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IMANI
My shaky hands were soaked in a thick layer of Landon’s blood. I cried out for someone to help me, but neither Landon’s mother nor his father moved. They both looked too shocked to even help, and that other man did nothing but slam the front door closed and rush to his car.
Tears streamed down my face, blurring my vision. But I wouldn’t let Landon die right here and right now, not in my arms. I loved him more than I had thought, and the thought of losing him … fuck, I couldn’t let that happen.
So, I ran over to open the back door of my car, then used all the strength I had in my small body to lift Landon’s unconscious one from the ground. Struggling, I stumbled a couple feet, nearly dropping him on the street, but pushed him into the car.
After rushing behind the wheel, I started the car, pressed the gas to the floor, and sped to the hospital. I fumbled to grab my phone in the passenger seat, glancing back at Landon and the amount of blood he kept losing every moment.
Nine-one-one.
The phone rang for what seemed like forever.
“Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?”
“I’m coming to the hospital,” I said, voice trembling. “Someone’s been shot. Please, please, be ready to take him in. He’s bleeding out in my backseat.” I glanced into the backseat to see more blood pouring out of Landon. “Oh my gosh, there’s so much blood.”
“Please, calm down, miss,” the operator said over the phone.
“I can’t lose him,” I sobbed.
Ahead, the traffic light turned red. Cursing into the phone, I swerved onto the sidewalk to bypass some cars that had stopped and took a hard right turn at the corner when I knew nobody was coming. It was reckless, but I didn’t have much time.
Cars blasted their horns at me. I shoved my foot on the gas and sped down the road toward the hospital, the operator still talking in my ear. But honestly, I couldn’t even focus at the moment. My mind was everywhere but on the phone.
When I saw the signs for the hospital, I drove even faster and ignored the speed limit. Maybe I’d end up going to jail for this, but as long as Landon lived … that was all I cared about now. Landon didn’t deserve any of this.
Sliding into the emergency vehicle entrance, I parked the car and ran into the hospital. An ugly sob escaped my lips.
“Help him, please! Find someone to help him!” I shouted. “Please, help me.”
A couple nurses ran over, and I pointed toward my car parked outside.
“My boyfriend … he’s been shot. Someone help him!”
A small group of people ran outside to take Landon out of my car. They rushed him into the hospital, and I hurried with them down the halls. I wouldn’t be let into the room, but I had to try. Once they realized that he was part of the slums, they wouldn’t do anything to help him.
Even doctors and nurses at Redwood loathed people in the slums.
They wouldn’t do as much for him as they would for someone like me.
Mom spotted me from down the hall. “Why are you here, Imani?” Mom asked, hurrying toward me. “And why is there blood all over your hands? Are you hurt? Did something happen with Allie and Jace?” She grasped my face. “Talk to me, honey.”
“Landon,” I cried, pulling myself out of her arms. “He can’t die. I can’t let him die!”
Before I could slip into the room with them, Mom grabbed me. “That boy they brought in from the slums? Why are you here with him?”
“Because I love him, Mom!” I shouted at her. “I love Landon. I love someone from the fucking slums, and he’s dying right now. If you ever cared about me in the slightest, you’d put your ignorance to the side and help him!”
She reached for me. “Imani …”
I ripped myself out of her grip, hugged my hands around my body, and fell to my knees, my legs giving out. “Don’t touch me. Find someone to help him, please. A good doctor too, not just someone that you assign to everyone in the slums.”
Mom pressed her trembling lips together and stared at me with teary eyes, and then she turned away from me. And, fuck, I still felt so abandoned by her. Every day of my life, no matter what, she never—
“Get Dr. Erwick to the ER now,” Mom said to the nurses at the front desk. “And every emergency nurse that we have. We’re not letting that boy die on us.”
