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Everything sounded very far away, and she tried to focus on what was happening. Someone touched her face, and even though the motions were gentle, it magnified the pain in the back of her skull, and she batted at the sensation with heavy, clumsy hands. She struggled to sit up, to tell Jackson she’d be fine eventually, if she could just get that annoying buzzing noise to shut the hell up.
Maybe if she just lay down for a second it would get better, and she’d be able to catch her breath. Yeah, that would be good, Carly thought, allowing her chin to dip toward her chest.
But then there were more hands, so many that she couldn’t keep them off of her. A pair of thick, well-muscled arms pulled her close, and she gave in to the darkness.
* * *
As soon asJackson saw Adrian appear at the open door leading into the restaurant, he knew he’d at least get a fraction of what he deserved.
“What the hell is going on out there?” Adrian jumped from the edge of the loading dock to the pavement below. Jackson bent over Carly, his gut instinct screaming at him to take care of her, but then reality hit him with unforgiving clarity.
He had no business touching her. The best way to protect her was to get far, far away.
“You need to call an ambulance. Right now, Adrian! Do it.” Jackson looked at Carly, her head bleeding all over the pavement, and he took a step back just as Adrian bolted forward.
What had he fuckingdone?
“Bellamy! Call nine-one-one!” Adrian yelled, even though Bellamy was right behind him in the doorframe leading back to the building. She disappeared, nothing more than a blur of blonde curls and shock, leaving Adrian to zero in on Carly with laser-like accuracy.
“Mary, Mother of God. Carly, let me see.” The burly sous chef paled, his expression twisted in pain as he cradled Carly’s head between his palms. Jackson’s gut roared at him to shove Adrian aside so he could fix what he’d done, but the fear spiraling through him locked him into place a few steps away.
Carly wouldn’t be safe with his hands on her. His instincts could go to hell.
Adrian knelt beside Carly, eyes wild but missing nothing. “Okay, I know it hurts, but I need to stabilize your neck. Just sit tight.”
He moved carefully, easing Carly to a supine position on the pavement, but all Jackson could see was the bright shock of blood on her chef’s jacket.
He’d become the one person on the planet he hated more than anyone else. Done the one thing he swore he’d avoid at all costs.
Oh, God, there was so much blood.
“Start talking, asshole. Now,” Adrian growled through his teeth. “What the hell happened?”
“It was an accident. She was behind me, and I didn’t see her, but…”
Adrian’s head snapped up. “Youdid this?”
Every cell in Jackson’s body sank with recognition. He deserved whatever Adrian was going to unleash on him, because he’d spun around with all his might, intending to hurt Carly anyway. Not physically, of course, but his words would’ve sliced through her all the same.
And he deserved to suffer for it.
“Bellamy! Get out here!” Adrian’s bellow ripped through the night air, yet he kept his eyes on Jackson. “I am going to dismember you right here on the fucking pavement, and I’m going to smile while I’m doing it.”
Jackson didn’t flinch. “I know.”
Pounding footsteps sounded from the direction of the loading dock. Bellamy, who had her cell phone pressed to her ear, skittered to a stop in front of Adrian.
“The ambulance will be here any minute. Oh, God,” Bellamy murmured, eyes shining with fear. She whipped a towel from her apron, dropping to her knees to staunch the blood coming from the back of Carly’s head, and Carly gave a cry of pain in reply. “What happened?”
His mother, standing in the doorframe in her nightgown, telling his father in her soft, yet deadly serious voice… “It’s me you want. Leave him be.” His father’s eyes, flinty and mean, narrowing on her, moving to give her what she’d asked for.
“I do want you, Catherine. I love you so much, you ain’t ever gonna forget it. You’re mine, you hear me? Mine.”
He kissed her then, slow at first, but then his father pushed her from the doorframe and slammed the door hard enough to rattle the walls. But Jackson still heard the sickening sound of fists on soft flesh, saw the blood in the sink…the blood…the blood…
Jackson felt Adrian’s fury connect with his jawbone just as the ambulance rounded the corner of the west gate parking lot, red and white lights illuminating the scene in eerie, shimmering waves.
Or maybe that was Adrian’s right hook, because holyshithad that hurt. Jackson hunched over, palms braced on his thighs, and a metallic tang filled his mouth, forcing him to spit. The memory of his mother, smoothing his hair as she tucked him into the backseat of the station wagon in the dead of night filled his head, making him dizzy.
