He runs a hand through his greying hair, a few streaks of dark hair still showing through. It's greyed more since he found out he's going to be a dad. "She sounds like witness protection."
I nod. "That's where my thoughts were going, too. Which is why I was only going to use a sleep dart on her until I could find out more."
Dimitri hums as he stares at her. "Sounds like she saw something and people want her dead before she can say anything, but you said she's mute, so that brings in another level of weirdness to this. But if you want to keep her alive, she should probably be seen by someone."
Cason looks torn as he peers back at his house again. "Jo is going to kill me for this. We need to get a second doctor on call for shit like this. C'mon, I don't want to let her die if she's in the WPP, that will make life difficult for us, as someone will be monitoring her. You were careful, right? What about the person that tried to hit her before you?"
I roll my eyes as I adjust her in my arms. "Of course. Time is ticking here, Cason. Let's get a move on. It's now or never."
Dimitri pulls out his phone. "Our family doctor is available, and he won't say a word. We pay him good money to not let anything leak. I'll get him out here, but we can't have her out in the open like this. Like it or not, Cason, you need to take her in at least for a couple of hours until she can be treated."
He huffs and growls. "Fine! C'mon, we can put her in the guest room, I can burn the mattress in there if I need to."
The two of them turn and follow him toward the back door. He opens the sliding glass door, and the laughter of the women inside meets my ears. I've never been close to Josie, but I don't want to stress her out like this when she is carrying my niece or nephew. They won't tell us what it is until the baby shower next month. I suspect a girl, but we'll see if I'm right.
Josie stands from her chair, pizza crust pinched between her fingers as she chews and swallows. Her blue eyes widen at the sight of the woman in my arms. "Oh my god! What happened?"
Ensley, Josie's friend, stands from the table and hurries around it. She pulls her hair back with a band from her wrists. She doesn't even bat an eye as she tests the woman's pulse and looks at her watch. "Her pulse is weak, but there's one. Why are you here with her? She needs a hospital."
I glance over at Cason. Dimitri clears his throat, drawing her gaze to his eyes. "I have a private doctor coming with his team to help her. Her case is unique. A normal hospital wouldn't see her. Porter brought her to the closest place to help her."
Josie exchanges a look with Cason behind Ensley's back. I've been hearing that Dimitri has a bit of a drinking problem right now but so far he seems pretty chill to me, no different than he was when we were younger. Maybe a little less happy, but who isn't as they get older?
Ensley frowns. "I don't understand, but let's find somewhere to lay her down. I need to look at the wound on her side. What's it from, do you know?" Her light-green eyes look at me.
I frown, I can't lie about a bullet wound, she'll know the second she sees it and it will look even worse than it already does.
She shakes her head. "Let's get her down before you tell me. I get the feeling there's a lot going on here, and I'm not going to get the full answer."
Cason motions with his arm. "C'mon we'll put her in the guest room on the first floor." I follow him through the house to the front and he opens the door into a guest room. I grimace at all the white. White doesn't go well with blood.
Josie hurries forward and pulls the white duvet off the bed before I lay her on top of the top sheet. Her eyes flutter and I get a glimpse of the green. She's stunningly pretty.
Ensley wastes no time shoving me aside so that she can look at her. For being a slender woman she's strong. She pulls a knife from her back pocket and flips it open. I blink, not having expected her to be the one to be carrying a knife out of everyone here. She tears the hem of the thick sweater, and rips it up the woman's body, exposing the small form underneath. She wears another sweater, and two more shirts, possibly a tank under that. I'm glad I didn't hit her with the tranquilizer, I got her approximate weight wrong. Ensley cuts the other layers, exposing her pale skin to the room.
Not only is she thin, but she looks close to underweight. Long scars crisscross over her torso up to her breasts, which are covered by a simple, cloth bra. Most of the scars are thick and dark pink with scar tissue. What the hell happened to her?
Ensley looks at me. "Do you mind? Give the woman some privacy. All the men out until the doctor gets here. Josie, I need whatever first aid supplies you have, a bowl of water, and some cloths.”
She's fucking lost her mind if she thinks I'm going to leave and not help out after the shit that happened to get her here in one piece. I'm not staring at her like she's a piece of ass. But her scars do intrigue me. They just add another layer to her.
A hole seeps with blood in her side, but it doesn't look life-threatening. More like a tear. It's possible all her layers saved her life.
A hand pulls on my shoulder, I glance over it at Cason, who tries to drag me out of the room. At the same moment, Josie comes in with a large first aid kit, close to something that would be found in a rescue helicopter. Dimitri follows behind her with a bowl of steaming water and washcloths over his arm.
"The doctor is fifteen minutes out. We're in luck that he lives around this area." Dimitri hands the bowl to Ensley as she moves stuff off the nightstand next to her and sets it there.
"Thank you, Dimitri." She then turns to look at the kit Josie brought her and pats next to her, so it can be set up on the edge of the bed. "Why in the world would you need a first aid kit like this? I get you're a first-time mom, but this is excessive."
I get why they have it. For if Cason gets hurt while on a job. I'm sure Josie is scared about that. I tug my shoulder from his hold. "I'm not going anywhere. I can help."
Ensley points to the door. "Out! If you have a dick between your legs, you can't stay! She's not your wife, you have no right to see her in this state when it's clear to me that she doesn't want to be seen by anyone."
Cason and Dimitri work together to haul me from the room. I can't explain it, I have an undeniable urge to stay with her as if I alone can keep her from getting hurt more. I don't know what it is. Perhaps because her hit wasn't done by my hand and I witnessed it, now I feel like I owe her something?
The door closes and we stand in the hall. I elbow Cason in the gut, forcing him to let me go. I've never been able to stand how he thinks he can just boss me around, even after I became an adult. "Let go of me! I should be in there helping!"
Dimitri shakes his head as he stands in front of the door. "Let her work in peace until the doctor and his team gets here. You wouldn't do anything other than get in the way."
