Chapter 19 #3
“Jesse,” Avery said firmly. “This isn’t your death this time. We have no idea how long it took Ellis to die. It’s our only hope of helping her.”
“You’re right,” Jesse said with determination. He started to get up while still holding Lucy. Sean came forward immediately and gripped Jesse in his strong arms, helping him to his feet.
Jesse gripped Lucy under her legs so he could carry her, and she let out an ungodly shriek of sheer agony.
“Lucy,” Jesse moaned.
“Stay strong, Jesse!” Avery commanded. “Get her out of here!”
Jesse nodded and broke into a near run with Lucy in his arms, trying his best not to jostle her any more than he absolutely had to. Lucy’s sobs became whimpers, which were somehow worse than her screams. It was like she was losing the strength to cry out anymore.
Sean, Avery, Remy, and Theresa ran alongside Jesse as he carried Lucy away from the Railroad Depot building. Lucy lifted her head after they got several yards away from the parking lot where she had collapsed.
“Jesse!” Lucy cried, her eyes wide and she looked up at him. “It stopped! It doesn’t hurt anymore!”
“Oh, thank God,” Jesse said, his eyes filled with utter relief and gratitude. “Thank God, thank God!”
* * *
Relief flooded through Lucy. As soon as Jesse got her away from the building, the pain stopped abruptly. She wrapped her arms around Jesse’s neck, feeling too weak to even cry anymore. Lucy took in a few deep breaths, telling herself, It’s over, it’s over, it’s all over.
Jesse carried her a little farther away just to be sure. He spotted a bench in a nearby park and carried her over to it, gently laying her down. Jesse sat with her, cradling her head and shoulders in his arms while the rest of her body was stretched out on the bench.
“Lucy, Lucy,” Jesse moaned as he gazed down at her. “Are you all right?”
Lucy nodded. She wanted to reassure him that she was all right, and that she couldn’t have gotten through this horror without him, but she felt too weak to speak.
“It don’t hurt anymore?” Jesse asked, his eyes pleading.
“No,” Lucy managed to say. “No, it doesn’t hurt at all anymore.”
Sean crouched down next to her, gazing at her with concern.
Lucy looked around at all of her friends, watching her with worried expressions.
Normally, she was uncomfortable with people fussing over her, but right now she found it soothing to be literally surrounded by her friends.
Jesse was holding her in his arms, and Sean was right by her side.
Remy and Theresa were at the foot of the bench, and Avery stood just behind it.
Ellis had done such a horrific, cruel thing to her, but Lucy felt like she had a wall of love and protection surrounding her.
It felt like a balm to her wounded body and soul, knowing there were still good people left in the world.
“Lucy,” Sean said gently as he knelt beside her where she lay on the bench. “I’m gonna check your pulse, okay?”
Lucy nodded. Sean picked up her hand and put his forefinger and middle finger on her wrist and counted the beats.
She remembered Theresa saying it was a good thing that he hadn’t lost his trigger fingers in that terrorist attack in Afghanistan, or his military career would have been over.
Sean looked up at Jesse and nodded, indicating that her pulse was good.
Next, Sean looked deeply into her eyes, examining them. He has such pretty eyes, Lucy thought. They were a lovely shade of hazel, and he had long, dark eyelashes. She didn’t know what he was looking for, but he seemed satisfied with what he saw.
“Is it okay if I take a look at your knee?” Sean asked. He knew Lucy was painfully shy, and any kind of medical examination from a male might be uncomfortable for her. She didn’t mind at all, though. She adored Sean and trusted him completely.
“Of course. Thank you, Sean,” she said softly.
“Left one?” Sean asked, and she nodded.
He carefully rolled up her skirt only as far as he had to in an effort to protect her modesty.
He pressed on the front of her knee. “Does that hurt?” Lucy shook her head.
Next, Sean slipped two fingers behind her knee and pressed down.
He looked up at her questioningly, and she shook her head.
“Good, good. You still look a little pale. You don’t feel like you’re gonna faint again, do you? ”
“Did I faint?” Lucy asked in astonishment. She had no memory of it.
Sean nodded grimly. “Yeah. You blacked out for a little bit there. Jesse was holding you so you didn’t hit the ground.”
Lucy looked up at Jesse gratefully and he stroked her cheek.
Sean placed his hand on Lucy’s forehead.
“Good, you don’t feel feverish. You seem to be okay overall.
” He glanced at Jesse, then back at Lucy.
“Just keep an eye out for anything unusual. The last thing we want to do is ignore any real medical symptoms because we just assume it’s related to, you know, what happened.
I mean, God forbid you have a blood clot in your leg or something.
Keep an eye out for any soreness, heat around the area, redness, that kind of thing. ”
“Okay, I will,” Lucy said. “Thank you, Sean.”
He nodded. “You bet. Right now I think you need rest more than anything. You look exhausted.”
Jesse nodded. “Yeah, that’s how she was after Devil’s Den, too.
She was so tired she could barely move.” He let out a mournful sigh.
“She had to, though. Joel died at Devil’s Den, too, and we didn’t want her suffering through that as well.
So she had to get up and somehow make it all the way to her car. ”
Sean nodded sympathetically. Jesse was obviously still torn up over what had happened to Lucy that horrible day. “You don’t have to go anywhere anytime soon. Just rest.”
Lucy nodded weakly.
* * *
Avery stood quietly next to Remy, watching her try not to fall apart.
She couldn’t, at least not now. Right now her focus needed to be on Lucy.
Remy stared at her lying there on the bench, looking pale and drawn.
She couldn’t even begin to imagine the agony of feeling your leg being amputated, the sensation of cold, sharp steel slicing through muscle and bone.
And Jesse. He looked devastated, destroyed.
And it was all Remy’s fault.
She put a hand over her mouth, doing her best to stifle her sobs as tears ran down her face. The tiniest noise escaped her throat, and Jesse looked up at her.
Jesse looked heartbroken to see Remy so distraught. “Come now, Remy. None of that.”
Remy finally took her hand off her mouth and allowed the dam to burst. “J-J-Jesse, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault!” Remy broke down in wails of sorrow and regret. She couldn’t believe how utterly stupid she had been to trust that horrible man.
Avery did his best to comfort her, but she could barely hear his words over the sound of her own sobbing. Jesse looked at her helplessly, like he wanted to get up and hug her, but he couldn’t bear to let go of Lucy.
Sean still had his back to Remy, where he had been kneeling in front of Lucy. Remy could see how much Sean cared about Lucy, and Remy was nervous about what might happen when he turned around. She feared he would be furious with her.
Finally, Sean stood up and turned around. He somehow looked even bigger than he had earlier when she first met him. He stared right at Remy.
Sean had a grim expression on his face. He was angry all right. He took a forceful step toward Remy, who gasped and stumbled backward in fear. Avery was between them in a flash, staring Sean down as if he would punch him if he took one more step toward her. Remy almost believed he could do it.
Sean looked at Avery, then at Remy. He blinked, looking confused for a moment. Then he held up his hands, and Remy couldn’t help but stare at his missing fingers.
“Sorry. Sorry! I can be pretty intense sometimes,” Sean said, his expression softening as he looked at Remy.
She realized he was angry that Lucy had gotten hurt, but he wasn’t angry with her.
“Remy, I-I want you to know,” he said, struggling with what he had to say.
“I—well, my best friend was killed right in front of me, and for a really long time I blamed myself. Finally, I came to understand that when somebody’s hell-bent on destruction, sometimes there’s nothing you can do.
” Sean put his hands on Remy’s shoulders.
His expression and his touch were gentle now, so she wasn’t afraid.
Sean looked her in the eye and said firmly, “Ellis did this to Lucy, and he alone is responsible for his actions. This is not your fault, understand?”
Remy nodded, tearing up again. Sean gazed into her eyes for another moment, then let go of her shoulders. Avery caught his eye and nodded gratefully at him, and Sean returned the gesture.
“Of course it’s not your fault, Remy,” Lucy said quietly. “There’s no way you could have known he was capable of something like this. Please don’t cry.”
Remy nodded, wiping her tears and trying to calm herself.
Theresa wrapped her arms around Remy’s shoulders.
“Honey, we all know how sensitive Lucy is, and we’ve always done our best to keep her safe, keep her off the battlefields.
There’s no way you or anyone else could have known this would happen.
” She sighed bitterly. “I admit there was a certain evil genius to what he did. He can’t touch anyone or anything, but he figured out how to hurt us anyway. ”
Remy nodded, a sense of betrayal and anger brewing. How could he have done something like this? After everything I’ve tried to do to help him?
“Theresa’s right,” Lucy said weakly. “Please don’t blame yourself. Nobody thinks this is your fault, so you shouldn’t either.”
Remy looked around and was overwhelmed by the looks of love and support from all of her friends. So this is what it’s like to have a family.
“Shhh,” Jesse said tenderly. “You need to rest, Lucy. Please just rest now.”
Lucy nodded. She closed her eyes, and in no time she was asleep in his arms.