He looked up.“I haven’t seen them.No time.”
I stopped and turned to look at the second car.He’d cuffed the driver to the door, but the man was out after taking Smith’s punches.I went to the trunk and opened it.
“Oh, fucking—Dom?”
He was on a tarp, duct taped and unconscious, and they’d cut him.It was a lot of small wounds that had scabbed over, except for where they had chafed against the inside of the car.He was sticky with his own blood, and the familiar yet wrong scent washed over me, relief and terror blending together.
I only noticed that Marcus had followed me after all when he sagged against the SUV.
“Is he okay?”
I climbed into the car and felt for a pulse.I found the steady beat that was so dear to me, a caress against my fingers, and saw the rise and fall of his chest, slow but there.
I looked at Marcus.“He’s breathing.”
He had my jacket over his right arm and was cradling his left one.“I’ll go and find?—”
He turned white as a sheet and passed out, just like that.I wasn’t there to catch him, only reaching him when he was already on the ground.
This time, I scooped him up and decided I wouldn’t let him go again.I had to find Ell though.Marcus had commanded me to do that for him.
The sheriff came around the car and looked us over, looked at Dom’s unmoving form in the back.
“I already called the EMTs.Big black-haired guy’s one of yours, right?Vi’s baby nephew?”
I looked up.“Is he okay?”
“Don’t think anyone here is okay, but the kid’s breathing.”She looked past me to where Steven lay.“Well, if this isn’t all a really big mess.”
She walked past me to get a closer look at Steven, but I didn’t care.
“Marcus, I’m here.It’s going to be okay.Ell’s here.You’re okay now.”
That was a lie.He wasn’t okay.He’d been hurt.I should’ve taken better care of him, of everyone.
The failure was mine, and mine alone.
35
Waking up sucked.I could tell something wasn’t right, but the sour memories of Steven only came back when I opened my eyes, when I’d already figured out this was a hospital.
It was dark, so at first, I thought the person standing at the foot of the hospital bed was machinery, one of those beepy hospital thingies.
When the hair and back ticked the person box, I still thought he was one of the hunters.
I must’ve made a sound, because Linc spun on his feet.He’d been texting, the screen illuminating half of his face.
“Hey.”He put his phone away and sat in a chair at my bedside that was clearly angled as if he’d been sitting in it for hours already.“Ell and Dom are okay.”He smiled, but it looked hollow and fake.“You’re okay too.Except for the broken arm.”
I followed his line of sight to my left arm.It was in a cast.That was funny.I couldn’t feel it at all.I felt pretty good, in the same way chewed gum feels good when it’s still in the mouth and hasn’t dried out and calcified yet.
Yeah, I wouldn’t be writing any great copy soon.
“What… Where…”
Then I started crying, just artless, unceremonious sobbing.I didn’t even know what had come over me.
“Shh, it’s fine.Everything’s fine.”Linc moved from the chair to my bed and was actually holding my hand, the one that didn’t have swollen fingers sticking out of a bland white cast.
