“You know,” I hear Moore say as he accelerates, “I have orders to take you in.”
“Do what you want after we get her to the hospital,” Aiden replies firmly.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper weakly, feeling my strength fading as the pain intensifies. “I ruined our wedding.”
“I don’t want to ever hear you say that again,” Aiden grunts, shifting in the seat. “This was not your fault, baby. It’s mine.”
“You saved me,” I manage to say before darkness envelops me, the sound of sirens fading into the distance.
* * *
AIDEN
“Move!” I roar at the junkies blocking the entryway to A&E. The paramedics rush me inside, Moore close behind. “Staywith me, Bug.” I don’t let her down; I don’t wait for them to get a trolley. A nurse points me in the right direction, and I sprint down the stretch of corridors until I land in the surgical ward. The nurses see me coming and jump from their station, ready to assist in any way they can.
Katie’s eyes rolled into the back of her head about ten minutes ago, and I haven’t been able to rouse her since. “Katie, stay with me, baby. Stay with me.”
A surgeon comes bounding into the room, his scrubs already on. His assessment is quick but thorough, immediately ordering for Katie to be prepped for emergency surgery.
Hurried footsteps bound down the corridor. Raven appears a moment later, holding Katie’s finger in a plastic bag. “I had no ice,” he explains breathlessly. “But I got the finger.”
The surgeon nods, grateful for Raven’s quick thinking, and rushes Katie into the operating room.
Raven’s eyes fall to my mangled hand. “Someone should take a look at that.”
“Katie first,” I insist, trying to ignore the pain shooting up my arm. “I’ll be fine.”
He nods, leaving as he spots the security guards ready to give him the boot from the ward. They can try to move me all they want. I’m not fucking leaving. Not without her.
Moore’s fat head pops into the room, his beady eyes finding mine. “You need to come with me.”
“You need to fuck off.”
“AJ—”
“Do not,” I warn, getting to my feet. I charge him, the flash of fear in his eyes only spurs me on. “You can’t keep me from her,” I snarl, grabbing the handcuffs from his belt and snapping one cuff onto my wrist before he canreact. I turn, settling myself back into the chair, and snap the other cuff to the bed frame.
“You’re going away this time, AJ. You just turned Dublin City Centre into a war zone. You’re not getting out of this one.”
“Do you see me moving?” I taunt, raising an eyebrow as I lean back in the chair, the metal handcuffs clinking against the bed frame. “Give yourself a nice big pat on the back, detective. You finally have me in custody. Now, be a doll and find David Walsh for me before I change my mind about cooperating.” I meet the detective’s gaze, a smirk playing on my lips. “Or maybe you’ll just have to settle for watching the city burn without me.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Moore warns, his expression unreadable. “We’ll find Walsh with or without your cooperation.”
“You couldn’t find your arsehole without me pointing you in the right direction,” I retort. “I allowed you time to do your job right and look what happened. My brother was stabbed and almost killed. My fiancée was abducted, tortured, and almost beaten to death, all while you were twiddling your thumbs, hoping Walsh’s fat arse would land in your lap.” A nurse steps into the room, I can tell by the way her eyes fall to my cut up hand that she’s here to assess the damage. “Now, if you excuse me, detective, it’s next-of-kin only. I trust you can see yourself out.”
41
DETECTIVE MOORE
His incessant kissing is beginning to grate on my nerves. It is unclear whether AJ’s behaviour can be attributed to his excessive attachment to Katie or to his attempt to postpone the inevitable. All he’s short of doing is climbing into the hospital bed and mounting her. Based on what I heard from the nurses, my assessment is likely accurate.
The poor girl has been through the ringer and deserves some peace and quiet to recover. It will go all the more smoothly when AJ decides to detach his lips from her face so we can get this over with.
“You know what to do, bug,” his lips fuse with hers again.
“Let’s hurry this up, shall we?” I can’t stand to watch this any longer.
His head snaps in my direction with a glare meant to silence me, but I only grin, a move that further pisses him off.
