7. Chapter 5
Darcy
“We need to get her to a hospital,” I call out to no one in particular, my palms clammy and my vision a little blurry.
There was only one bout of vomiting, and it wasn’t much, but now she won’t open her eyes and moans quietly if we move her too much. I’m surprised I can even hear the noise with the way my ears are filled with the sound of my rushing blood.
Derek checked her for injuries, but besides the swollen wrist and bruised cheekbone, we can’t find any other issues.
“Maybe she hit her head when he took her?” he asks as he moves toward her head and starts working his fingers through her hair and over her scalp, pausing a few inches above her temple. “There is a sizable bump here.”
“Concussion?” I ask, but it finally dawns on me how quiet the room is behind me.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and icy fingers wrap around my heart. Shielding Emmy with my body, I turn and try to figure out what the fuck happened while I’ve been distracted. Xavier’s pistol is pressed into the temple of that fucker, and Hudson is applying pressure to his wound.
The counterbalance of their positions makes for an interesting concept, and I take a mental snapshot for later.
There is a creak at the front of the house.
Someone else is here. For Tray? For us?
Fuck. For Emery?
Making eye contact with Derek, I reach for the gun tucked into the back of his waistband, and he gives a nod before carefully sliding his arms beneath Emery and cradling her to his chest. As gently as I can, I place her injured arm in her lap as he stands and then put myself between the two of them and the door, finger poised over the trigger, gun aimed at the door.
Nerves rattle around inside of me, making me feel like a shaken snow globe.
Learning how to handle a gun is one of my earliest memories.
Nothing fancy, just shooting at tins and jars at my family’s vacation residence in the mountains.
At the time, most of my uncles were in criminal law, different firms, but they were all on the same page about the next generation being able to protect themselves if anyone ever broke in.
However, being comfortable with shooting at stationary targets, that don’t spray blood when you put a bullet through them, doesn’t help me right now.
There is a quiet whistle, more air than noise, and out of the corner of my eye, Xavier shifts before making the same noise. A second later, a massive hulk of a man dressed in all black appears in the doorway.
“I thought we weren’t supposed to meet like this anymore?” he asks Xav, scanning the room.
Still pointing his weapon at Tray, Xav shrugs casually. “You never fully get out.”
“True,” the mountain man replies. And he is that, a mountain. He had to duck to get through the doorway. Thick, bushy beard, shaved head, T-shirt stretched thin everywhere, black latex gloves, combat pants and boots. A hefty-looking duffel bag.
Who the hell is this guy?
“We doing a relocation or a disposal? I wasn’t sure what you needed, so I came prepared for both.” Mountain Man’s gaze lands on Emmy, then to the vomit on the floor, and I shift to block his view of her. “She okay?”
“Disposal? What the fuck do you mean by that?” Tray demands in a high-pitched voice before anyone can respond to Mountain Man.
Everyone turns to look at the sack of shit sitting on the floor. His eyes have gone wide and a little wild, his whole body twitching and sweating.
Xav eyes him. “Disposal.”
“What the fuck? No! I’ll disappear. What was the other thing? Relocation. That, I’ll do that. Fuck, please.”
I watch in real time as he pisses himself, the dark patch on his pants spreading with every second, still blubbering about not wanting to die.
“Okay, can we get moving with this? He’s just making more mess for me to clean up,” Mountain Man says, gesturing with one hand to get things moving.
Xav looks at Derek and me. “Take her out to the car, I’ll be right behind you.”
I glance at Mountain Man, then back to Xav. “You sure?”
He gives me one of those smiles he does, where it looks like he is laughing at me, not with me. “Yes.”
Fucker. Fine.
“Hudson?” I ask as Derek and I start to move toward the doorway still occupied by Xav’s friend.
Hudson glances at Xavier, who nods. “Leave the rag.”
“Did you get any blood on you?” Mountain Man asks.
Hudson checks the front and back of his hands, then checks his clothing. “It doesn’t appear so.”
Mountain Man nods and finally, fucking finally, gets out of our way. I lower the weapon so that it’s pointing at the ground before leading the way out, my eyes barely needing to adjust to the darkness before we get to the front door.
I pull up short on the top step of the stoop when I see another guy, dressed in all black, leaning against a second black SUV, arms folded over his chest as he watches the house. He doesn’t move as I start to descend the couple of steps and just watches us from his perch as we head to Derek’s car.
“Keys are in my left pocket,” Derek says quietly once we get to his vehicle.
Hudson fishes them out and unlocks the car, the sound ricocheting through the dead neighborhood. Opening the back door, he holds his hands out to take Emmy, but Derek shakes his head and takes a seat in the back.
I know it’s ridiculous, but of all the things that have shocked me tonight, Derek getting into the back seat of his car might take first place.
Hudson meets my gaze, and I can see his own amazement. “I guess I’m driving, then.”
A smile tries to form on my lips, but I’ve got nothing. My entire heart is inside that car, and all I want is to be with her.
With quick strides, I get to the other passenger door and climb into the back seat with Derek, Emmy’s feet between us. “How’s she doing?”
Hudson opens the driver’s door, and we all hear the barely there sound of a gun being fired again before the door shuts.
“She hasn’t opened her eyes.”
My throat aches as I force a swallow and gently take hold of her ankle, smoothing my thumb over the joint. “It’s going to be okay, princess. We’re here now. It’s all going to be okay.”
The front passenger door opens, and Xavier climbs in, then shuts the door before holding his hand out to me between the two front seats. “Gun.”
I jolt. Fuck, I forgot I had that. It takes a second before my trigger finger relaxes enough to let go, but when it does, I offer him the gun on the palm of my hand.
Xav takes it from me, then talks to Hudson as he starts dismantling each piece. “Closest hospital is Bayshore.”
Hudson starts the car and pulls away from the curb. Headlights come around the corner up ahead.
The car fills with tension as the lowered sedan, with its chrome wheels and heavy bass, passes us. I turn in my seat to watch out the back window and see Mountain Man drop something big and bulky wrapped in plastic into the trunk of Tray’s car.
The sedan slows to watch but doesn’t stop, driving off down the street.
I refocus on Emmy and know that, after tonight, I won’t be letting her out of my life. Even if it means I have to spend a lifetime on my knees for her.