“We have to get out of here.” He lowers his voice, and I can tell he’s in shock. He grabs his gear in one hand and grabs my hand in his other. He brings us down the trail and spots Alex. I can tell he’s confused, but he keeps walking anyway.
“Where are we going?” I ask, desperate to get him out of here.
“Some place I can keep you safe.”
I’m not sure what that means but I’m not about to question it at a time like this. I want Eric safe—he’s the one I’m worried about.
I feel Alex walking behind us. I slow down, pulling Eric with me. I need to know everything Alex knows about Aiden. About his plan.
“Alex, what is Aiden’s plan?” I ask, looking over my shoulder. I see Eric scanning the area, curious as to what he’s thinking.
“I swear that's as much as I know. His plan was to direct Eric away from you, get you to himself, and then he said the fire would take care of Eric. I don’t know what he means by that but he has to have something planned.”
Fudge nugget.
I mean, fuck.
“I’ll take you to guys to the truck. You should get out of here.” Alex walks ahead, leading us to where he parked.
We continue walking as Eric is clenching my hand. I know he must have a million questions, but I can’t explain all of them to him right now. I just need to get him out of here.
“Oh my God,” Alex moans, freezing in his tracks. I end up bumping into his back as my feet don’t get the memo. I look around Alex to see why he is gasping.
Aiden.
He’s leaning against Alex’s truck rather nonchalantly, as if he’s just waiting for us. A devilish smile appears on his face as he sees the three of us. Shit.
Eric pushes through us and darts right for Aiden, dropping his gear to the ground. I chase after him but Eric is too determined to smash his face in.
“Eric, stop! Wait!” I plead, reaching up to him. “He’s not worth it,” I mumble, grabbing his arm. He stops right in front of Aiden, contemplating what to do.
“She’s right. You may want to listen to your little girlfriend.” Aiden’s grin puts Eric in a rage as he goes to smash his fist in his face. Unfortunately, Aiden sees it coming and quickly moves his head. Eric ends up punching the window, smashing it into a million tiny pieces. Eric grabs his hand, now covered in blood, and shakes it off. Now he’s enraged.
“Eric! No!” I beg, not wanting him to get hurt anymore.
I feel Alex behind me, grabbing me by the shoulders. “You need to move.”
Eric swings again, this time making contact with Aiden’s gut. It doesn’t do much but feed Aiden’s fury. I squirm as they begin to battle it out. I knew this would happen if Aiden was around Eric again. I can’t do anything. They are both double my size. I stand there, helpless and infuriated.
“Alex, do something!” I screech, begging him to interfere. However, Alex isn’t a large guy and stands no chance at separating the two.
Before Alex can interfere, Eric and Aiden are pounding each other, rolling around on the dirt ground. I’m not sure who’s punching who anymore. I’m standing there, watching and having no clue what to do but yell.
“Aiden, stop it!” That does absolutely nothing to stop the fight—rather I think it fuels Aiden even more. I can’t just stand here and watch. I need to get help.
I run back to where I first saw the patrol officer and tell him one of the firefighters is in danger. He stares at me suspiciously before he takes what I say into consideration and finally follows me back. But they aren’t there.
They’re gone.
“Eric!” I scream, circling the area, looking for any signs of movement.
I hear a commotion coming from behind us, and as I turn, I see two bodies falling down the cliff. Eric and Aiden’s bodies separate as they roll down, colliding into rocks along the way.
I feel helpless.
Eric and Aiden both land on flat ground, lifeless. I slide down the cliff on my butt and run over to Eric, examining for any injuries. His body is pressed up against a large rock stuck in the ground and his hands are covered in blood. I roll his body over and examine his head. It’s scraped with gashes and there’s blood practically covering his entire face.
I glance over and see Aiden looking pretty much the same; however, I don’t give a damn about him. I hear the patrol officer calling over his radio for paramedics and airborne medical transport. Eric isn’t responding to my voice, so I squeeze his hand. Nothing.
The patrol officer leans down and notices what I’ve already seen. I can tell he doesn’t know what to do, either. Alex hovers over me, trying to keep me calm, but there’s no calm left in me.
“Eric! God, please, wake up!” I lay my hands on his cheeks, rubbing the blood away. I press my head to his chest, begging for a heartbeat.
“Alex, help! Please! He’s not waking up!” I can’t believe I have to ask him of all people for help, but right now, I’m desperate.
“He’s bleeding. We need something to stop it.” We begin to look around, but we’re out in the middle of a damn cliff.
“Take your shirt off,” I order, directing my hand in front of him.
“Um, I don’t think now is the time for that.”
“For a tourniquet you dumbass!” I punch him in the shoulder for even insinuating that at a time like this.
He rips his shirt off and tears it in two. I take one and he takes one as we each press down on the worst gashes on his abdomen. His stomach is covered with cuts and dents. It looks awful.
“Eric, babe! Can you hear me? God, please!” I shout through tears that have now turned into sobs. The realization that Eric is hardly breathing has me panicking, but I try to do everything in my power to keep it together.
Pressing down on him seems to be working. The blood starts to clot and his chest begins to rise. I kneel closer to his face, keeping just inches away.
“Baby, please. If you can hear me, please stay with me,” I beg, stroking his face with my other hand. “I love you,” I finally whisper, meaning it more now that ever before. I haven’t told Eric until now, although I’m sure he knew. I don’t know why I didn’t just tell him. And now he may never be able to hear me say it.
The sound of a chopper jerks my head up to the sky. Finally! I see it spinning in circles, searching for a flat place to land. I back up as paramedics arrive on the scene as well. They don’t take long to assess him before getting his body on the stretcher. Once Eric is fastened in, I rush to his side and clench his hand.
“I love you,” I whisper again into his ear. I regret not telling him over and over before. Just when I find someone able to make me feel worthy and complete, I may lose him.
“Ma’am?” I hear one of the paramedics behind me. I look up. “There was a report of two people.”
“Yes. He’s right over there,” I respond, pointing around him. However, the moment he moves to look, I see around him and notice Aiden is nowhere in sight. He’s gone.
“I’m sorry. Where, ma’am?” he asks, clearly as confused as I am.
What the hell.
“I swear he was right over here.” I go to where his body was before. All that remains are some blood spots. But he’s gone. Aiden is gone.
“He, um, must’ve walked away or something,” I mumble, not sure of how the hell he could have. If his injuries were anything like Eric’s, how in the world could he even walk?
The paramedic looks at me as if I’ve completely lost it and walks back to his partner. Eric is loaded into the chopper and within seconds, the chopper takes off. I squint up at the sky as it sounds off through the air, leaving me distraught and in tears.
“Where the hell did he go?” I ask Alex, who looks as frightened as I feel. I don’t have time to try and find him. I need to get to Eric as soon as possible.
Alex agrees to take me to the hospital but the entire drive there is awful. I want him to gun it, speed and race through traffic…whatever it takes to get to Eric’s side. And quickly.
Watching Eric fight for me…no one has ever done that before. No one has ever cared enough, except perhaps Carissa, which is why I love her so much. However, she won’t always be here. I mean, she will always be my friend, but some day she’ll move on and have a family of her own. Maybe not anytime soon, but she will.
We finally make it to the hospital and Alex drops me off at the ER entryway. I don’t even think to thank him, but at this point, I really don’t think he deserves one anyway.
“Hi, can you, um, help me. I’m looking for someone who was airlifted here.” A young woman, chewing gum so damn loud I can barely hear my own thoughts, just stares at me as if I’m speaking Japanese.
“All guests must sign in,” she slowly explains, taking no regard to my panicked tone. She pushes a clipboard in my face with a sheet and pen attached.
Are you flipping kidding me?
“I just need to know where to find him. Please!” I beg, shouting louder this time.
She just stares at me and continues chewing. And chewing. Ugh. Fine.
I grab the damn clipboard from her hand and scribble some semblance of my name. “Okay, here. Now can you tell me where he is?”
She slowly takes the sheet and without eye contact says, “He’s in trauma room twelve. You must stop at the nurses’ station before you can enter.” She nods her head at the double wood doors and presses a button to open them. Thank frigging God.
I race in, desperately searching for the nurses’ station. When I finally find it, no one is there. Come on! This cannot be happening.
“Hello?” I yell out to anyone that’s willing to respond. “Can someone help me, please?”
A loud beeping noise distracts me from my search, and instead of waiting on a nurse, I decide to follow the noise.
A light on the ceiling flickers in response to the beeping that’s coming from room twelve. Monitors and machines are all going off as I see what looks to be a dozen doctors and nurses surrounding him.
I can’t see much around the bodies hovering over Eric, but I hear lots of yelling, screaming, and worst of all, panic. And then the worst sound of all…flat line.
“Code Blue! Code Blue!”
“Make room! Crash cart!”
“Clear!”
The yelling repeats three more times before all the sound and movement halt. Move!
“Call it.”
“Time of death: 19:36.”
“NOOOOOO!!!!” I scream, unaware of where all the air came from. I start to rush in but a nurse holds me back. “Let me in! No!”
“Ma’am, you need to back up, I’m sorry,” she replies calmly.
“Noooo, don’t give up! Please! Don’t give up on him!” I begin to hyperventilate, unable to grasp what is happening. “Please!” I desperately beg.
No, God, please! No!
I crash to my knees, still wrapped in the nurse’s arms. She lowers her body with mine, stroking my hair between her fingers. My eyes cloud up with tears. I can’t catch my breath…
Ten minutes later, the nurse lets go of me and helps me rise to my feet. The tears haven’t subsided but I know I need to get up.
“Can I call someone for you?” she asks softly. I nod, unable to keep eye contact with her, or anyone else for that matter.
I stumble to the waiting area, unable to make my feet move any further. Alex barges through the ER doors and comes to my side. He must notice the mascara running down my cheeks because he doesn’t try to calm me.
“He didn’t make it,” he says, more of a statement than a question. His voice is sincere, and I decide I can no longer hate Alex, even though I should. I let him console me. I continue shedding tears onto his shirt, letting the realization of Eric being gone sink in.
CHAPTER 18
Alex and I lay on the floor for what seems like an eternity. I hate that he’s the one holding me, but what does it matter anymore? My life is over.
My heart is gone.
The first person I ever loved…the one who saved me from myself. Over and over again…
Gone.
“Ma’am?” the gum-chewing receptionist interrupts. I glance over, wondering what the hell she wants.
“Yeah?” I mutter though broken sobs. I wipe my cheeks with the back of my hand and stand up. I expect she’ll want his family’s information.
“Your friend is being moved to ICU. You can go see him in there,” she informs, continuing to chew loudly.
Wait, what?
“I think you have me confused with someone else.”
She crosses her eyes at me, flipping through her stupid clipboard. “You signed in as Velaney, right?” I nod. “Mr. Reilley is in room eleven and he’s being transferred to ICU now.”
I’m sorry…what?
“Wait, did you just say room eleven?” I narrow my eyes, ready to run her dumb ass down.
“Yes, ma’am. He was in trauma room eleven. And now he’s being moved to the ICU,” she says slowly as if I’m stupid or something.
“You told me room twelve!” I scream, ready to strangle her. Alex puts a hand on my shoulder as he senses my intentions.
She looks back down at her paperwork, smacking her lips. “Oh…looked like a two a minute ago. Sorry about that,” she mutters, having no emotion in her face.
I run past her and rush through the doors back to where the trauma rooms are. I leave Miss Chews-Gum-Loud-Enough and Alex behind, not caring if I’m breaking any rules or not.
I look in room twelve and see the sliding doors are shut and covered by a curtain. Directly across…room eleven. I peek my head in and there he is…
His eyes are closed and he has what looks to be a chest tube, but he’s breathing. There’s an oxygen line under his nose and IV lines in both hands. The monitor above him shows a strong heartbeat and high oxygen level. I’m so freaking happy, I start to cry all over again.
“Sweetheart?” he whispers, cracking his eyes open just enough to see the emerald shine through.
I slowly walk to his side, blinking to make sure it’s really him. My mind is wandering a million miles right now at the realization of how many emotions I just felt over the past couple of hours.
Aiden.
Alex.
Eric.
I can’t handle it. I never could handle Aiden…and now he’s vanished somewhere to God knows where. Alex is still too sketchy for me to trust. And Eric. I fully believed he was gone. Dead. I never thought I’d see him again.
“Babe?”
“Please tell me that son-of-a-bitch looks worse than I do.” He flashes a grin, making my insides melt. He must have some good pain medication.
I give a small smile back before telling him the bad news. “He escaped before the paramedics arrived.”
He goes still, eyes wide with disbelief
I inhale quickly before speaking again. “I thought you died. When I first arrived, they told me you were in the room across the hall. And that person crashed.” His eyes widen as he realizes how scared I just was. “I thought I lost you,” I cry, unable to hold it in any longer. I lay my head on his shoulder as his hand wraps around me.
“Shh, it’s okay, sweetheart. I will never leave you.”
“My heart broke into a million pieces, Eric. I’m the reason you’re hurt. I’m the reason for all of this.” I pull my body back, looking him directly in his eyes. I want him to know I’m serious…that this will never end with Aiden.
“Sweetheart, this is not your fault. I’m going to find Aiden and make sure he never bothers you again,” he says slowly and emphasizes the word never. It sends chills down my body at what Eric is saying…at what he’s capable of doing to ensure my safety.
It only brings me back to what Aiden may be planning. Clearly, Aiden is always a step ahead of me. There has to be some reason he’s back in my life now. But why?
“I don’t know where he is. I don’t know what he wants. I just don’t know!” I don’t mean to panic and have a complete meltdown but considering everything I jus
t went through, it just erupts out of me.
Before Eric can respond, his nurse enters the room and informs us he’ll be moved to the ICU now. I kiss Eric’s cheek and walk out without saying another word.
* * *
“What the hell is going on?” Carissa races into the ICU waiting room, where I wait to be allowed in by Eric. I called her in tears, begging her to come to the hospital right away. I can’t handle the overwhelming emotions I’m feeling. It’s too much…so freaking much.
This is now the second time in my life that something has gone completely wrong after saying the F bomb. I might be superstitious, but it doesn’t feel like coincidence.
“I don’t even know where to begin, Riss. I mean…there was Alex, then Aiden…he went after me, after Eric…Aiden is missing…Eric is here.” I weep before I can continue any further.
She doesn’t say anything. She just holds me as I let every emotion, feeling and thought drain out of my body.
When my breathing finally steadies, I lift my face and wipe away the tears. I collect myself and exhale slowly as I prepare to tell Carissa the whole story.
“Holy shit balls!” she squeals after I bring her up to speed.
“Exactly.”
“So, Aiden was just gone? Like, he disappeared?”
“Yeah. One minute he was there, the next he was gone. Who knows where he is now. No matter what, he’ll always be…around.” The thought sends shivers down my body. There’s no escaping Aiden. He won’t stop until he gets what he’s after.
Me.
I’m finally allowed in to see Eric. He’s mostly covered in bruises and scratches. The doctor explains how his muscular body saved his life. He cracked a couple of ribs and his lung collapsed, but other than that, he’ll be out of the hospital in a few days. He could have died…because of me.
* * *
I try not to freak out every time I see Eric when I visit him. That first night was the hardest, but since then he’s been on steady pain medication. His bruises have also started to fade and his gashes are becoming scars.
Alphas & Millionaires Starter Set Page 37