Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
I puked and then dry heaved for nearly a minute before the pain in my jaw calmed down enough.
I was proud to see that the man that kicked me in the face now had puke on his shoes, as well as a new bruise on his face. He looked incredibly remorseful, but that didn’t help the waves of agony that were rolling through me with each pulse of my heart.
“Goddammit! I told you to fucking watch her you stupid piece of shit. You’re fucking done.” James snarled from his back, straining to get to me.
The arms that were wrapped around me were my father’s as he smoothed the hair from my face, wiping my face off gently with a cool towel.
“Page the nurse. Tell her to bring some medication in here for her pain.” My father demanded of someone.
I was crying, but the look on James’ face had my tears slowing until I was looking at him with wet cheeks only. He looked agonized, as if what he’d done inadvertently caused me to be hurt. Once my tears had stopped though, he calmed, somehow composing himself enough to stop struggling himself.
The sharp pinch of a needle entering my arm brought my attention to the nurse, the same one that hated me for some reason, punched a needle into my arm a little too hard, and I lost the battle with consciousness.
***
James
“Simmons is gone. I don’t care what you have to do, but you make him gone. He did that on purpose. He was standing a little more than a foot away from her face. He didn’t kick her on accident.” I hissed to Silas, and then turned to The Captain, making sure they both understood my standpoint.
“We’ll look into it...” The Captain started to say before I interrupted him.
“No. He will be gone. It’s either him or me. You decide.” I gritted out between clenched teeth.
Partly because I was in a lot of pain from my own gunshot wound, and secondly, I didn’t trust myself to start yelling the rooftops down.
When I’d seen Glen entering the room, at first my eyes didn’t quite comprehend what I was seeing.
I’d been lying in bed with Shiloh for a little over two hours when she’d finally woken. I’d been getting the run around by the nurse for going on half a day about Shiloh’s progress, and the nurse kept telling me that she was still asleep.
Since I was in no place to argue with the woman, I let her be, knowing she’d get a hold of me as soon as she was able. Which she’d done, but I’d promptly screwed up by not acknowledging her. I was in shock. I hadn’t believed Teal when she’d said that she was too important to be let go. That her ex-husband would find her no matter what she did.
I’d been naïve. I’d thought I knew this world. Thought I knew the kind of scum that inhabited this earth. Teal had been an innocent, and to know that she’d been beaten to within an inch of her life, absolutely shredded me. I’d brought the concerns to Sam, but we’d done everything we could possibly do, short of killing off the ex, which wasn’t what we did.
Until now.
With Shiloh asleep on the bed next to me, and Teal being kept alive halfway across the country, I knew that I wouldn’t stand by and let this happen anymore. Something had to change.
I’d been thinking about the changes that needed to take place when Glen walked in. Although dressed as an orderly, the shotgun in his hand was unmistakable.
It was gut instinct, on top of raw need to protect the woman I loved, that made my hand act. The gun became an extension of me. It took all of six seconds to get the gun in my hand, aim, and fire. It was only divine justice that the bullet had hit Glen in the same spot as he’d had a sniper take me.
The Captain’s vehement speech to Detective Howell brought me out of my musings. “Larson’s wanted on attempted murder of a police officer, kidnapping of a woman, attempted kidnapping of a child, and numerous other things, Officer Howell. We have the testimony of his brother and his girlfriend. The man is guilty. What Mr. Mackenzie did was acceptable.”
“Jesus Christ. You realize this is a colossal clusterfuck. This facility prohibits firearms on the premises. He had to get a gun in here someway without passing through a metal detector. Which means he entered illegally, and purposefully carried a firearm into the facility. That’s a violation of the law, and the hospital has the right to press charges, which they are doing.” Detective Howell gritted out through clenched teeth.
Technically, me and every other member of my team had done the same in the past week, as well as the past four years all together. I didn’t go anywhere unarmed, and that includes lying flat on my back in a hospital bed.
It was another two hours before they moved us to my room, the charge nurse opting to let Shiloh and I share a room until our stay was over with, since Shiloh’s was now a crime scene.
Sebastian was arrested for the possession of a firearm, and since he had priors, they kept him, denying him bail.
Shiloh slept.
I guess it was good that at least one of us could. I was fucking exhausted, but my mind was on a hundred different things, going in one hundred different directions.
***
Two days later
“They’re releasing you, but not me?” Shiloh asked.
Well, to the best of my knowledge, that’s what she asked. “Yeah, but I’m not going anywhere, honey. I’ll be here until you get to go home, too.”
“Good,” she hesitated. “You should go home anyway, spend some time with Janie. Get her used to having a new sister.”
I looked at her. I was thinking the same thing myself. Nonetheless, I knew something was bothering Shiloh, minus the fact that her brother was still in jail.
Pressing the button on the side of the bed, I waited for it to lift me up fully before I turned completely towards Shiloh, who was laid back in her own bed, looking even more pitiful than she had two days ago. I couldn’t wait to cuddle her, hold her close to my chest, and feel her sleeping next to me again.