Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
“On their way,” Charlie says. “Pops said they are a couple of minutes out.”
I turn back to her, seeing her beautiful face half beaten, and the rage creeps back inside me. “Help is coming, baby.” I bend to kiss her lips, not sure if I should even touch her, but knowing I can’t help myself. “Don’t leave me.” My voice is so desperate, as her eyes close and take even longer to open—until they don’t, and the only thing I can think of is, Don’t fucking leave me. I put my forehead to hers. “Don’t leave me, baby,” I beg. “Please don’t leave me.”
I kiss her lips again, then her cheek, which has a purple bruise, and I get up, seeing black again. I walk toward his body lying on the floor, then lift my leg back and kick him in the side. A soft groan comes out of him, and I do it again.
“Jesus fucking Christ.” I look over and see Brock and Brady rushing in. His hand goes to his mouth while Brady rushes to the bed. “Would you look at this fucking room?” It’s then I stand back and look at it. The whole wall is covered with pictures of Lilah. Pictures he’s taken of her at work and a couple at her place with her sitting on the couch. There is even a couple of her sleeping. “Sick fuck,” Brock says.
“How is she?” Brock asks, looking at Brady.
“Her pulse is steady,” he reports, “but she’s bleeding.” He looks around and then rushes out of the room, coming back with a towel and pressing it to her side.
It feels like an eternity before we hear the sirens. I walk to her side, taking her bloody hand in mine and bringing it to my lips. “Help is here, baby.” I move to the side of her head, talking in her ear. “Help is here, baby. I am going to need you to be stronger for just a little bit longer.” The need to crawl into bed with her fills my body, and I hear the pounding of footsteps coming our way.
The paramedics come in first with a gurney. “What do we have?” One of them looks at me.
“She’s been stabbed at least once,” Brady says of the wound. “I applied pressure.” The paramedic nods at him as he moves away so he can step in there.
“Sir,” the other paramedic says, “I’m going to need to get in there.” I move to the side but not far from her.
“BP is one seventy over one ten,” he says, looking over at the other paramedic. “We better get her out of here before she codes.”
“She codes,” I repeat the words as I watch them lift her onto the gurney. “I’m coming with you,”
I state, running with them as they rush to the front door.
The lights from the police cars now fill the front. I see a couple of the police officers running toward the house while we run away from them. Pops is running down the street when he sees me.
“How is she?” He looks at me and then at the gurney as we stop at the ambulance.
“Alive.” That’s the only thing that really matters.
“Where is Sammy?” he asks when he sees blood on me.
“Also alive.” I motion to the house.
“We’ll meet you at the hospital,” he says. “Her parents are there now. They got here, and I sent them straight to the hospital.”
“Are you coming or staying?” one of the paramedics asks when they get her in while the other one runs to the front to drive.
“I’m coming,” I reply, putting one foot on the back of the ambulance and getting in. I sit on the side of the gurney as he closes the door. “Can I hold her hand?” I ask, and he nods.
I take her hand in mine, bringing it to my lips. I will never not kiss her, never. I look at her lying on the gurney. “I came as soon as I could.” I lean forward to the side of her head. When I kicked in the door, we were met by silence. Both of us looked around the living room, which led into a kitchen and a long, dark hallway to the back of the house. I took two steps in, listening to the silence of the house. The only thing I could hear was the heavy breathing that was coming out of me when I heard her cry for help, and the only thing I could do was follow the sound of her voice to the back of the house. When I first walked into the bedroom, it looked normal, but then I heard her yell from behind the wall. It felt like forever until we pressed on it, and the door opened, then I saw her. Her hair was dyed black, and her face was paler than I’d ever seen her before, with one eye swollen. She also had a cut on her right cheek and a busted lip.