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Now that I knew it was there, the burning in my shoulder was getting more intense by the second, and spots danced in my vision quicker. My stomach heaved, and I forced myself to swallow down the bile creeping up my throat.
The ground swayed.
Elden grabbed onto my hip, the opposite one from the one I’d hit.
“We need to get her to a fucking hospital now,” he seethed.
Hansen nodded. “Can you walk, honey?” he asked me in that gloriously calm voice of his. He wasn’t panicking. Neither was I.
“You’re like a flight attendant,” I blurted.
He blinked, and Swiss and Caleb exchanged worried glances.
“Did you hit your head, baby?” Elden asked, carefully brushing the hair from my face, looking at my forehead for a bruise or a cut, I assumed.
“No,” I huffed out. “I mean, when there’s turbulence, if the flight attendants are still handing out drinks, smiling and laughing, you know that it’s all good. You’re not going to plummet to your death in a ball of fire.” I nodded to Hansen, wincing at the pain that radiated from my shoulder. “He’s the flight attendant,” I said around the pain. “He’s calm. Which means I’m good. Therefore, you all,” I motioned to him, Swiss and Colby, “need to stop with the masculine fury and worry because it’sfreaking me out.”
Hansen smiled. No one else did.
“Hospital, now,” Elden ground out.
“Can you walk, Violet?” Hansen asked, nodding to the van that had pulled up in front of us. I guessed we weren’t waiting for an ambulance. I was glad about that. The reality of being put in an ambulance would’ve made the situation much too real.
Not that the dead body, the blood, the struggle with a serial killer and a knife in the shoulder wasn’t real. But it felt faraway. Maybe Hansen was right... I was in shock.
“Sure, I can walk,” I said with more confidence than I felt. It was only a handful of steps away.
“She can’t fuckin’ walk,” Elden snapped. “I’ll carry her.”
“Can’t risk the knife moving,” Hansen informed him. “If she can walk, it’s better.”
Elden stared at his president for what felt like a mighty long time, as if he were measuring his words before he finally gave in.
Elden moved to the left side of me. The burning was coming from the right.
“Lean on me, baby,” he murmured, kissing my hair.
“I’m fine,” I argued, walking forward.
The world shifted when I did, so I was thankful for Elden’s solid form next to me. Both Swiss and Colby were watching helplessly as Hansen climbed into the van first, holding out his hand to steady me as I climbed inside. Elden was right beside me, and I clamped my teeth together so I didn’t cry out in pain with the effort it took to get myself in the seat.
Elden was beside me in an instant.
He kissed my temple. “Good work, baby.” He looked to Swiss who had climbed into the driver’s seat. “Get to the hospital. Now.”
There was definitely a ride to the hospital. Definitely hard jaws and glowering looks of concern. Surely. But I was removed from it all as if I had floated away, even though Elden’s hands were on me.
Even his firm, loving presence wasn’t enough.
The wave came and washed everything away.
ELDEN
She was sleeping.
They’d removed the knife, and by the grace of some higher power, it hadn’t done any permanent damage, nothing that required surgery.
The baby was fine too. There was a large and angry bruise where she’d bumped her hip, but nothing internal. A strong heartbeat. Both of them.
