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Mel glanced up to the windows above them as his arms drew her closer, the protective action unmistakable.
“Mel?” She drew his eyes back to her.
A sad smile grew on his lips as he brushed her hair away from her eyes. “I was a bit of a selfish bastard when I was alive, and God knows I want to keep you...”
Grinning, her hands softly touched the back of his neck, just below the shot that killed him. She committed the velvet feel of the hair along his neck to memory.
“... you aren’t done yet. You’re not dying here.”
Lights flashed through the upper windows in red and blue. Voices called out to one another, muffled by the walls.
“Time’s up,” she whispered against his lips, something in her chest making it hard to breathe even in the semi-spiritual form she currently held. A pressure pushed down, a consistent restraint on her ability to take a full breath.
Giving her a quick, single kiss, he pushed her from him.
Falling into her own body was surreal. It was like falling in a dream and waking before hitting the ground. Instead of the mind waking up, the body did instead. Her corporeal body jerked as she merged with her physical self, her heart beat louder, and her breaths deepened. Coughs tore from her throat and she rolled to her side to help her lungs take in large gulps of air.
A small team of officers flowed into the building from multiple doorways. Mel took enough steps back to ensure no one ran through him, even as she reached for him. Knight barreled into view, dressed as if he was still going to dinner. Shoving others out of the way, he knelt on the dirt-covered floor, checking her for consciousness.
“Ana,cher,” Knight gasped down at her as the EMTs rushed to her side, trying to push him away from her.
“Can you tell me what day it is?” a man asked, but Anastacia’s eyelids drooped heavily before lifting again.
“Saturday.” Her voice was scratchy and rough as her vocal cords struggled to work properly.
She saw past the technicians, beyond Knight, behind the officers, and landed on Mel as he stood back and watched from a distance.
Thelightsweretoobright. Anastacia groaned, setting her throat on fire as her eyes opened, blinking the blurriness away. Knight sat at the side of a hospital bed in the only available chair in the room, pulling at her hand as she woke.
“Hey there,cher,” he greeted. “Welcome back.”
Anastacia struggled to orient herself, panicking when she didn't see Mel as soon as she woke up. A form moved on the other side of the room, her eyes were immediately drawn to the movement. Mel sat on the thin ledge of the window, watching her from his perch, but otherwise stayed where he was.
“Knight?” her voice croaked, turning her eyes back to the detective.
Knight held a cup with a straw to her lips. “Here, take a sip. Your voice is worse than a toad’s. How you feeling?”
The water soothed her throat a little, and she inhaled as much as she dared. “Alive. I guess that’s something.”
Her eyes glanced over at the window where Mel sat. He only stared at her in response. It was too close of a call and they both knew it. She couldn’t read his expression and, after a second, he turned back to the window. She tried to sit up, but her arms refused to lift her weight and she fell back to the pillow. Knight jumped up and adjusted the bed for her, a true gentleman.
“Where did the uniforms go?” she asked, remembering officers who had taken her statement earlier when she was semi-conscious.
“They’re out looking for Curtis, with the rest of the station.” He squeezed her hand in his. “You scared me, you know. I didn’t know where you were. Your phone kept going to voice mail.”
She fully charged her phone before she left for the restaurant but there was little doubt in her mind it was drained during Mel’s rescue.
“You give shit directions,” she accused him with a playful smirk. Her muscles tensed down her neck creating a wave of throbbing soreness. It was easy to forget how parts of the body were connected when pain wasn’t involved.
“Can’t blame my directions when you were snatched, dawlin’. When you get out of here, there’s gonna be officers with you when I’m not. This isn’t happening again.” He held out the water to her.
“Curtis knew where I was. He must have followed me from my apartment.” She pushed away the water, unwilling to drink anymore.
“You sure it was Curtis?” Knight’s tone flipped from concern to serious.
“Yes, I’m sure.” She nodded and side-eyed Mel. He kept his eyes trained on the window as if on watch. He had said nothing since they loaded her into the ambulance, and she didn’t know why. Usually, it was hard to keep him quiet. She tried to shake her head as if to clear it but immediately stopped in response to the pain shooting up her neck. “I stared into his eyes as he tried to strangle me. I frustrated him. I wasn’t blacking out fast enough. Fighting too much. The bastard isn’t as strong as he thinks he is.”
“I should have known,” he chuckled happily as he brushed some of her hair from her face. His voice dropped deeper, and his usually controlled accent now flowed unrestrained over his words, “You’re tough,cher. You’re still breathin’. I gotta admire a determined soul too stubborn to die.”
