Page 9

“If you need a moment, you can hang out here for a little bit and if you need anything else, I’ll be out at the nurses’ station.”

Okay, lady.

I get it.

I nod, staring at the pattern of the tile floor as I silently scream at her to just leave me the fuck alone and she sighs, shifting her weight from one foot to the other before she turns and walks out of the room. The soft click of the door closing hits me like a sledgehammer and I release a breath I didn’t even realize I was holding. My knuckles ache as I grip the exam table beneath me and struggle to lock down my emotions. Dragging air into my lungs, I push all thoughts of this evening from my mind and focus on my mission - get out of this hospital and get somewhere safe. It takes a few seconds but I manage to school my features and bite back the tears for the time being but I know it won’t last so I need to get out of here. Clutching my shredded tank top to my chest, I slip off of the table and wince when pain shoots through me.

Fuck.

For the most part, I made it out of the whole ordeal with minor injuries but being slammed to the ground by a man twice my size doesn’t feel good. Not to mention, the nice long slash he left on my chest when he tried to cut my throat. It required fifteen stitches and hurts like a son of a bitch. Schooling my features, I tilt my head up, determined to walk out of here like the badass I know I am instead of the scared little girl that’s been showing herself ever since I walked into that alley.

As I stroll out of the exam room like I don’t have a care in the world, I throw all my energy into looking strong and holding myself together for as long as possible, striding toward the exit with determination. The emergency room is fairly busy tonight so most of the patients and staff ignore me altogether, something I’m eternally grateful for but when I pass the nurses’ station, Katie looks up and gives me that sympathetic smile again.

Jesus.

She needs to stop.

I am three seconds away from going off on her and telling her that it’s not actually all that comforting, despite her efforts, and she needs to cut it the fuck out. But I know it’s not her fault and I’m sure that some of the other, more well-adjusted patients find her smile as heartwarming as she thinks it is. I press my lips together tighter, keeping my gaze focused on the exit in front of me. Just a few more seconds and I will be out in the fresh air, where I can think and come up with a plan. My thoughts drift back to the alley, remembering the expression on Luca’s face just before I reached safety, the implicit threat shining in his determined stare and my hands begin to shake.

He’s going to come after me.

There isn’t a single doubt in my mind of that and every instinct I have is screaming at me to run, as far and as fast as I can, but where do I go and who do I turn to?

Slipping out of the hospital, I take a deep breath and wait for the relief to rush through me but it doesn’t come. Every cell in my body is strung just as tight as it was inside, waiting for the first thread to snap and I know, once it does, I am going to self-destruct. Metaphorically, of course. An ambulance races toward me and images of the two paramedics standing over me flash through my mind, their gloved hands covered in my blood and their brows furrowed with concentration. My lip trembles and I turn away from them as one paramedic jumps out of the driver’s seat before rushing around to the back of the vehicle to help his partner with their patient as more flashes of memories assault me. Without any instruction from me, my feet begin moving, carrying me away from the hospital doors as the whole night replays itself in my head. I remember how good I felt at work, dishing out advice to Marie and telling off John and I shake my head. Everything went to shit so damn fast and I still can’t wrap my mind around it all.

When I get further away from the hospital doors, the sidewalk begins to curve out to the street and I spot a bench in a cute little flower bed and sit down, sucking in a breath and pushing the memories of this evening away again. I’m still here, out in the open so I can’t fall apart yet, no matter how much I may want to. I need to think, come up with a plan.

Where can I go?

I could call Ria but based on what I saw tonight and the implication of what I witnessed, I’m not sure anywhere is safe. Besides, I can’t put my sister or her three kids in danger like that just because I was an idiot. Blowing out a breath, I pull my phone out of my pocket and unlock it. There is a text from my best friend, Ali, from earlier in the night that I missed and I pause, my thumb hovering over the screen. Ali’s husband, Logan - or Storm as he’s known by his MC brothers - is the President of the Bayou Devils MC and they have a compound on the outskirts of town where they all live. It’s massive and surrounded by a huge wall which means it’s the one place I might be safe. Tapping her message, I hit reply before even reading what she sent me.

Me:

911

Ali and I have been friends for fourteen years now and back when she was single, we came up with this system to look out for each other while we were going out on dates. Normally, it just required coming up with a legitimate excuse to get us out of whatever awful date we were enduring but in all that time, I’ve never used the 911 text on her. I’ve never had to since I’m not nice enough to put up with the bullshit my well-meaning besties will but tonight, I truly need her in a way we hoped would never become reality. My phone rings, snapping me out of my thoughts as Ali’s photo pops up onto the screen and I breathe a sigh of relief as I answer it.

“Where are you?” she demands before I can say anything and I close my eyes, trying not to cry at the urgency in her voice. I don’t have to say anything or explain the situation because she already knows that for me to send this text, it has to be bad.

“Baton Rouge General.”

She sucks in a breath. “Are you okay?”

“Yes… and no…” My lip wobbles and I ball my fist, dropping my head back as I try to keep the tears at bay.

“We’re coming. Just hang on for me, babe,” she says and it feels like my chest is being ripped open. Ali loves fiercely, with her whole damn heart, and I know she would do absolutely anything for me but I don’t like leaning on other people. I don’t like being dependent on someone else for anything because so many times in my life, the person I thought would catch me, let me fall instead. But it hits me in this moment that Ali and her family - hell, the whole damn club - has become a second family to me over the years. I don’t ever have to worry if they will be there to catch me because each one of them would fall on the sword themselves before ever letting it touch me or anyone else they love. “Talk to me, Iz.”

I shake my head. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” she answers, her tone telling me she’s not willing to back down and I will tell them everything but I can’t do it here. “What happened?”

Her command urges me on despite the fact that I don’t want to go over the details yet but as I open my mouth to try and find a way to explain everything, the words get stuck in my throat and even if I could force them out, I wouldn’t even know where to start so I give into the silence, letting it tell her how bad things are.

“Carly and Chance just got here to watch the kids so we’re getting in the car now,” she informs me and the relief rushes through me again. “And you know how Logan drives so we’ll be there in like five minutes.”

I smile despite everything that has happened this evening because she’s not lying. Her husband, when he sets his mind to something, is single-minded and nothing will stand in his way. They only live about ten minutes from the hospital and traffic should be light since it’s half past midnight but even if it was rush hour, I have no doubt he would find a way to plow through every last car on the road to come to my rescue. Part of me is desperate for them to arrive but the other part is horrified at the realization that I can’t hide anymore. When they get here, they are going to want answers and I have no other choice but tell them everything.

Reaching into the pocket of my sweater, I pull out the photo the doctor gave me after the sonogram they did just before releasing me and tears well up in my eyes again as I stare down at my sweet baby. Through the fog of unconsciousness and the haze of fear, the clearest thoughts I had while they were loading me into the ambulance and bringing me to the hospital were of my baby. And while I laid on that exam table and waited what felt like hours for the doctor to come in and check me over, I thought about all of the mistakes I’ve already made in this baby’s life…