He closed his eyes, squeezing them tight as he prayed for a miracle. Prayed to every God in existence, to every ancestor in his Irish heritage. As he offered everything he had, everything he could think of to sacrifice in exchange for her life, he drifted back to that morning.
Kissing her. Teasing a laugh from her, bringing hesitant joy into her eyes. The joy which often seemed dubious, as though she couldn’t bring herself to accept the fact she deserved to be happy. That she deserved to be loved.
The joy which came faster and easier with every moment she spent with him. It showed in the way her eyes grew brighter when she saw him, the way she hugged him of her own accord. She’d gotten braver over the last week—kissing him first, taking his hand and dragging him upstairs to bed. Their bed. The house had been dead before she came into it.
Braun was beginning to think he had been, too.
Blood throbbed under his fingertips. One slow, weak surge of blood passing through the artery.
His eyes popped open, popped wide. “Bodie? Bodie, can you hear me?” He cupped her face as gently as he could, struggling not to hurt her. “Bodie, I’m here, little one. Hold on, you hear me? You stay strong for me and you fight to stay alive. I’m fighting for you, too, baby, I promise.”
“Braun? Ambulance is ten minutes out—oh, holy fuck.” Jasper growled audibly, the sound vibrating on the air. “Is she alive?”
“I think...I think she is.”
“Okay, brother, let me see.” Taking charge, Jasper whistled for Atticus. “Gonna need that first aid kit, Atticus. You got your knife on you?”
The air changed as Jasper and Atticus entered. The empty space filled with barely contained lethal testosterone. Atticus reached into his jacket pocket, slapped a folding knife into Jasper’s hand and dropped the kit beside Braun. “Think there needs to be a reckoning for this. Want me to make some calls, get the ball rolling?”
Jasper’s face was hard, his eyes roving over Bodie’s body with a critical eye. “Not yet. There’s time for that once our poppet's on the mend. We need to stabilize her legs. This is gonna be rough, so I need you to keep your fucking heads on straight and do exactly as I tell you. Braun, you need to find something to stem the head wound.”
He couldn’t bring himself to take his fingers away from that barely-there pulse. It was his only reassurance she was still with him.
“Fuck, he’s in shock. Atticus, grab something off that pile of clothes there, would you? Fold it into a pad, then press it against that laceration. We need to try and keep what little blood she has left inside her.” Jasper snapped open the knife. “Braun, I have to move her legs. It might bring her around, and if it does, she’s going to be in a world of pain. Can you deal with this shit?”
Snap out of it, asshole. She’s alive. We need to keep her that way.
“Yeah. Yeah, I can cope.” His lips felt numb.
Jasper laid her limbs straight, quickly removing her boots and socks. His fingers dug into the tops of her feet. “Shit. No pedal pulse in her right foot. A faint one in her left.” Slipping the blade under the cuff of her jeans, Jasper painstakingly cut upwards, hacking through denim mercilessly until she was bare to the thigh. He attacked the other one, muttering under his breath. “This is where it gets bad. Be ready for her to wake up. Keep her calm, she’s gonna hurt.”
His fingers curled around her right calf just below her knee, thumbs resting on either side of the bone. Gently, he ran his cupped hands down until he stopped at what Braun assumed was the break. “Braun, take the pad from Atticus. Put plenty of pressure on it. Head wounds bleed like a bitch. Atticus, get onto the other side of her. Put your hands exactly where mine are, okay?”
Moving like a shadow, Atticus obeyed. It seemed neither man was inclined to do anything but what Jasper told them. Apparently, he knew what he was doing. “The hell you know how to do this shit, Jasper?”
“I’ve got some secrets of my own,” was the cryptic reply. “Now, you feel where the bone's jutting up under the skin? That’s putting pressure on the artery in her leg. If we don’t reduce the pressure, she could end up losing her foot. So, I’m going pull gently on her foot, Atticus, and you’re going to tell me when that bone lines back up as best it can. Then we need to strap it into position and do the same with her other one.”
Braun watched the big man gulp. “The EMTs—”
“Are too far away. There’s no pulse in this foot, which means it’s in trouble.” Jasper snagged a blanket, tucked it around Bodie’s still form before he knelt by her feet. He grabbed the first aid kit, ripped it open, and took out a bandage. “Ready?”
Grim nods responded.
The moment Jasper lifted her ankle, Bodie stirred. A quick flutter of eyelashes, a twitch of her lip as pain registered. Braun's fingers finally relinquished his touch on her throat, gently brushed her swollen cheek.
“We’ve got you, baby. Jasper’s fixing your leg, so just you hold still for him, okay? We’re not leaving you, I swear. We’re gonna see you through this, little one.”
Tiny fingers flexed as Jasper manipulated her damaged limb. Her body writhed with the smallest movements. The broken cry that slipped through her cracked, swollen lips severed him in two from heart to soul.
He couldn’t take away the agony of this, didn’t know how to stop it. Without hesitation, he’d have taken it into himself to spare her, but it couldn’t be done. All he could do was stroke her face, murmuring to her, as his friend tried to save her life.
The broken cry turned into a keening wail, the distress call of a wounded animal in unbearable agony. Her fingernails scraped over the mattress, seeking purchase.
“Almost there, poppet, I promise. I know it hurts like a motherfucker, but I need to do it. Those EMTs are on their way right now and they’re gonna give you some of the best fucking drugs on the planet.” Jasper’s face was a picture of concentration, his hands pulling on her heel. “Atticus?”
“Bone’s moving. Little bit more and it’ll be straight. There!”
“Okay, get the bandage and wrap it tightly over the break to hold it in place. You know how to do a tourniquet. I’m maintaining traction, but you need to hurry up. That’s it,” he coached in a firm voice. “Tighter, Atticus. It needs to hold until the EMTs arrive.”
Bodie’s skin was no longer pale. She was translucent. Her teeth chattered as much as her abused face would allow.
“That’s my girl. That’s my good girl. So brave, Bodie. Help’s coming, it’ll be here any minute. Just hold on for me. Keep breathing, darlin'. I’m not losing you tonight.” It was the goddamn truth. He’d thought she was dead when he walked into the room; he wasn’t going to let it become truth now he’d been proved wrong.
“Good job, Atticus. Grab one of those pillows. When I lift her leg, slide it under her calf. It’ll help stabilize it until the EMTs bring the right gear for this sort of injury.” When the pillow was in place, Jasper checked the pulse again. “Real good fucking job, brother. Pulse is picking up.”
Bodie whined.
“You’re a fucking legend, poppet. I know grown men who’ve cried like babies with injuries nowhere near as bad as this. Wait until I tell them about the little wisp of a woman who put them all to shame.” Jasper smiled at her, but Braun saw the strain around his friend’s eyes and mouth. “I need you to be just this strong one more time, okay, poppet? One more time.”
Her eyes cracked open, swimming with pain that turned blue to midnight. Her breath whistled uneasily through clenched teeth.
Jasper repeated his examination on her left leg, carefully feeling for the break. He gestured to Atticus with his chin when he located it, further down near her ankle. “This one’s not as bad as the first, Bodie. Nowhere near. Two minutes and we’ll have you strapped up.”
When Atticus took over holding her ankle, Jasper plucked another bandage free. “Just like last time, brother. Nice and steady.”
Bodie’s hand lifted a bare inch off the mattress. Braun immediately reach
ed for it, curling his fingers lightly around hers. She’d gotten some licks in, he noted with pride. Her knuckles were puffy and red, her nails bloodied underneath. He squeezed carefully, aware he could hurt her more.
“We got two cruisers and an EMT rig!” Loki shouted from the front.
Jasper didn’t so much as blink as he wrangled the bone back into position. “Bandage it up, Atticus. You still got pressure on that head lac, Braun?”
“Yes. All good.”
“Excellent. We’re all done, poppet. You’ve done really well. Those drugs are about thirty seconds away, and you've damn well earned them.” Jasper rubbed the top of her feet slowly. “Circulation’s starting to come back.”
“Gonna be a lot of fucking questions we can’t answer,” Atticus said with a grunt. “Cops are gonna lose their shit over this.”
“We tell them the truth about what we know. It’s about time they started acting like cops when it comes to the fuckers who did this, because this sure as hell isn’t their first time beating someone to death’s door.” Braun leaned down and kissed Bodie’s forehead as her eyes became unfocused. “It’ll be their last, one way or another.”
“I’ve got connections,” Atticus murmured as footsteps hammered down the hallway and into the living room. “Just say the word and they’ll be sliced, diced, and part of the menu for the tigers at the zoo.”
The conversation ended as a whip-thin man approached the doorway in a medic's uniform. Two cops were on his heels, followed by another EMT.
Braun let Jasper take over again, explaining Bodie’s injuries and how he’d treated them as the EMTs got straight to action. He was nudged aside as they went to work, installing drips and shooting her with enough pain relief to last for a few hours.
He spoke to the cops, told them everything he had knowledge of, and while they wrote down what he said, he plotted. He planned.
This wasn’t over.
Chapter Fourteen
He hated hospitals with a passion.
That hatred quadrupled the longer he spent time in one.
From what the doctors were saying, this would be his new reality for many weeks to come...if Boadicea survived her injuries. Right now, that was a big fucking if. Her life hung in the balance. So much trauma to such a little body had consequences and it had become tragically clear over the past few hours just how much his little one had endured.
The sharp-faced, grim-eyed doctor who had initially taken charge of Bodie upon arrival hadn’t been the bearer of good news. Her voice had been gentle, compassionate, even when faced with a solid wall of dominant men, but her message had been an unmistakable warning: Be prepared to lose her.
Concussion, severe blood loss. Two broken legs, hairline fractures in her right arm and left cheekbone. Cracked ribs, internal bleeding, and a nasty laceration to the scalp.
Four hours after Bodie was rushed to the emergency room, it seemed all that was left to do was wait...and wait. Playing their last time together over and over through his mind, wondering if there was something different he could have done to change the course of her fate.
Of course, there was. There always was.
Wasn’t that the way of it? Life came down to choices, didn’t it? Every tiny decision a person made in the journey of their day could alter their future without them ever knowing. Have a cup of tea that morning instead of the usual coffee and bang! Because it took a minute longer to make than coffee, you end up in a car wreck.
Existence came down to making your choice and dealing with the repercussions, praying luck fell on your side and didn’t get you or someone you loved killed.
And then there were those souls who seemed destined to fall into the shit, no matter what they did. They fell fast, sank deep, and were mired before they knew it, on a path to destruction from the start.
Braun looked around the waiting room with a heavy heart. The space was filled with Avalon Masters and one pacing Mistress. His friends. Bodie’s friends. A support network unlike he’d ever known, circling the wagon around the submissive they’d come to love as much as he did.
Now more than ever, he was so, so fucking grateful he’d told Bodie he loved her every chance he’d had. His fists clenched against his thighs, wishing love had been enough to protect her while her bastard of a father battered her into pieces.
Atticus was right—there was a reckoning coming, and Braun planned to be at the head of the charge into battle. Fury bubbled under his skin, simmering away toward boiling point. When it hit its peak, Abraham McGee was going to rue the day he ever lifted a hand toward his daughter.
Connie dropped into the seat next to him, her face tight with worry. Her hand automatically rested on his fist, and with a sigh, Braun loosened it and turned it over to take hers. She was trembling, wound up so tight her curvy body was ready to implode. “They’ll be by soon,” she assured him, though her voice wavered slightly. “If they haven’t been to give us an update yet, it means she’s still fighting, Braun. She’s still with us.”
He ran his free hand through his hair, then studied the dried blood on his skin. Bodie’s blood, her life, staining his hands. He fisted it again, nails biting into his palm. “She’s strong, Connie. I don’t think she realizes how strong she is. I...I wasted so much time, thinking she was already dead, and she was holding on while I hesitated.”
She nudged his face toward her. Gray eyes brimmed with tears, but she didn’t let them fall. He thanked God for that; his own were precariously close to the surface. “Atticus told me what you walked into, Braun. That amount of blood usually indicates loss of life. He and Jasper assumed the worst as well. The main thing is, the three of you worked as a team and kept her alive long enough for the EMTs to get there. That’s what you concentrate on. If you hadn’t gone to help her when you did, she’d be gone. Twenty, thirty minutes later and there’d have been no hope.”
His lip curled. “She shouldn’t have fucking been there by herself!”
“Boadicea’s one of the most independent women I’ve ever met. She’s had to be. She hasn’t had a choice to be dependent on anyone but herself; living with you for a few days isn’t enough time to alter the habits of a lifetime, and you know it.” She shook her head. “That woman loves you, boss. She went there to close out a chapter of her life she hated so she could start a new one with you.”
Braun closed his eyes, breathed through the constriction in his chest. He was well aware there was no sense in flogging himself for not being there with her—choices and destiny, after all—but guilt was a tenacious bitch, savaging his heels with nasty teeth. “I could have made her stay with me until the plumbing was fixed. It wasn’t that important, for fuck’s sake. It would’ve waited until tomorrow. Now I don’t even know if she’ll see tomorrow.”
With strength he often forgot she possessed, Connie pulled his head down to her shoulder, wrapped her arms around him. “You bet your ass she will. You think she fought like hell to get here and then let it slide through her fingers? Don’t be an idiot. She’ll be sassing the nurses before she comes around from the anesthetic.”
He laughed, the sound perilously close to a sob. “Yeah, she will. God help them if they put a catheter in; I really don’t think medical play is up her alley.”
“Unfortunately, she’ll need to learn how to lean on people and let them do what they know is best for her, regardless of what she believes. Those injuries are life-altering, and she needs to come to terms with that. She’ll need you more than anyone, Braun.” When she jerked in surprise, Braun opened his eyes and sat up straight. “Well, I didn’t see that coming.”
At first, he thought the figure in the doorway was a nurse. His heart sank before his vision cleared and focused properly on the tiny blonde hovering in the doorway, her fingers linked at her waist. Sad brown eyes met his, and she lowered her gaze respectfully for the briefest second before they searched the room and found who she was looking for.
He watched her take a slow, bolstering breath, then step in
to the room as though afraid she might be accosted by the men seated in various seats like a bachelor pride of lions. When she wasn’t immediately set upon, she slipped through them until she reached Jasper.
“Anarchy,” he murmured, impressed by her guts. “Good. He needs her.”
All eyes swung to her as she stood beside Jasper. The sadist had his eyes closed, the stress of the night and his heroics written over his face. What they’d been through tonight had etched into his skin like age rings in an oak tree. He’d withstand the storm, but not without some damage.
Anarchy’s bottom lip quivered as she seemed to read the whole sordid story from his face alone, then sank to her knees on the thin, worn carpet and simply rested her cheek on Jasper’s thigh, offering silent support when he needed it most.
Jasper’s ice-blue eyes opened slowly, stared down at the head on his leg. Longing flashed over his face, followed by something darker, more carnal. Braun thought for a long moment that his friend might do something stupid like reject the precious gift the girl was giving him, but Jasper’s lips curved into the briefest smile before he closed his eyes again.
And moved his hand to rest on Anarchy’s head, fingers stroking gently through the pale blonde strands.
The sub shivered once, then settled more firmly into position, curling her arm around the Dominant’s calf, and closing her own eyes to the world.
“Think he knows how much of a goner he is?” Connie murmured with a sigh of longing.
Leaving the pair to their moment, Braun adjusted his aching body in his chair. He felt old tonight, emotions eating through his bones and making him acknowledge every moment of his forty years. “He’ll deny it to his last breath. He’s determined to protect her from herself as much as him. I don’t know who’s capable of doing the most damage.”
“She’s a sweetheart.”
“She is, and she could do worse than Jasper. Maybe this...maybe what’s happened to Bodie will open his eyes and force him to look at the bigger picture. Sometimes we don’t get the time we think we have. We don’t get the years we deserve with the ones we love. We have to take the time we do have and make every second count, because that fucking clock stops before we’re ready, and we can’t get back the time we waste dancing around each other. When the clock stops, it’s done. All we have is memories.”
Dance for Me Page 26
