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Dropping his gaze to the ground, he went another couple of yards and he saw her. It was Aggie. She was on her stomach, pulling herself along with one arm. She was moving slowly yet determinedly, and his heart swelled with love and respect for her. She was amazing. Her spirit seemed unsquashable. Nothing could stop her.
Nick ran to her, knelt beside her, and took hold of her shoulders. Aggie screamed and tried to fight him off by swinging one arm at him.
“Aggie, shh, it’s me. It’s Nick.”
He didn’t think she heard him. Her eyes were closed, one arm hung limply at her side, even in the dark he could see she was deathly pale. He didn’t want to hurt her or further scare her, but at the same time he didn’t want Andrew to hear them, so he clamped one hand over Aggie’s mouth. Supporting her against his knee, he wrapped his other arm around her shoulders.
“Aggie, it’s Nick. It’s Nick.”
She went still. Her eyes opened slowly, as though opening them required great effort on her part. Tentatively, he removed his hand from her mouth, and she said, “Nick?”
“It’s me. You're safe now,” he assured her.
“Hold me.” The words were whispered through dry, cracked lips.
Pulling her completely into his arms, he cradled her against his chest, savoring the feel of holding her. “I’ve got you.” He pressed his face to the top of her head, inhaled her scent. “I've got you. I've got you.”
“Hold me. Don’t let me go. Please, don’t let me go,” she begged, fisting one hand into his shirt and hanging on to him.
“I won't let you go. I’ll never let you go. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I hurt you. Sorry that I ever thought that using you was a good idea. I'm sorry about the way you found out. I'm sorry that I wasn't the one to tell you the truth. I'm sorry that you were out here alone and your brother hurt you because of me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.” It felt like no matter how many times he apologized it was never enough. He could apologize for every second of every minute, of every hour, of every day for the rest of his life and it still wouldn’t be enough.
“It’s okay, Nick. I forgive you.” Aggie tilted her head back so she could look up at him, her eyes were dazed with pain but earnest.
Touching his lips to her forehead he kissed her tenderly. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness. I don’t deserveyou.”
“I'm not perfect, Nick.”
“Near enough,” he murmured, his lips still against her soft skin.
She shook her head. “My dad. Thought it was him. Hit him.”
He was not going to tell her about her father’s death when she was this fragile. There would be time for her to come to terms with that, and the guilt that she was going to heap on herself, but it wasn't now. He wanted to reassure her, but right now he knew that her physical wellbeing had to take precedence over her emotional wellbeing, and she wasn't doing very well physically.
“I have to check your injuries,” he told her as he laid her down on the ground. She was trembling, her skin cold to the touch. Her heart hammered against his hand when he rested it on her chest, and when he picked up her wrist to check her pulse, he found it weak and also noticed that her fingernails looked blue.
“Nick?” Aggie’s eyelids were quivering.
“Right here.” He set her arm down and smoothed her hair.
“Here? What? Where?”
Her growing confusion added to his growing concerns. “Try to relax. I'll take care of you, Aggie. Always.”
Searching her body for other injuries, he could see that her shirt was soaked with blood, and since Andrew had a penchant for stabbing his victims in the stomach, he assumed that was the source, but he needed to know if there was anything else he had to be worried about. Her arms, legs, and face were scratched and scraped from dragging herself through the woods, but nothing looked serious.
She hadn’t been using one of her arms, so he turned his attention to that next. Running his hands up her arm to her shoulder, when he touched it Aggie’s eyes flew open, her body jerked, and she cried out.
“Sorry. I'm sorry.” Nick hated having caused her pain, and yet he had to know how badly her shoulder was hurt.
“Andrew, he … he … uh … I can't … everything is fuzzy.” Her eyes closed, and she slumped back against the grass.
“It’s all right, try not to worry about it right now. I know it hurts, Aggie, but I need to check it out.” As gently as he could, he eased the neck of her sweatshirt away from her shoulder, causing her to moan as he jostled the joint. The soft whimper cut at him more than her screams because he knew he’d caused her the same amount of pain and yet her weakened body didn’t have enough strength to react. Her shoulder was all manner of blue and black, and swollen to at least twice its normal size. There was a lump at the front which looked like a jagged bit of bone, and he suspected that her shoulder was broken.
While he was positive the broken joint was excruciating it wasn't immediately life-threatening, unlike the heavily bleeding wound to her stomach. He winced as he pulled her sweatshirt up, knowing the cloth ripping out of the deep cut would cause Aggie more pain, but this time she didn’t respond, which scared him even more. The knife wound was still oozing blood, and he yanked his shirt over his head and tied it tightly around her stomach.
Leaning over her, he cradled her face in his hands. “Aggie? You still with me?”
She muttered something that might have been a yes, and her eyes flickered, then opened.
