Cece? Thank God! Maybe she can get me out of here.
“Oh, hun.” She squeezes my hand. “What happened to you?”
“H…h… heeelp me,” I gargle, barely above a whisper.
“We’re going to help you, I promise.” She nods at the man wanting me to remain still, and a warm tingling sensation wraps around me.
My eyelid starts to sag against my will. “No… help,” I moan a split-second before I sink into darkness.
CHAPTER12
GRIM
She’s gonna be okay,man.
Violet has been lying in this damn bed for less than twenty-four hours, and I can’t bring myself to leave her side. Abyss has assured me, over and over, that she’s going to recover, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Right this minute, she’s battered and bruised and so very still.
I stare at the machines monitoring her heartbeat, and for once, I wish I could hear. The vertical zig zagging of the lines is hypnotizing as they move across the screen, but I want nothing more than to hear the beeps that go along with it.
When Abyss completed the x-rays, he determined that Violet’s in pretty bad shape.
Didn’t need a goddamn machine to tell me that.
She has a fractured arm, several broken ribs, a cracked eye socket, strangulation marks, numerous bruises, and internal bleeding.Pretty bad shapedoesn’t begin to cover her injuries.
She’s lucky to be alive.
As I focus on the rise and fall of Violet’s chest, I mentally circle back to another time, another woman.
The small hand that falls onto my shoulder startles me, reminding me that I’m not alone. I glance up and see Jezebel watching me, tears in her eyes. When she texted me two days ago and said she had a new job for us, I had no clue how personal it was going to get.
“I’m so sorry,” she mouths, that damn worry crease prominent on her brow.
Shaking my head, I return my gaze to my mom. She’s got a gash across her cheek, and her lip is so swollen she looks like she underwent the worst Botox injection in history.
When Jez’s touch disappears, I rise from the chair next to the bed and turn around to face her.
“It’s not your fault,” I tell her, letting my arms fall to my side when I’m done.
She chews her bottom lip. “But you asked me to—”
I arch a brow as I grab her hands. Jez stares at me for a moment before her shoulders slump, and I let her go.
“You did what I asked,” I assure her and nod toward my mom. “This is on me. I should’ve taken care of my father as soon as I moved out.”
A shadow falls across the bed, pulling me from my memories. I glance to my right and Malice is standing there with his arms crossed over his chest.
“What?”
“Are you coming to church?” he asks.
Ignoring his question, I return my attention to Violet, which earns me a smack upside the back of my head.
Rising to my feet, I glare at my VP. “What the fuck was that for?”
“Let me rephrase… Get your ass to church before Soul decides to punish your ass.”
“I’m not leaving her.”