The Gallows at Midnight
Page 24
Spinning around, I slam my fists into Jax’s face, alternating punches. All I can see when I look at him is Lily’s life— one painful memory after another with Jax’s face looming in the background. Anger builds and I lose myself in the punches, almost to the point where I stop feeling my fist connect with his face.
“Blake, enough, enough!” Two sets of arms grab mine as I struggle to get out of their grasp and back to Jax.
My feet slid back across the floor as Jax slides down the wall, his face covered in blood and caved in. All I can think about is making sure there’s no chance he ever gets back up off that floor.
“Get off me,” I bark at them, forcing Dresden and Vlad to let go. The moment their arms drop from mine, I look around the ground frantically for my gun. Spotting it a few feet away, I stomp over and grab it before moving back to stand a few feet from Jax. He hasn’t moved, but there is a small rise and fall to his chest. He’s still breathing, but barely.
I lift my arm, squeeze the trigger, and lower my gun, staring for a moment as a small line of blood trickles from the bullet hole in his head. A groan and gasp mixed with a gurgle breaks through my haze of anger and I spin to stare at Lily, her body slightly convulsing as more blood runs from her mouth.
Making a beeline for her, the others come up behind us slowly, Dresden calling out that help is a few moments off. I rip the blindfold off and grab her around her waist. She screams, but I keep hold as Rhett comes from behind me and cuts her hands free. Cradling her in my arms, I sink to the floor, holding her to me.
“I got you, baby. Helps on the way. Just stay awake, okay?”
“You . . . came . . . for . . . for . . . m—” Her breathing is shallow, and she can’t manage anything above a whisper.
I cup the side of her face and kiss her lips. “Of course, I came for you. You’re the love of my life.”
“Paramedics coming in, Blake.” Rhett rests his hand on my shoulder.
A moment later, four paramedics surround us with a backboard and neck brace. They load her on a stretcher and for the first time in a long time, I don’t almost go into a panic attack when she’s out of my sight.
Rhett claps me on the back, a radiant smile on his face. We join the others at the entryway as they’re talking to Hyde and Bates. “Well, does this mean it’s over?”
Everyone looks around at each other and then right to Edmond Bates as he smiles.
“Jax was the highest we’d ever found. I think everyone’s earned a long vacation. Lily’s going to have a long recovery anyway.”
Sammi moans in irritation, slapping her hands against her legs. “Damn it. You’re going to have to push back the wedding.”
Everyone stares at her, blank-faced for a moment before busting out in laughter.
Once Lily is on the way to the hospital, I climb in an SUV with Rhett to follow her, proud as hell that I have a fiancée to get married to still.
Epilogue
~Lily~
My eyes are closed, but whatever bright light is in the room is filtering through the skin of my eyelids and it’s annoying. I don’t want to be awake.
Wait? Where the hell am I?
A steady beep picks up and then accelerates.
I’m in a hospital. But I was in some kind of . . . concrete . . . Jax was . . . so much pain . . . Blake . . . Oh God, where’s Blake?
My eyes fly open as the beeping goes crazy. Everything is blurry and my heart feels like it’s going to explode. I can’t breathe. Everything is focusing too slow. What’s wrong with my eyes? Wait, I’m choking, what the hell is in my throat?
A shadow moves over me followed by muffled voices. They touch me and I’m going to kill someone. My hands barely come up off the bed though. Wait . . . they’re tied to something cold. I run my fingers along it. It’s metal.
Suddenly, something feels like it’s slipped from my throat, and I take the deepest breath I’ve ever taken. The muffled voices clear and I blink rapidly, willing my vision to catch up to my brain.
“Ms. Williams, listen to my voice. My name is Dr. Mumbhari. You’re at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. You’ve been asleep for quite some time.” The doctor speaks calmly. His tone controlled. Slowly, I calm down and my vision clears. “Good. Just relax. I’m going to look over you, and then I’ll let your family in. Can you tell me your name?”
“Lily,” I say in a rasp. My throat is so dry it’s painful. “Water?”
“Nurse,” the doctor says over his shoulder. “Ice chips, for now, Lily. You’ve been in a coma for two weeks and your body is nowhere near healed. Stay still for me, okay?”
“Yes.” The nurse gently places some ice chips in my mouth while the doctor looks me over. The ice is so refreshing, I smile to myself.
Holy shit . . . I’m alive. But how in the world?
After a few moments, the doctor stands and comes to my side. “Would you like to sit up?”
I nod and instantly regret it. It feels like someone liquefied my brain and then hit me in either temple with an ice pick.
“I’ll have the nurse bring you something for the pain, though it may knock you out. You have a catheter in, so don’t even remotely try talking someone into getting you out of that bed. Not to mention you can’t walk right now anyway. One of your hips was completely shattered as was one of your kneecaps. And that’s just the start of your injuries. So please, stay in the bed and don’t try to kill any of my staff.” He smiles down at me again and I chuckle, giving him the thumbs up.
A new nurse enters the room with a capped needle in her hand. She preps it and sticks it into my IV. “This is Tramadol, Ms. Williams. It should take the edge off, but it shouldn’t knock you out. Your family is waiting to see you.” She sets the needle on a metal tray and then takes the Velcro cuffs off my wrists.
“Thank you.”
I stare around the room after the doctor and nurse leave. How the hell did I get to Baltimore? Before I can give it any more thought, the door opens again and Sorina bounds into the room with Rhett close on her heels. She sits on the bed and takes my hand in hers, kissing the back of it, tears running down her face.
Rhett takes my other hand and gently squeezes. I’m actually surprised when I look up into his face and notice unshed tears in his eyes too. “Welcome back, Lily.”
I lift Rhett’s hand to my lips and kiss his knuckles. “Thank you.”
He leans over and kisses the top of my head. “Any time.”
Someone clears their throat by the door, startling me. Blake stands just inside the doorway, my biological mother and sister at his side. Delia doesn’t move, but Sorina gets up and from the corner of my eye, she motions Marcela over.
I stare into the eyes of the younger version of me, unable to pull my gaze away from her face. She looks down at my hand and places something soft in it. I look down, and gasp at the worn, ratted old doll.
“I kept it. For 25 years, I’ve had this doll. I’m sorry for everything, Lily. We both are.”
I lift the doll and examine it, broken memories trying to make their way to the surface of my mind. When I look back at Marcela, she’s staring down at her hands, tears falling from her face onto my hospital blanket. I set the doll in my lap and gently splay my hand across the back of her head and pull her down to hug me. She starts sobbing and for some reason, the only thing I can think to do is kiss the side of her head and let her cry it out.
After a while, she sits up, wipes her eyes, and she and my mother leave with Sorina to get something to eat. Rhett also excuses himself to make a phone call.
Blake sits on the side of my bed and cups the side of my face.
“I’m glad your back, baby.”
“How in the hell did you find me?”
He laughs and I’m nothing but confused. “Do you remember the night you came back from Jax. When Teresa brought you pain meds and that water?”
“Yeah . . . and?”
“Well,” he says with a smirk. “The water was laced with the same shit you kn
ocked us out with. That’s why you passed out right after. While you were under, Sammi implanted a NanoTracker in your arm. We tracked you the moment you closed the front door. We just had to stay far enough back that Jax didn’t see us coming.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “Someone better have taken the tracker out.”
He laughs again. “They took it out when they were fixing everything else.”
I entwine my fingers with his. “So, what now?”
Blake leans down and kisses me, gently coaxing his tongue into my mouth. After a moment, he pulls away and rests his forehead on mine. “Well, after you’ve healed, which is going to take a while, I’m going to marry you. We’re going to go on a nice, long honeymoon to wherever you want. And I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving you like every moment is the last one I get. How’s that sound?”
I bite my bottom lip and grin at him. “Sounds perfect to me.”
The End.
Other Books
By Courtney Lynn Rose
Agents of Interpol series
The Auction Block, Book 1
Emerald Isle MC series
Arctic, Prequel
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Bad to the Bone: a Bad Boy anthology
Hearts of Steel: a Pittsburgh anthology
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Drunk Me (Southern Dreams: Oregon Coast, Book 1) – Coming September 2019
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