He shookhis head. “No, Juliette.”
My gut told me he was lying. I placed my hands on my hips. “You know what, if you’re not going to be honest with me, I don’t even want to be around you right now.”
Wes crossed his arms. “Well, I’m sorry, but you don’t have a choice.”
“Give me some space,” I huffed.
I stormed over to one of the other tables. He followed, but kept his distance.
A few minutes later, I’d just reached over to grab a bottle of honey when it felt like a truck hit me. Except it wasn’t a truck—it was Wes.
CHAPTER 20
Juliette
Someone was screaming.
I blinked, dazed, before finally realizing it wasme.Wes was on the ground, bleeding, blood pooling beneath his torso. I dropped to my knees and cradled his head in my arms. “Wes… Wes!”
His eyes fluttered closed as people gathered around us.
“Someone call 9-1-1!” I screamed. “Call 9-1-1!”
“I just did!” a man shouted. “They’re on their way.”
I slapped Wes’s face gently, trying to wake him. “Wes! Open your eyes! Open your eyes, Wes!” Chaos swirled around me—people running, someone screaming, a dog barking nonstop—but I couldn’t focus on any of it. I just kept shaking the man in my arms. “Please, Wes.Pleasewake up.”
Blood spread across the ground, seeping into my clothes. But his chest was still going up and down—barely, but enough.He’s breathing.On his own.My heart pounded as I rocked him back and forth, the world around us fading to a blur. A man knelt beside me. I thinkhe said he was a med student. He pulled off his jacket, slipped it under Wes’s body, and applied pressure to the wound, trying to slow the bleeding. Somewhere nearby, a second dog started barking. People moved around us, voices rising, footsteps pounding, but it all felt distant. Like I was underwater and everything was muffled. Sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder.
I have no idea how long it was before someone grabbed my arm. “Miss, we’re the paramedics, let us take over.” The guy who’d been holding pressure helped me to my feet and stood next to me, watching.
“Gunshot wound,” one of the paramedics said to the other. “You turn, I’ll slide. You’ll hold pressure. On my count…”
One.
Two.
Three.
One paramedic rolled Wes onto his side and pressed a hand over the wound. The other slid the backboard underneath, then carefully rolled him onto it, keeping his partner’s hand in place.
“The bullet definitely went through,” the guy in charge muttered.
Two police officers arrived, and the paramedic spoke to them while gesturing to the gurney. “Help us carry so we can keep pressure on, all right, Mac?”
“Sure thing.”
Then they were hauling ass to the ambulance. I followed as they loaded Wes into the back.
One of them looked at me. “Who are you?”
“His…girlfriend.”
“Did you drive here?”
I shook my head. “Wes did.”
He nodded towardthe ambulance. “Get in. You can ride with us.”
