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“He’s out there,” I snap. “Are you in the school yet?”
“Yeah,” Chief Townsend lowers his voice. “Medic en route. Casey’s with them. He’ll take care of the boy. How’s Avery?”
It fucking crushes me to look down at her pale face, but I do. I feel her pulse fading away with every passing second.
“She’s still got a pulse, but it’s slowing down. Karen shot her in the stomach.” Saying the words guts me, bringing my own personal hell to life.
Noise at the window has me looking up to see Casey and two paramedics standing there expectantly. They can’t all climb through the window; that will be too dangerous. So I do the only thing I can.
I let go of her stomach, lift her with one hand under her neck and the other under her knees, and listen to her breath leave her body raggedly when I get her up off the ground.
“That’s it,” I whisper against her face while I carry her to the window. “Stay alive, Avery. Keep fighting, babe.”
Casey is there, watching me with an unreadable expression, taking her from me at the window. I hand her over to him, waiting until he lays her on the gurney for the paramedics before I climb back through the window.
My entire focus stays with the woman on the gurney while the paramedics work on her, prepping her to travel, talking quietly between each other.
I feel a small, wet hand cling to mine, and I glance down to see Lucas watching them too.
“She’ll be okay.” He sounds more brave than I’ve ever been in my entire life. “She has to be okay. She promised me a sleepover.”
I need to hug him. To touch him. “Lucas.” My voice breaks, and my attention splits between him and Avery, even though I know the paramedics have her. “You shouldn’t have gone back in for her. You have to stay safe.”
I crouch down until we are nose to nose and then I hug him for all I’m worth.
“I… I had to,” he whispers through a sob that I feel all the way to my toes. “I had to go back. She needed me. I did what you’d do.”
God, this little shit has completely and irrevocably stolen my heart. While I hear the paramedics leave with Avery, I lift Lucas into my arms and follow. Carrying him like he weighs nothing, I refuse to let him go, even when we get to the line of police and first responders. Casey stands at my side, acting as a buffer when someone gets too close.
“We’re going with her,” I tell the chief. Then I follow the paramedics into the back of the ambulance, never once letting go of the child I hold in my arms.
The entire ride to the hospital, I watch as they work to save Avery’s life, and I pray. Like I’m sitting in mass with my entire family, I pray to whoever is listening that the best thing that ever happened to me won’t be taken away.
“She’s going to be fine,” Lucas whispers after they unload her and race into the building. “She has to be.”
Her blood washes off in the bathroom sink, and I help Lucas to get everything off his skin, crying like a fucking baby the entire time. I can’t help it.
“You know you can’t give me back now, right?” Lucas’ voice breaks through my melancholy while we sit in the waiting room a few minutes later. “You have to adopt me. It’s in the rules. If you wash someone else’s blood off their hands, you’ve got to keep them.”
“Fuckin’ morbid, Lucas.” I laugh, unable to help myself. “I’ve already sent in the paperwork, kid. You had to know I wouldn’t ever be handing you back. Not to Karen. Not to anyone else.” I cough and wrap my arms around him in a tight embrace. “They still have to terminate her parental rights, though.”
He leans against my shoulder. “Bet they do it as soon as the courts open in the morning.” He sniffs, trying his best to keep me from hearing him cry.
“Hey.” I rub his hair, trying not to fall apart myself. “You’re not going anywhere. And it’s okay to cry. Fuck, kid… I did it enough in that bathroom while we cleaned up. You don’t have to be strong. That’s what I’m here for.”
“Did they catch her?” Lucas sniffles again, but it doesn’t sound like he tries to muffle it this time. “I hope they did.”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “But she won’t get away.”
The sliding glass doors that lead outside slide open and in walks my entire family. Followed directly by Avery’s family, Rett included.
Rett pushes through every single adult there and goes straight up to Lucas at my side. “You kept her safe, didn’t you?”
He isn’t looking at me, though. He is staring at Lucas, and I fuckin’ lose it—again. Right there in front of every single person in mine or Avery’s life. Not a single other person says a goddamn thing while we watch their interaction.
“You saved Aunt Avery,” Rett solemnly says. “I can tell.”
Lucas finally nods. I can’t look away, and I can’t wipe the tears from my eyes either. I just let them go, sliding down to my still-bloody shirt.
