Whiskey: A Reed Security Romance (Reed Security Series Book 7)

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  Alison

  I was smashed against the ground and I could barely breathe. Someone big was on top of me and I still didn’t know what was going on with Axel and Chris. I started wiggling to get away, but I couldn’t move the stiff body on top of me. Then there was a groan and I froze.

  “Stop fucking moving,” the voice whispered. Slowly, whoever it was rolled off me and I could finally see who had been on top of me. It was Gabe. He was holding his chest and grimacing in pain. I looked up quickly to see Axel next to Chris, pressing something against his body and Slasher on the ground, unmoving. I couldn’t process what was going on around me, so I scooted over to Gabe and started looking for injuries.

  “I’m fine,” he groaned. “I’m wearing a vest. Just give me a minute.”

  The shaking that was in my hands earlier was now a full on body shake. I was cold and then I was hot. I plopped down on my butt as spots appeared in my eyes.

  “Deep breaths,” Gabe bit out. “Put your head between your knees.”

  I tried, I really did, but I just couldn’t make myself move. I was the nurse. I was supposed to be the one taking care of other people, but I couldn’t even seem to take care of myself at the moment. Gabe’s face appeared directly in front of me. His eyes were creased with pain, but still, he grabbed my hands and squeezed tight.

  “Come on, Ali. Snap out of it and breathe.”

  My eyes flashed over to Chris again and all the blood on the floor around him. All that blood. It reminded me of being in the ER. I had seen gunshot wounds hundreds of times over the years, but it was never from someone I loved. It was never my heart and life on the line.

  “Ali!”

  A hard slap landed across my face and then I finally focused on Gabe shouting at me. Breathe, he was saying. I could do that. Simple, right? I took a strangled breath in and realized that I was really close to passing out if I didn’t start really breathing. I gulped in more air over and over until the dizziness passed and the spots disappeared. Gabe held my hand the whole time until I calmed down.

  “Chris. I have to get to Chris,” I whispered.

  “He’s over there. The ambulance is on the way.”

  Tears spilled down my cheeks as I got up and stumbled over to him. His shirt was soaked with blood and his eyes were just barely open.

  “Chris,” I cried. “Hold on. Help is coming.”

  “Ali.” It was faint and I could barely make out his words, so I leaned in closer. “Love you, Ali.”

  “I love you, too,” I cried. “Don’t talk like that, though. You’re going to be fine.”

  I sucked back the tears and wiped at my face as Gabe untied his bonds. He slowly lowered him to the ground and I ripped open his shirt to see where his wounds were. “Okay, okay. I can do this.”

  I pressed my hands over his wound, pushing harder when he cringed in pain. Pain was good. It meant his body was still feeling something. I just had to slow the bleeding. Gabe handed me his jacket and I quickly placed it over his wound and pressed hard again.

  “Don’t leave me, Chris.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, Ali. I already lost you once,” he whispered. I could barely see those dark eyes that were usually so full of life. Now they looked like they were barely hanging on. I could hear the ambulance in the distance and I could hear Gabe’s footsteps as he ran for the door, but my eyes were focused solely on the man in front of me. I watched as his breathing slowed and prayed when his eyes slid closed that it wouldn’t be the last time I ever saw him.

  “Mom,” Axel said from behind me.

  I shook my head as the tears slid down my face. “No,” I whispered. I couldn’t answer his questions right now. I couldn’t tell him whether his father would live or die. I couldn’t fathom the thought that we had fought so hard to be together again only for him to be ripped from my life by the man that had initially torn us apart. This wasn’t how our story ended. It couldn’t be.

  “Chris, you fight,” I said forcefully. His eyes fluttered, but he didn’t move. I pressed down hard with one hand over his wound and gripped his hand firmly in mine. “Chris! Do you hear me?”

  His head tilted slightly toward me and his eyes slitted open. He nodded slightly, but it wasn’t good enough.

  “Don’t give me that shit, Chris. You’re a fighter. You always have been. Fight, goddamnit!”

  He still didn’t say anything, but he let out a harsh breath that almost sounded like a light laugh. His eyes opened just a little more and we connected once again. I wouldn’t let that connection slip away.

  “Keep fighting. We have too much left to do. Do you hear me?”

  “How can…I not. You’re…fucking yelling…at me.” The words were choppy and forced, but even through all that, I could hear the humor in his voice. He was fighting with all he had and I knew he wouldn’t give up on me. There just wasn’t another way that this could end. Anything else wasn’t something I could even consider.

  “Ma’am, I need you to step aside. Ma’am.”

  I moved away, but my eyes never left Chris’s penetrating gaze. He stared at me the whole time they worked on him, grimacing when they started poking and prodding him. As they lifted him on the stretcher, I grabbed for his hand and felt his weak grip hold onto me.

  “Ma’am, you can follow-”

  “Bullshit. I’m going with you.”

  I could tell the paramedic wanted to argue, but that was just tough shit. Right before the ambulance door closed, I shouted to Gabe.

  “Gabe! Take Axel to the hospital.”

  He nodded and then the doors closed. I was shoved aside so they could work on him. The whole ride to the hospital, I did my best to keep my eyes on his. I was annoyed every time the paramedic moved in front of me and broke our connection, even though I knew it was necessary. Right before we arrived at the hospital, Chris’s eyes slid closed and they didn’t open again.

  My heart thudded loudly in my ears. The paramedics spoke loudly to each other and I was pushed further toward the back of the ambulance. If it was anyone but Chris, I would have known what was going on. I was an ER nurse. But it was Chris and I couldn’t look at him as just any patient. All I saw was my life slipping further and further away.

  I was pulled from the ambulance and shoved to the side as they rushed him through the doors. Everything was a haze around me now that Chris was no longer connected to me. I felt so lost. I didn’t know what to do. I just stood in the doorway of the hospital as the automatic doors opened and closed because I was still standing on the mat.

  I looked down at the blood staining my hands and clenched my fists tight. That couldn’t be the last time I spoke with Chris. There was so much that we had missed out on over the years. He didn’t get to teach Axel to ride a bike or how to skate. He didn’t hear his first words or see his first steps. But there were still things that he could be a part of. His first day of college, getting married, his first child.

  “Mom?” I was startled out of my thoughts by Axel shaking me. “I’ve been talking to you. Are you okay?”

  I looked at him funny. That was an odd question. His father might not live past today and he was concerned about me?

  “He’ll be okay, Mom.”

  His hand was on my shoulder in a reassuring gesture. It was then I realized that Axel was almost a man. He stood by me, tall and strong, much like his father. He had been training with him and I only now noticed how much he was beginning to take on Chris’s features. He was no longer the scared, timid kid that watched himself around Slasher. He was fierce and would one day be the warrior Chris was. I knew for certain that would be his path, especially after today.

  I gripped onto his hand as he led me into the waiting room. Slowly, every person from Reed Security filtered into the hospital, coming to wait to find out what was going on with Chris. I couldn’t stand all the people coming up to me with their reassuring thoughts and their pitying gazes. All I wanted was for everyone to leave me alone.

  Hours passed as I waited
for any scrap of news from the doctors, but we waited all afternoon and well into the night without any word, other than he was still in surgery. That could be seen two ways: one, that his body was surviving long enough to tolerate the surgery, or two, that there were complications and it was taking longer than expected. I couldn’t dwell on that right now. I walked in circles around the waiting room, trying to keep everyone from coming up to me and trying to soothe me. When Ice walked up to me for the third time in the past hour, I turned on my heel and walked away. I realized that he was one of Chris’s closest friends, but I wasn’t in the right state of mind to deal with him.

  A firm hand gripped me around the bicep and started dragging me down the hall. We walked down several halls and down a flight of stairs. I barely had time to register that it was Gabe as I was shoved into the women’s locker room.

  “What are you doing? We can’t be in here.”

  “You look like shit.”

  Typical Gabe. Would he ever treat me as anything other than the enemy?

  “Look, I’m not exactly worried about how I look right now. I just-”

  “Do you want Chris to see you like that?” he snapped. He pulled a strap off his shoulder and I realized he had a backpack with him. “Here, you need to change out of those clothes. I talked with the nurses and they’re going to let you use the locker room to clean up.”

  “I need to be back out there. The doctors are going to be coming out any minute now to tell us what’s going on with Chris.”

  “You need to pull yourself together. Chris doesn’t need to see you looking like a scene from Carrie.”

  “I hardly think that he’d care what I look like when he gets out of surgery.”

  “He’d worry about you instead of focusing on getting better,” he snarled.

  “Why are you still treating me like crap? What did I ever do to you? Have I not proven myself enough yet?” I shouted.

  He grabbed me by both arms and shook me slightly. “I’m trying to get you to take care of yourself. You’re a fucking mess and nobody is trying to put you back together. You know that Chris will be worried about you if he sees you all covered in blood. It’s gonna stress him out and he doesn’t need that. And you don’t need to wear the reminder of what happened today anymore. You need to get in that fucking shower and wipe off his blood and get your head on straight. You’ve been pacing the fucking waiting room for hours and it’s not helping you. But you can get cleaned up and stop reminding yourself every time that you look at your hands that you were at the scene of a murder.”

  I looked into his wide, fierce eyes and started to cry. I didn’t mean to, but he was right. I was a complete mess and part of me didn’t want to wipe away his blood because I was scared that it would wipe him away. Gabe pulled me against his chest and ran his large hand up and down my back as I cried against his massive frame. I gripped the back of his shirt and held on tightly as my body fell apart. It was all too much for the day. I wanted a do over on my life. I wanted to go back in time and have none of this happen. I just couldn’t deal with anything else right now.

  Gabe eased me back and looked at me in concern. “You’re going to be okay. So will Chris. Now, go get cleaned up. I’m going to be right outside the door if you need me. Ice will let me know if he hears anything, okay?”

  I nodded and sniffled as I wiped my nose. I could do this. I could shower and wipe away all the crap from today. I took the backpack from him and walked around the locker room until I found the shower. I stripped robotically out of my clothes and threw them right in the garbage. I didn’t need to see them again. I turned on the water and started to wash away the blood and dirt from my body, but the more I washed, the more appeared. What was going on? I couldn’t get it to come off.

  A desperate cry tore from my throat when the blood continued to stain my skin. I poured more soap onto the cloth and scrubbed harder. “Come on!” I yelled as I washed harder. Tears were pouring down my face as I slid down the wall of the shower, unable to stand and look at the blood anymore. I cried into my hands until I felt the water shut off. I looked up in surprise to see Gabe standing in front of me with a towel. He quickly covered me and helped me to my feet. When my knees wobbled, he picked me up and carried me into the changing area.

  “It’s okay. I’ve got you,” he murmured. He set me down on a bench and walked away, returning a few seconds later with another towel. He dried off my legs and arms and slipped the towel around my back. Opening the backpack, he pulled out underwear and a pair of yoga pants. He slid them onto my legs and I was surprised that it didn’t feel intimate. He actually looked a little embarrassed to be helping me. That’s when my brain finally kicked in and I stopped him before he had to slide them all the way up my legs.

  “Thanks. Sorry, I’m okay now.”

  He nodded and stood up. “I’ll be outside.”

  I quickly got dressed after that, embarrassed that I had gone into a full meltdown and had to be rescued by the one man that I thought completely hated me. I walked out with the empty backpack to see Gabe waiting for me in the hall. We silently walked up to the waiting area where everyone was still waiting. Did they all know what had just happened? It felt like everyone was watching me. My cheeks reddened when I thought of what Gabe had just done for me, but he just took a seat and nodded for me to sit down. I sat down beside him and ignored the worried looks.

  It was about a half hour later when the doctor finally came out to talk to us. Apparently, surgery had been more difficult than anticipated, but they were able to repair everything and he was in recovery. I wasn’t allowed back to see him for another half hour that felt more like an entire day. I was anxious to see his face again.

  When I finally made it to his room, Axel accompanied me, even though they told us to go one at a time. He had just as much right to be there as I did. When I walked in, I half expected for Chris to already be awake, which was silly because working in a hospital, I knew that people didn’t just wake up right after surgery. He was pale with dark bruises under his eyes, but otherwise, just appeared to be sleeping.

  I sat down beside him and held his hand, staring at his features. Hours passed and I was getting anxious for him to wake up. Axel had been staring out the window for a while now, just staring at the parking lot. I wished now more than ever that I had some hobby that could keep me busy, like crocheting or knitting. Anything to keep my hands and mind occupied until he woke up. I didn’t have a book on me and I didn’t want to turn on the TV. What if it disturbed him?

  The nurse came in several times over the course of the next few hours to check on him and then informed us that visiting hours were over.

  “I’m not leaving,” I said urgently.

  “Ma’am, we’ll inform you when he wakes up, but right now, you need to leave.”

  “I’m pretty sure that family is allowed to stay.”

  “You aren’t married,” she said firmly.

  “No, but he is the father of my child. I’m not leaving.”

  “Ma’am, if you don’t leave-”

  “She’s staying.”

  I looked beyond the nurse to see Gabe standing in the hallway with his arms crossed over his chest. Ice, Jules, Cap, and Maggie were standing behind him with the same stern expressions on their faces. “We’re his security detail and she’s a part of that. They stay together until we’re sure the threat is over.”

  When the nurse looked at everyone else and then back toward the nurses station, Gabe grinned and sent me a quick wink. I finally got it in that moment. Once I became a part of the Reed Security family, there was nothing that would keep any of them from looking after me. They weren’t just here to support Chris, but also Axel and me.

  The nurse huffed and walked away.

  “Thank you.”

  Gabe nodded. “Is he awake yet?”

  “No. It’s been a few hours now. He should have woken up by now.”

  “Well, his body’s been through a lot. I’m sure he’s just taking it
easy, trying to pull one over on all of us.”

  “Sure.” I didn’t really agree with his statement, but I knew he was trying to ease my worry, so I let it slide. “Do you want to go in?” I asked them.

  “We’ll wait until he’s awake,” Cap said before anyone else could answer.

  As I looked around at Chris’s family, I almost burst into tears, grateful that I had the support system of all his friends. I hadn’t had anyone to look after me in years, and while I knew they were here for Chris, I also knew that they were here for me. As if sensing my distress, Gabe walked over to me and wrapped me in a hug before dragging me back into the room where he sat in the corner. Just knowing that it wasn’t just Axel and I waiting took away some of the tension.

  As the hours passed, I grew more and more anxious. The nurses started coming in more frequently and their hushed whispers were enough to make me feel like I was going insane. By the time the twenty-four hour mark came and went, I was a nervous wreck, snapping at the nurses every time they came in.

  “Why isn’t he awake yet? Something’s wrong. I want the doctor in here now.”

  “Ma’am, his body has been through-”

  “I’m a nurse. I don’t need you to talk to me gently and give me a bunch of platitudes. I need to know what’s wrong with him. Just tell me the truth!”

  I was getting out of control. I could see it on the nurse’s face and I could feel it in the erratic behavior I had started to display. I was truly losing my mind. If he didn’t wake up, I was all alone again. Axel would move on with his life and make something of himself, but I would be left to deal with the fallout of losing the man I loved for a second time. I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t stand here and wait for them to tell me that my life was essentially over. It was all too much.

  Gabe’s hands gripped my shoulders in support, but I feared also to hold me back from clawing this woman’s eyes out. I was that close to losing it. I took a deep breath and tried to speak in a calm voice.