Page 107 of Devour

Nothing. Her chest doesn’t move on its own.

I breathe into her again. I press my hand against her chest and push as best as I can in this position. I don’t know if I’m doing this right anymore. I don’t give a fuck. I’ll break her ribs if it keeps her heart beating.

“Priest, drive fucking faster.”

“I’m doing over a hundred, Axl.”

I push on her chest again and breathe into her, and I realize that tears are falling from my eyes onto her skin. Fuck. I wipe them off her cheek with my thumb. Her skin is so cold. My girl is always so fucking warm curled against me. She runs hot when she sleeps and kicks the covers off until her feet are cold, and then she presses her freezing feet against my legs to warm them again. I always let her. And I’ll let her do anything she wants for the rest of our lives if she just opens her fucking eyes.

“Please, baby.” My forehead is pressed against hers. “Fight, Saylor. Just fight for me.”

We pull up to the building, and I’m out of the SUV before Priest comes to a complete stop, running through the doors and holding her against my body.

“I need help. Please. Fucking please help her.” I’m shouting at the first person I see. “Somebody fucking help her.”

Two men in scrubs meet me in the hallway. One of them tries to take her from me, and I almost swing on him before Priest grabs my arm.

“Let them work, Axl. You have to let them take her.”

I don’t want to let go. Every part of me is screaming to hold onto her, to keep her safe. I fucking left her for that fucking meeting and look what happened. I should have been there for her.

“Axl,” Priest shouts again.

I shake it off and lay her on the gurney as they wheel her through a set of double doors. I try to follow, and one of the men presses his palm against my chest to push me back. “You have to wait here.”

“Get your fucking hand off me.” I grab the man’s wrist, but Priest is already pulling me back.

“Axl.” Priest’s voice is calm. “Let them try to save her. That’s what they’re here to do.”

“Quit talking like there’s a chance she’s not going to fucking make it,” I shout, shoving him back against a wall.

Priest doesn’t fight back. He lets me pin him, and he stares at me. There isn’t anger in his eyes, only sympathy, which pisses me off more. “Go on, brother. If you need to hit me, you hit me. Take it all out on me. Get it out now, because whatever happens, she’s going to need you to keep it together.”

I let go of him. I run my fingers through my hair like I might be able to calm myself, and then I drive my fist into the stone wall beside Priest. I do it again and again, alternating hands. I treat the wall like my own fucking punching bag until both my hands are bloody. Then I draw a deep breath and go again. “God fucking dammit.”

“Axl,” Priest finally shouts, grabbing me from behind to try to pin my arms.

I fight him for a second. My arms are pinned, and my knuckles are shredded, and the pain is the only thing keeping me from losing my mind completely. It’s my fucking fault she’s in there. She didn’t want me to leave her. I never should have left her alone. The one thing I was put on this earth to do was to take care of that woman in there, and now she’s fighting for her fucking life.

“Stop.” Priest has me locked. “You’re done now. Let’s get your hands taken care of so you’re ready to be there for her when she wakes up.”

I stop fighting him. My chest is heaving, and my blood is dripping onto the tile floor. I stare at the red streaks of my blood on the white wall.

He lets me go and motions for one of the men in scrubs to clean my cuts.

“She wouldn’t do this.” I say holding out my hands while the man cleans the blood. “I fucking know she wouldn’t. Someone did this to her.”

Priest leans against the wall beside me and crosses his arms. He’s watching the doors. “It doesn’t make sense that the cameras would be out.”

“Her hair was done and her nails.” I wince as the guy wraps my knuckles. “Like she went to a salon, Priest. They weren’t like that when I left. Pull my phone out of my pocket and check her tracker. I’d bet anything she left today. Why would she go get her hair and nails done just to swallow a bottle of pills.”

Priest does as I said and takes my phone. He scrolls through it while I stare at the doors, waiting for word that my girl is alright.

“Fuck.”

My head snaps toward him. “What? What the fuck is it?”

“You’re right that she did go to a salon. After she went to her parents’ house.”