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She breathed into me again, delivering oxygen that my body no longer knew how to convert into life.
I had no way of begging for absolution. No words to beg for a second chance. No way to tell her how grateful I was for her. How I’d always be hers…even if we now had to exist apart.
I would wait for her.
I’d claim her again…if she ever fell to hell.
I’d wait for her forever.
My muscles seized in their death dance.
I jerked on the floor, sending another gush of screams from Eleanor.
My eyes popped wide as the final lance of pain stabbed clean through me. A lance directly into my heart and the useless non-thumping chambers.
Eleanor…
She faded.
Darkness gathered at my edges, spilling into my corners and descending over me.
It took my vision.
It took my soul-mate.
It took me.
Goodbye…
Chapter Thirteen
I WON’T LET HIM die.
I won’t.
You can’t die, Sully.
I forbid it.
Forbid it!
I alternated between forcing every drop of oxygen I had into his mouth and pounding his chest with furious CPR. Digging the heels of my fists over his heart, I wanted to crack apart his ribs and bury my hands inside him. I wanted to massage his heart and force it to restart.
Stay alive!
Please!
He felt wrong.
He felt…gone.
His mouth lax. His body prone. His life force and essence, his mercurial, wonderful spirit had abandoned me.
He can’t!
“God, please.” Feeding air into him, I sucked in another breath for me, driving my weight against his ribs. “SOMEBODY HELP ME!”
I ducked again, pinching his nose and breathing before returning to my war against his stopped heart.
“Sully!”
His head bobbed each time I dug into his chest. His lips parted and glistened from where I breathed into him. His skin was icy, the colour already receding from his tanned skin. His legs lay sprawled in painful directions, his arms useless beside him.
There was no vitality left.
No sinful smirk or savage power.
Just an empty puppet with no one to pull its strings.
“Sully, don’t. Come back. Please, please come back.” I breathed and pounded, breathed and pounded.
I screamed.
Tears began, breaking through my panic holding them at bay.
I breathed into his mouth, leaving his lips painted with wet disbelief.
I depressed his chest, leaving splashes of grief on his nakedness.
“Anybody…somebody…please!”
Every second he travelled further and further from my reach.
Every useless attempt at keeping him with me sent him deeper into a realm I could not follow.
“Sully!”
I punched his heart.
I kissed him instead of breathed for him.
I lost myself.
I hit him and begged him and did things I never thought I’d do.
I kicked his wounded leg, hoping the pain would bring him back.
I slapped his scruff-shadowed cheek, pleading shock to wake him up.
I bit his lip as I exhaled deep into his lungs.
“SOMEONE HELP ME!”
He’s dying…
He’s leaving.
He’s gone.
“No!”
This was hell. This was utmost purgatory, and I was alone.
I threw myself on him, renewing my efforts with heart presses and oxygen pouring.
And finally, the universe decided to send aid.
The door to the bedroom swung wide in the night.
Not just one person to help me but four.
Three men bolted forward while an older woman wearing a fluttering white nightgown ran in.
A man with slicked-back dark hair and a goatee shoved me aside without apology, pressing his fingers to Sully’s throat.
His eyes met mine. “No pulse.”
I choked on sobs as I wrapped my arms around my bleeding, brutalising insides.
Moving to Sully’s other side, he linked his hands together, placing them over the bruise I’d caused while palpitating Sully’s unbeating heart. “You breathe, I’ll pump.”
Nodding manically, I swiped away my tears and did my best to swallow my sobs. Taking position by Sully’s head, I pinched his nose and breathed into his mouth.
The man set a punishing pace, swift and deep with his compressions. “Brent, go get the defib. Andrew, call an ambulance.”
Both men vanished.
I continued breathing for Sully, keeping air in his cells and hope in his blood.
The woman wrung her hands. “If he can be moved, there is a fully equipped surgery within the east wing. The previous owners needed in-home specialist care.” Her voice was pinched but calming. “There is oxygen and adrenaline and—”
“We’ll move him if he breathes again.” The man kept driving his full weight onto Sully’s sternum while I continued breathing for him. No one cared that Sully was naked. No one eyed up my lack of clothing either. No self-consciousness or pity could be spared while we all focused on denying death its chosen soul.
The slap of shoes on flagstones sounded as both men reappeared. “Ambulance is on its way.”
A medical bag with its ominous red plus sign slid against the floor as a blond man tripped beside Sully. Ripping open the zipper, he pulled out a travel-size defibrillator.
Use it quickly!
I breathed everything I had into Sully.
Come on. Come on!
The leader swapped places with his underling. He grabbed the guy’s hands and placed them over Sully’s heart. “Keep performing CPR. Don’t stop until I say.”
