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Her body went lax, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

“NOOOOOO! NO! NO!” I screamed until my throat burned and my chest ached. Bawling to the point of immense pain. “NO! NO! NO! PLEASE, GOD, NO!”

Before I could perform CPR, her body was lifted into the air and away from me.

“Sir, you need to move,” one of the paramedics demanded.

I didn’t even hear them approach.

“We need to help her!”

The rest proceeded in slow motion for what felt like the hundredth in my life. Paramedics filled the vacant space. I swear I blinked and the defibrator paddles were trying to shock her body back to life.

“One, two, three, clear.”

Her chest jolted.

“One, two, three, clear.”

Her chest jumped again.

“One, two, three, clear.”

I was there, but I wasn’t.

I was having an out-of-body experience. My mind was protecting itself from the consequences of my choices. I stayed there watching my life flash before my eyes until they said the only two words I truly dreaded to hear.

“Call it,” the paramedic said.

Everything went dark around me because Cove Noel…

Died at 11:35 a.m.

Twenty-Nine

Jace

“Fuck this shit!”

I tore the defibrillator pads from the paramedic’s hands. I’d seen this performed several times from being in the military and constantly in the war zone.

“Sir! What are you doing?” the EMT questioned.

I didn’t hesitate for a second. Increasing the voltage of shock on the machine, I placed the defibrillator pads on her chest and shocked her my damn self before checking her pulse.

Nothing.

“Sir! You cannot—”

“The fuck I can’t!” Putting my mouth on hers, I began CPR since I had training for it. After two breaths, I started thirty chest compressions with my hands on the center of her chest.

Ten.

“Come on, Cove!”

“Sir,” the paramedic snapped. “Please…”

Fifteen.

“Don’t do this to me, Cove!”

Twenty.

Someone tried to grab me, and with one glare their way, I spewed, “Touch me again, and I’ll fucking kill you.”

He put his arms in the air in a surrendering gesture.

Twenty-five.

“Come on, bunny. Haven needs you!”

Thirty.

“I fucking need you!”

I grabbed the pads, shocking her again. With bile rising in the back of my throat, I checked her pulse at the same time the machine stated, “Rhythm detected.”

While I simultaneously announced, “She has a pulse!” Inhaling a deep breath, I kissed all over her face. “Fuck, bunny… don’t ever do that to me again.”

My indescribable relief was immediate. My heart started urgently pounding against my chest as another unsettling feeling churned deep in my stomach. Something about this attack didn’t feel right to me. This didn’t make any sense, and I wasn’t foolish enough to think this wasn’t an inside job.

My eyes searched Cove’s face for I don't know what, eyeing her up and down. I fought this internal battle to break down.

To fall apart.

The agony was taking ahold of me.

I focused on the relief that she was still alive instead, giving me the strength to hold it together to find the truth of who was behind this and why. A war raged inside me. At the end of this, I’d still have Cove, and it was the only thing getting me through the rest of the day.

For the next few hours were straight out of hell. After surgery, they transferred her to the ICU. The doctor wanted to keep her sedated until she was stabilized, which wouldn’t be for another day or two.

The next thing I knew, I was sitting in her room, leaning back into the chair with my head against the wall. My legs were spread out in front of me, and my arms were crossed over my chest.

Fucking waiting.

The chain of events in the past few months led up to this place in time, and soon, the moment of truth would be knocking on my door, ready to barge the fuck in whether I wanted it to or not.

I let the staff handle their protocol, answering the necessary questions. Since she was a target, I had all her medical files and thank God for that. They were able to do whatever protocol they needed in order for her to wake up.

I couldn’t believe her parents weren’t immediately flying in when the hospital called them with the news. My mind was fucking blown on how much they really didn’t give a shit about her. I guess they were content enough with the fact that I was there for her and that my father and Haven were flying in.

My mind ran wild with thought after thought of who could be behind this and why they were putting me through this twice.

In the same location.

With the same attack.

Except with this one, they didn’t take two lives this time.

I racked my brain on how this was synced. On what pieces of the puzzle Cove filled.

Why her?

Why Hope?

My entire life flashed before my eyes like a goddamn movie reel that I couldn’t pause or stop. It felt like I’d been sitting there for days, but it was only a few hours. I thought about what went down, playing it over in my mind like a broken record on repeat.

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