, his eyes bloodshot. He sniffled and swiped his hoodie sleeve under his nose. “They wouldn’t let me back. He’s in surgery. They’re optimistic he’s going to make it, but he’s so fucking pale, Kreed.”
I crushed Corvus into a hug, wishing I could be strong for him while his best friend—no, fuck that, his brother—was in surgery and practically on his deathbed. But how the fuck was I expected to hold myself together when the man I was falling in love with might leave me? When we might not ever get our happily ever after?
“I need you to tell me what happened,” I rasped, urging him to take a seat with my hands gripping his shoulders. I dropped into the hard, blue chair next to him, my legs shaky. “How the fuck did he get stabbed, Corvus?”
“I got to the house earlier than planned,” he said quietly, sniffling again. “Was worried she’d show up if I took too long, and fuck. She was already there, Kreed, and some random guy was with her—stained clothes, balding, unkempt hair. Greasy skin. There was a knife on the floor covered in Hudson’s blood, and that motherfucker had his hand around Hudson’s throat and was dragging him out the house. When I walked in, he was giving the order for Bonnie to get his car so they could get rid of Hudson and clean up the mess.” He swallowed thickly, looking a bit green. Fuck, I was sure I was going to puke up every bit of my lunch and the coffee I’d had during my meeting. “Bonnie was screaming that it wasn’t the plan and panicking.”
My hands shook, but I managed to thrust them through my hair. My leg bounced. I shouldn’t have gone to work. I should’ve stayed home. I could’ve protected him from this. From her. From yet another man she dragged into his life.
No. What I should have done was booted her out of his fucking life a long time ago.
“A neighbor called police. They showed up almost right after I did. Bonnie and her… boyfriend, I guess, were arrested. She was sobbing and begging someone to tell her if Hudson would be okay. The man was yelling at her and calling her a cunt and other derogatory terms. And Hudson was just… lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood.” His breath caught on a sob, and he folded in on himself, his arms wrapped tightly around his midsection. “I thought I was about to lose my only family,” he cried.
I hugged him to me again. “We’re not fucking losing him,” I whispered. “If the doctor said he’s optimistic, then things will probably be okay. Most doctors don’t lie to family about a patient’s condition.”
He nodded stiffly. I released him then patted his back lightly. “Go to the bathroom and clean your face up,” I quietly ordered. “Does the staff have your phone number?”
He nodded. “And yours,” he croaked, standing. Hudson’s blood stained the bottom half of his sweatpants and the cuffs of his hoodie. “You’re the first contact. They said they would call when he got out of surgery.”
I nodded. “Good. We’ll go to the gift shop and get you some new clothes, and then, we’ll get some coffee, okay?” I glanced outside. “We’ll probably be here for a long time.”
“Okay,” he said quietly then turned and headed for the bathrooms. Leaning forward, I braced my elbows on my knees then dropped my face into my hands, trying to keep my emotions under control for Corvus’s sake. He didn’t need to see me crying. It would just freak him out and undo all the progress I’d made with him.
Please pull through, baby, I silently begged, wishing I could tell Hudson himself, even if he probably wouldn’t be able to hear me. I don’t want to do life without you. Please don’t fucking make me.
Chapter Eighteen
Hudson
* * *
I didn’t even open my eyes before panic ensnared my lungs, stealing my breath. It constricted around my chest like a boa constrictor, and the shaking followed immediately after. I didn’t have to open my eyes to know I was in a hospital. That I was somewhere unsafe. I could smell the disinfectant in the air, hear the low murmur of nurses and doctors and the beeping of the machine to my right. The blood pressure cuff was tight around my arm as it inflated, and the staticky sound of the TV in my hospital room was the kind of sound you only heard in hospital settings.
“Easy, baby. Hudson, baby, open your eyes and look at me,” Kreed commanded, his warm hands cupping my face and immediately settling me.
My eyes snapped open, and our eyes slammed together in a connection so strong, the breath was stolen from my lungs for an entirely different reason. Kreed looked tired and stressed, the lines around his eyes pinched. His brows were furrowed low over his chocolate eyes, and his lips were set in a deep frown. He looked as if he’d aged twenty years while I’d been asleep.
