“Fuck,” a man curses under his breath. It’s strained and it takes me a moment to recognize it’s Jase. “You need the fluids,” Jase grits out.
My back presses into the cushions beneath me as the hands holding me down shove harder even though I stopped struggling.
“Stay down,” he orders and I don’t have the strength to answer. My head spins. It’s hot and bright.
“What happened?” I ask and my voice sounds far away. I’m trying to remember. Nothing is coming to me though.
“You were passed out when we got there. Scared the shit out of the old man.”
“The old man?” What’s the last thing I remember? My face is hot. The fight. She threw something at me. Laura… she punched me. Her eyes are filled with pain in my memory. I shake it away. No, no, that didn’t happen.
“What happened?” I question again, sounding delirious even to my own ears.
“You lost a lot of blood from the shot,” Jase says calmly and then he tells me to hold still. A random detail comes to me, the prick reminding me of another.
“They gave me something.”
“Stay still,” he warns again and more of what happened plays in my mind. It comes in flickers. Black and white slides of what happened as the needle pierces my forearm, finding a new vein. My jaw hardens, tightening and I refuse to react as everything comes flooding back.
“Laura,” I finally speak, the room starting to settle. “They’re going to kill her.”
“We know. You told us. This isn’t the first time you’ve woken up like this.”
“They said they’d kill her!” The words rush from me, my breathing coming in ragged as I remember what he said. Make it quick.
Jase doesn’t respond and dread spreads through me. “I don’t need anything,” I speak as I try to sit up but Jase is there to push me back down. The force of his shove knocks my breath from me. My head is still spinning.
“You need fluids.” His voice is harsh and although somewhere deep down I wonder if he’s right, I deny it, shaking my head and telling him to fuck off.
“Two hours,” he tells me like that will keep me down. “Just two hours.” The second time he speaks it’s like he’s asking me.
“She may not have two hours,” I say and my voice breaks. The words splinter with the lack of hope. “They’re going to kill her because of me.” I remember something important suddenly and speak again before Jase can say anything.
“Steven Davis. Find him, kill him.” I remember the name. I remember that dumb fuck. “He’s the one who said it. He’s one of Marcus’s—”
“You told us last night. We already found him, found the lot of them.”
The lot of them? I don’t remember. I struggle to recall the details.
“You said there were four and there were. The van was at the docks, looks like they were waiting on someone. Don’t think they expected us to show up, but we had the trace on Davis still.”
“You got them?” I want them all dead. Every one of them needs to die.
“They took off and he had a gun.” Jase talks to me absently and I look between him and the thin curtains over the windows. I recognize the bay windows, the coffee table, the art on the walls. It’s his girlfriend Bethany’s house. It was probably closer than the bar for him to transport me from wherever I was. More importantly, it’s dark outside. Everything comes back, drip by drip.
Jase keeps talking as I remember the pieces of what happened. “We had to shoot. We got him, he gave us the other three before he bled out and Declan got the plates on their vehicle. We’ve got their names and Declan has possible locations.”
“Let me, let me go.” I struggle to sit up.
“Just two hours,” he says and then I remember how he said last night.
“What time is it?” I ask, my blood pounding in my ears. How much time has passed? All three of them will pay but first, I need her safe. I need Laura back and by my side. “Is she okay?”
“Eight. We didn’t get you until four this morning. And yes, we have eyes on her.”
My hand travels down my side and my fingers brush over stitches. Everything moves slowly as I get colder and colder. Too much time has passed. “Where is she?” I question and again Jase doesn’t answer.
“We need to get to her!” I rip out the IV again and this time I have more strength, more alertness so when Jase’s arm comes down I’m prepared with my forearm already braced and shoving back. Whoever’s at my feet got a good kick to his groin and I’m up and off the sofa, breathing heavily like a wild animal and staring at a pissed off Jase Cross and some poor guy who’s doubled over.
The doc, maybe. I don’t know. I don’t recognize him or his voice.
“Don’t be stupid,” Jase says lowly, taking a step forward but not reaching for me.
“Fuck, shit,” the man I kicked sputters. I got him hard and if I wasn’t so concerned about Laura, maybe I’d care.
“We have guys on the inside.” Jase barely acknowledges the man. His focus stays on me.
“Who?” I say and the word comes out deep, rougher and louder than I intended. The man I don’t know slowly rises, his face both flushed and scrunched like he’s trying to hide his pain. “Sorry,” I bite out when he looks at me with contempt. He doesn’t respond but I can hear him swallow from all the way over here. Judging by where his hands are and the fact they don’t move even as he walks out of the living room and toward the half bath that’s down the hall, I hit him where it hurts.
Remorse courses slowly through me as my vision becomes clearer and the pieces of what’s happened line up, one after the other.
“A few guards are keeping an eye out. Walters, for one. Williams and Shultz. Chris Mowers.”
“Who’s getting her out?” I question, hating how tight my throat is at the thought of her in a cell. She’s not meant to be there.
“She shouldn’t even be in there,” I add before Jase can say anything and both of my hands fly to the back of my head. My breathing is quick, too quick as I pace in front of him.
It’s dark in this living room, but the floors sound the same as they did before. The soft groan of old hardwood. I look Jase in the eyes, pausing my steps and noting how tired he looks, how his five o’clock shadow is far too long. “It should’ve been me,” I say, dragging out the confession from the back of my throat.
A different kind of pain washes through me and I close my eyes, remembering how she shut the window even knowing the cops were coming.
“She took the fall and it should have been me.” Shit, everything would be different if she hadn’t done that. She’d be safe. “She shouldn’t be in there!”
“Listen to me,” Jase says in a hushed tone and he sounds closer. I open my eyes slowly and he is, he’s right next to me, reaching out his hand and gripping my shoulder. “She’s going to be fine.”
“You didn’t hear him,” I start to say, my head shaking chaotically as I remember the voice in the woods, the dead fucker who said, make it quick. I’ll never get it out of my memory. I won’t be able to sleep without hearing Davis again and again the moment my eyes close. Not until I know for certain Laura is safe.