Chapter 34
CHAPTER 34
MARIA
“ C ome on, Malo,” Stitches mutters, as he slams his fist into Malo’s chest again. Malo’s body spasms, but he doesn’t wake up.
“Come on, come on, come on,” I urge, pleading with him to open his eyes, to look at me, flash me one of those smiles that makes my heart skip a beat. I know he’s in there, somewhere. I just need him to come back to reality, and so I can tell him what a fucking idiot he’s been, and kiss him better.
Sin and Beast are behind me, watching the scene as it unfolds. Stitches came running the moment he heard the commotion. I saw the powder spilled on the floor, Malo on the ground, unresponsive. I tried clearing his airway myself, managing to shift some of the mucus that had started to clog his throat, but Stitches moved me aside the moment he got here so he could take over.
Now I’m left watching, staring down at the scene in front of me and praying that Malo comes back from this. I feel as though I’m watching from afar, floating high above my body, needing this to not be real—needing it to be happening to someone else, because I can’t lose him, I just can’t.
I want to drop to my knees beside Malo and scream and shake him awake, but I know I need to focus on what I can do to help the situation. My mind is racing as I try to piece it all together. I hardly know where to begin—the powder that he took, where did he get it? I know nobody in the Kings’ compound would have given it to him, and he hasn’t left the compound since we got back, so how did it get into his hands?
My mind darts back to Mexico. Did he get it there? He told me he didn’t find anything when he went out to try and score, but that could have been a lie. My heart twists in my chest. If I find out who gave him that shit, I'm going to…
I shove those thoughts aside. No. No emotion right now. I need logic. I’ve seen Malo using before, hitting a line as though it was nothing, hardly even reacting. Whatever this is that’s got him laid out this way, it has to be something serious, something hard. Something… dangerous.
I grab the small clear bag from where it’s been abandoned on the counter. It’s still half-full, and he can’t have taken more than a line, judging by the stuff that’s scattered over the floor and the counter around him. I lift it to my nose, and sniff—not trying to get high myself, just trying to figure out what it might be.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Beast snaps at me. “You trying to get yourself killed?”
“I’m trying to figure out what this is,” I mutter, shaking my head. It had a pharmaceutical scent, like chemicals I was used to in the labs I’d worked out of my whole career. It was a scent that instantly made me think about my father. He’d always come home from work smelling like chemicals, the scent of his lab coat and latex gloves still clinging to his skin when he leaned down to give me a hug. Could the answer be what I was thinking?
“You know?” Beast asks, stepping in a little closer. I can see the fear in his eyes. He doesn’t want to lose Malo any more than I do. I furrow my brow, shooting another look down at Stitches as he works on him. Malo is starting to go limp, all the tension in his body fading. I can’t even tell if he’s breathing. His eyes are rolled back into his head, and Stitches is getting more frantic with every passing moment.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “But I think this might be my father’s work.”
Beast’s eyes narrow.
“Las Rosas?”
I nod.
“How the fuck would he have gotten his hands on something Las Rosas made?” Beast demands, staring down at Malo, his brow creased with concern. “He would never have taken it?—”
“Not if he’d known,” I agree with a sigh.
Stitches sits back, catches his breath, and flexes his hands for a break from the compressions.
“Is he breathing?” I ask.
Stitches nods. “It’s shallow, but yes,” he replies. “I want to get him on a ventilator and oxygenate his blood as soon as we can.”
“You have an office nearby? A lab I can use?” I ask, sealing the bag and pushing it into my pocket.
Stitches nods.
“We need to get him down there as soon as we can,” I reply. “And I want to go, too.”
“You’ll be better off getting some rest than—” Beast begins, but I lift a hand to stop him. Any day I would think twice before talking to Beast let alone cutting him off, the man is so intimidating, but with Malo’s life possibly on the line I don’t hesitate to speak my mind.
“I want to figure out what’s in that stuff he took,” I fire back. “Analyze the compound, figure out what we’re dealing with here. It’s the best chance we have of getting him to wake up.”
Stitches shoots a look at his boss, and I can tell the silent communication between them is happening fast. They know as well as I do that every second matters. I try not to look at Malo on the ground in front of me. He looks so weak, so frail, so damaged, and I don’t know, even if I do get to the bottom of what’s in this stuff, that I’m going to be able to do anything to rescue him.
But I know, sure as hell, that I have to try. I have to give it everything I’ve got. No matter how scared I am. It’s time for him to rely on me the way I have relied on him in the past.
“Sure,” Beast replies. “Sin, call up some of the men, get him transported down there. Keep this locked down; only people who need to know, you hear me?”
“On it,” Sin replies, heading for the door and racing down the stairs. I drop to my knees next to Malo and take his hand, pulling it into my lap and squeezing hard.
“You’re going to be okay,” I whisper to him, even though I’m not sure he can hear me right now. I just need to get those words out, maybe so I can hear them as much as anyone else.
I lean down, and plant a kiss on his sallow forehead, brushing back his sweat-sodden hair. I’m going to get him through this.
I have to. There isn’t any other choice.