Page 178 of Trailer Trash

“Come with us,” Asher says. His gun appears in his hand. He holds it out to me.

The world cuts out.

When my eyes reopen, I’m running.

I don’t stop.

48

Harlow

Beep, beep, beep.

Incessant.

“Turn that off,” I groan, straining to press the pause button on the IV stand.

My nurse reaches it before me, silencing the annoying machine.

I woke up four days ago. Killian hasn’t visited once. Christine claims nobody knows where he is, and every call I make goes straight to voicemail.

Keysha packs my bag. The nurse tugs at the tape around my IV. Just before she pulls the first one out, she pauses.

“The doctors want you to stay. Are you sure you want to leave?”

I nod, and she proceeds, taking out the line and setting a cotton ball and wrap in its place. One bullet tore through my lung. The surgeons saved me, but every breath still feels like broken glass scraping inside my chest.

“Leave it on for twenty minutes.” She shakes her head. “The bandages on your back need to be changed daily. It needs to be very clean. Do you have someone to help you with that?”

Meekly, I grin at Keysha, hoping she says yes.

“I’ll do it,” she replies with a subtle smile.

The nurse has Keysha step over and gives her instructions, which Keysha picks up on well. She is an EMT. Hell, she was in the ambulance that saved me. She worked on me.

“You saved my life,” I blurt out.

“Go back to sleep. I think your pain pills are making you loopy.”

I chuckle, but it hurts every part of my body above the waist. Every breath hurts. I was cut open. Drain tubes stuck out of me. I haven’t walked farther than the bathroom in two weeks.

Very slowly, I sit up and rest with my legs dangling off the edge of the bed. The nurse sets the discharge-against-medical-advice forms in front of me. I sign every line.

“Miss Anderson.”

I glance up.

Clark stands before me wearing business clothes and an uneasy smile.

“How are you?”

I sneer and say nothing, refusing to acknowledge him. He sits in the chair opposite me, and instructs everyone to give us a minute.

Once alone, he leans forward.

“I don’t want you to leave. It’s dangerous. There will be an increased risk of blood clots, infection, and—”

“I’m going to find Killian.”