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We passed the exit for the penthouse, but Ivan kept going. I knew he was on his way to the house. He’d been quiet. I was worried about him losing consciousness again.
“Ivan, talk to me. What are you feeling in your body right now?”
“My heart is racing. Keep talking to me, please. It helps keep me focused. We’re almost there.”
I started rambling about anything I could think of to keep him focused and, more importantly, conscious. We made it to the exit for the house and I felt slight relief.
I was running out of things to talk about, and I blurted out, “Do you think Adrik wants kids? Because that’s not possible with me. That’s why I hate doctors. A doctor took that choice from me.”
He was starting to nod, so I wasn’t even sure he heard me. We pulled into the driveway. Just a little farther, Squishy. He made it to the front of the house. I jumped off the bike and helped him off. I threw his arm around my shoulders to help him walk up the steps. As we reached the landing after the top step, he stopped. He looked at me, with a serious look in his eye. “He loves you no matter what, Sephie. We all love you no matter what.”
I don’t know if it was this giant man, clearly battered, clearly struggling to remain conscious, stopping to reassure me or if it was him admitting that he loved me or if it was my adrenaline wearing off, but I felt hot tears just fall freely down my cheeks.
“Don’t cry, princess.” He pulled me to him, hugging me briefly. I felt him falter and then he slowly lost his grip on consciousness.
“Ivan, no. Not yet. Shit.” I said as I tried to keep him from crashing to the ground. I managed to get behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist. I used every ounce of strength I had left to help him to the ground as gently as I could manage. It meant that he was basically laying on top of me, but at least he didn’t hit his head again on the way down.
“This looks like a good place, Ivan. I agree. I feel like we should wait here.”
I checked his wounds, since there was really not much else I could do. The cut on his head was pretty good, but the one on his arm was concerning. “I’m not completely convinced honey is going to take care of that one, Squishy.” It was still bleeding profusely. Jesus, how much blood has he already lost from that? He’s like a superhuman if he stayed conscious this long. Super Squishy.
I tried to push him off me enough that I could get to my belt. I ended up laughing. He didn’t move in the slightest. I looked down. “Okay, so I’m just gonna borrow your belt for this. It’s not awkward in the least.” I reached down to unbuckle it, singing to myself, “Not date rapey vibes here, not at all.”
I managed to pull his belt off and get it around his shoulder. I pulled it as tight as I could, trying to stem the bleeding. In the process of all that, his head had fallen over to the side. “That looks really uncomfortable, Super Squishy. Let me help you with that.” I moved his head, so he was leaning back on my shoulder. “Don’t worry. They’re going to be here any minute.”
I was quiet for a few minutes, trying to think of what to do. I didn’t have a phone. I had that disc thing from the glove box in my pocket, but that was it. I couldn’t get my legs out from under Ivan’s almost 300 lbs of pure muscle dead weight, so I was stuck here until someone else got here.
He started to twitch, mumbling quietly. I felt his body tense. I felt a pain in my chest, as I knew what he was going through. The darkness.
“Super Squishy, I’m still here. I won’t leave you, I promise. I’m right here, buddy. Just walk toward my voice.”
His body stilled, his breathing calmed down. I exhaled, starting to worry that they wouldn’t make it to me in time. He had lost a lot of blood. There was a puddle underneath us. I had slowed it with his belt, but not stopped it.
He started to jerk again, slightly.
“Ivan, I’m here. I’m always here. I’m always going to be here.” I just kept repeating that to him until I finally heard a vehicle coming up the drive. I was half afraid to look to see who it was. I was mostly sure it would’ve been one of the guys, but it didn’t sound like their vehicles, so I couldn’t be sure. I took Ivan’s gun from the waistband of his pants, safety off, and held it against him, so they wouldn’t see until it was too late. My back was to the driveway, so they would’ve seen me grab the gun I had, as I had put it in the small of my back in the waistband of my pants.
I heard the vehicle stop and the door open. “Okay, Ivan, this is either going to be really good or really, really bad. Wish me luck. I might be quiet for a minute, but I’m still here. Don’t go anywhere, buddy.”
I heard footsteps, then the voice I was dying to hear. “Sephie! Are you hurt?”
“Turns out it was really good, buddy. The day just took a turn for the better,” I whispered in his ear, squeezing him just a little tighter.
Adrik’s arms were around me in seconds. I took a deep breath, finally safe.
“Ivan’s really hurt. He sacrificed himself to get me here. Don’t tell him I said this, but I think he needs to go to the hospital. He’s lost a ton of blood. I can’t lift him by myself. And I don’t know what happened to Andrei and Misha. They got separated from us. There was gunfire but that’s all I know.”
I felt Adrik’s lips on my temple. “They’re fine. Andrei was shot, but non-lethal. Viktor is right behind me.” Just as he said that, I heard the normal sound of the SUV pulling up the driveway. “We’ll get Ivan to the hospital. Andrei is already on the way there. Misha is okay. Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m okay. Ivan took the worst of it. And by that, I mean he took all of it.” I had a flash of when the truck hit us. I could clearly see Ivan turn his body toward me, using his body as a shield from the impact. He looked me in the eye as we came to rest against the parked car. I clearly remember the look on his face. It was like he was seeing something else. At first, he was confused, then he was in awe. “He used his body to shield me, Adrik. He sacrificed himself.”
I wasn’t even aware of the tears falling down my face until Adrik reached down and wiped them away. Viktor ran up the steps and helped Adrik lift Ivan off me. They carried him to the SUV. I got up quickly and climbed into the back with him, leaning him in my lap again. Adrik climbed in the front with Viktor, and we sped away from the house.
I talked quietly to Ivan the whole way to the hospital. I felt like I needed to warn him that we were taking him there. I didn’t think this was going to go well, but we didn’t have a choice.
We were met by Misha and Stephen when we pulled up to the hospital. “Where’s Bubba?” I asked as Misha opened the door to grab Ivan. He looked at me, a small smile on his face, “Surgery, gazelle. He’s okay. They’re just getting the bullet out.”
They were met by nurses with a bed for Ivan just outside the doors to the emergency room. They loaded him onto the bed. I tried to go with him, but they wouldn’t let me into the room. I felt Adrik’s arms around me from behind, his face against mine. “We should get you checked out to make sure you’re okay too. You said you’re fine, but you have cuts of your own. Your head is bleeding, solnishko.”
