I then went on to explain where we were, how we got there, and what was likely happening now.
Just as I finished my explanation, I heard the distinct sound of not only motorcycles, but sirens as well.
I prayed that they would clear the scene fast, and that whoever the shooter was, they’d find him quickly so that Cat wouldn’t bleed out underneath me.
“Who’s the guy?” I asked. “He knew you.”
You didn’t get that much anger and resentment from someone that didn’t.
She groaned, and that’s when I heard the sound of liquid running down an empty drain.
I looked to see her blood swirling around the drain, which was slightly clogged up with her mess of hair.
I looked away, knowing that I would never be able to look at a drain again without seeing this very scene.
“Thor,” she whispered, sounding a little weaker now. “He’s my ex-boyfriend. I broke up with him about a month ago when I caught him doing some chick in the front seat of my car. He hasn’t taken the break up well.”
“No.” The thudding continued. “I don’t think he has.”
She laughed weakly.
“He’s been following me everywhere, trying to make me see that he ‘needs me.’ But all it’s done is make me want to throw up. Apparently, I should’ve done something about this a long time ago. I had no clue he’d turn violent, though. None.”
Most people had no clue they were dating psychopaths until they showed their psychopathic ways.
The sound of the bikes got closer, as did the sound of sirens.
The thudding stopped.
And then there was blissful silence, leaving me able to hear the rattling breaths that were coming and going from Cat’s chest.
“Catori,” I said softly. “That’s a really weird name.”
She grinned at me, her eyes barely open to slits now. “Blame my parents. Though, just sayin’, but my dad’s name is weirder. It’s Jackopa.” Her eyes opened wide. “And Laric’s not a weird name?”
She poked out her lips, and I swear to God, I had the urge to fuckin’ kiss her.
So I did.
I bent down and pressed my lips to hers.
When I pulled back, there was a soft smile on her face.
“That was my first, real, take your breath away, kiss,” she whispered.
I pulled back, startled. “I… what?”
That’s when she started crying. “You were my first perfect kiss. My only perfect kiss. Hey, will you tell my mom and dad that I love them? And my brother. He really pisses me off, but I still love him. And my brother’s new wife. I love her too. And their baby. The baby’s not born yet, but I love that baby, too. Oh, shit. I’m gonna die.”
Every single word out of her mouth decreased with intensity until she was practically whispering.
“Tell me about your family,” I ordered.
She smiled then. Weakly.
“I have a very over-protective father. Jack. The weird named one. Jackopa.” She breathed. She spoke so quietly I had to bend over and practically place my ear against her lips. “And then there’s my brother. The police officer. He’s scary, exactly like my dad, and my best friend. His name is Adam.” She swallowed, and I heard the rattle of her breath in my ear. “My mom’s one of my best friends. Her name is Winter. She… she’s a paramedic. Don’t let her see me like this.”
There was a bang-bang, this one letting me know that there was someone in the fuckin’ house, and I closed my eyes and hoped really fuckin’ hard that whoever it was was friendly, and not that fuckin’ psycho that shot up the house.
“Laric!”
Zach.
Thank fucking Christ.
“Bathroom. Back of the house!” I called.
Zach appeared a few moments later and his face was fuckin’ ravaged.
“Guy got away,” he said. “Is it bad?”
I swallowed.
“I’m not running the water, man.”
He got my meaning quickly.
The steady draining sound wasn’t water. It was blood.
Son of a bitch.
“Let’s get her out of there so I can see what I’m doing,” he rumbled. “Medics are on their way, but the scene isn’t secure. Don’t know when they’ll get here.”
A wave of fear hit me in that second. If they didn’t release the scene soon, she wasn’t going to make it. I knew it in my heart.
“Who’s got the scene?” I wondered.
“Tatum Briggs,” Zach answered as I held pressure on the wound as Zach helped pull her from the tub. “I saw the blood as you were pulling her out of there. Tatum knows someone was injured.”
“I can’t feel my arms,” Catori whispered underneath of me.
“I’m putting a whole lot of pressure on one of them,” I admitted to her, wishing those eyes would open.
Instead, she cried silent tears from beneath her closed eyelids.
“This is going to break my parents,” she whispered.
“You’re not going to die. We have a doctor here now,” I told her.
“The doctor hates me,” she muttered.
Did she realize that Zach was here?
“The doctor doesn’t hate you,” I told her, waiting for Zach to reply, but the reply never came.
He was looking at the wound that I hadn’t realized I’d let up on until then.
I could see straight into her shoulder.
The wound was ugly, and I could see bone, as well as torn muscle and other things that one shouldn’t fuckin’ see on a beautiful woman.
“Nicked her axillary artery,” Zach murmured. “Good job on the pressure. Think that might’ve saved her life.”
My hands were stained with blood up to my elbow. My jeans were covered in it, too.
My shirt. Hell, I even had it on my face. I could feel it drying there on my cheek.
“I have some shit in Crockett’s closet,” he muttered. “Run in there, find me my bag. Also, grab…”
I didn’t need him to tell me what to grab. Being a medic in the military had given me enough experience that I could handle trauma.
Coming back with all the supplies, I found Catori completely topless except for a bra that had also been half cut off. The only thing holding it on at this point was a small strap at the bottom. But even that would have to go eventually.
But I could tell that Zach was trying to maintain her privacy while he could.
When or if he needed the access, it would be gone.
“Can you start the IV?” he asked as he started looking through his bag.
I did what he asked, starting the IV in her other arm. Once the IV bag was punched, I hung it from the towel rack next to the sink, then waited for my next instructions.
The next ten minutes we worked together, me trying to anticipate what he would want or need, and Zach working away at the wound and doing what he could to stop the bleeding and keep fluid going into her.
“Hang another bag and get more fluid into her,” he ordered.
So that was what I did, all the while hoping that she would wake up. But she never did.
It was a long twenty minutes, but eventually Zach sat back on his heels and stared at her arm.
“It’s going to have to do until we can get her…” Zach trailed off as an authoritative voice yelled, “Zach? Laric?”