Chapter Twenty-Eight Jax
My swollen eye throbs with every heartbeat. My ribs scream with every breath I try to take. But none of it compares to the pain in my chest watching Tiger’s body blow backward from the shot.
The bullet that was meant for me.
Is now in her.
Time slows down.
Her body jerks back, and she crashes to the floor like a puppet with cut strings. The sound of the gun echoes in my head, leaving my ears ringing.
I reach for her and pull her close. My hands are shaking so badly I can barely hold her.
“Tiger,” I cry. My voice cracks. Breaks. “Tiger, stay with me. Zeff!”
Her eyes flutter, opening just slightly. But there’s nothing behind them. No recognition. No awareness.
I’m losing her.
“Tiger, please. Look at me. Stay awake. You have to stay awake.”
Blood is everywhere. Pouring from her arm where the bullet clipped her. Spreading across the floor. Soaking through my clothes.
So much blood.
Too much blood.
“Get the fuck away from her!” I seethe at her dad.
But he doesn’t listen. He rushes forward and rips her out of my arms and lifts her like she weighs nothing.
He carries her toward the door.
“Zeff!” I scream, trying to stand. Everything in my body protests. My ribs feel like they’re grinding against each other. My vision swims.
I can’t stumble, can’t fall. I can’t risk pushing her out of his arms.
I’m losing her.
Zephyr steps into my line of sight with the phone pressed to his ear, already on the phone with 911.
Then he’s running after her dad, following him outside.
I drag myself to my feet. Every movement sends fresh waves of pain through my chest. I don’t care. I stumble toward the door.
By the time I get outside, Zephyr has taken her from him, and he’s already putting her in my car. The engine’s still running from when we got here. He peels out of the driveway, leaving me.
Shit!
Her dad grabs Zinnia by the arm. “Get in the car. Now.”
“No!” Zinnia screams.
But he’s already dragging her toward the black Honda Pilot.
I suck up my pride and run. Pain shoots through my ribs with every step, but I don’t stop. I reach the SUV just as he’s starting the engine.
I yank open the back door and slide in next to Zinnia.
Her dad whips around. “Get out.”
“Fuck you,” I say.
“Get the fuck out!”
I stare at him as he throws the car into reverse. I say, “You’re going to get what you deserve.”
He reverses out of the driveway fast enough that I’m thrown against the seat. Then he’s racing down the street in the direction of the hospital.
“You shouldn’t fucking be here!” he shouts.
I see sirens in the distance, heading in our direction.
Then Zephyr stops dead at the stop sign of the four-way road and waves his arms at the ambulance.
Thank God this city is fast.
Her dad slams the brakes. I’m out of the SUV before he can stop me, running toward my car.
Zephyr’s already pulling Tigerlily’s limp body out of the passenger seat. Her head lolls to the side. There’s blood everywhere.
The medics take her from him and load her onto a stretcher. They start working immediately.
I sprint as hard as I can, but I’m not fast enough. They close the ambulance doors with Zephyr inside.
“Shit!”
I’m not even halfway. The sirens blare, and the ambulance rushes off.
The cops race past us, but I don’t care. I run into my car and race after the ambulance.
I can’t lose her.
I can’t fucking lose her!
The hospital waiting room is small and sterile and suffocating.
Tigerlily’s dad is sitting across from me. Zinnia’s next to me on the plastic chairs. She won’t stop crying. She won’t look at her dad. She just keeps her body angled toward me like I can protect her from what just happened.
I want to kill him.
I want to reach across this room and wrap my hands around his throat the same way he did to Tiger and make sure he doesn’t take another breath. But I can’t fucking do that in front of Zinnia, so I sit, and I wait.
His time will fucking come.
It feels like a lifetime has passed when Zephyr walks into the waiting room. I’m on my feet the second I see him.
“How is she?”
Her dad stands too.
Zephyr looks at him. Then at Zinnia. Then at me. “I’ve been in another waiting room. They kicked me out the second they took her.”
Her dad storms off to the front desk and starts demanding answers. I follow close enough to overhear.
“She’s in surgery right now,” the nurse says calmly. “That’s all I can tell you.”
Surgery.
The word hits like a punch to the gut.
We sit back down, and I can’t take my eyes off her dad. I can’t stop staring at him. He’s such a piece of shit.
I lean over to Zephyr, keeping my voice low. “I want to fucking kill him.”
Zephyr’s staring at him too. “The cops should be here any second.”
Silence settles over us, heavy and suffocating.
Then Zinnia pulls out her iPad and shows me the screen.
The notes app is open. She typed: Can I live with you?
I stare at the words. I don’t react. I don’t know how to.
She types more.
I know Lily will.
I look at her dad. He’s staring at us from across the room.
“He’s going to jail,” I mutter.
Zephyr nudges me. “They’re here.”
Police walk through the automatic doors. Two uniformed officers and a detective in plain clothes.
“No!” Her dad yells as he stands up fast. “My daughter’s in surgery right now! I need to be here when she wakes up!”
“Sir, you’re under arrest.” The officer’s voice is calm. Professional. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to a lawyer—”
“Zinnia!” Her dad shouts.
Zinnia leans into me and cries. She grips onto me, so I hold her tight as I watch them arrest him.
“Zinni! Zinnia! Listen to me! It’s going to be okay!”
Her face is in my chest, full of tears. She’s whimpering. I rub her back, trying to soothe the way her entire body shakes and trembles.
She lifts her face to breathe. Tears fall out of her eyes like waterfalls as she tries to wipe it away.
“I wish I had Lily’s dad,” she sobs. “This isn’t fair.”
Her bottom lip is trembling, frowning the most I’ve ever seen someone frown. Tears prick my eyes as she starts to cry harder.
Zephyr and I look at each other. He knows what I’m thinking, but he keeps it to himself as he rubs Zinnia’s back.
The police approach us. One of them crouches down to Zinnia’s level. “Hi. We need to talk to you for a few minutes, okay?”
Zinnia nods but doesn’t let go of my arm.
Another cop approaches me and Zephyr. “We need statements from both of you.”
I glance at Zephyr.
She wishes she had Tigerlily’s father.
Which means—
The cop clears his throat. “Sir?”
I follow him to a quieter corner of the waiting room. I answer every question and tell them everything from the moment we saw her leave for Barnes & Noble to the moment the gun went off.
I leave out the part about the two guys we left at Morris Reservoir. That’s not relevant right now.
When I’m done, I look over at Zinnia. She’s still talking to a female officer. Still crying.
The cop I’ve been talking to starts to walk away.
“Hey,” I call after him. “Can she wait with us? We’re not leaving the hospital until Tigerlily wakes up.”
He looks at Zinnia. Then back at me. “Sorry. She needs to go down to the station.”
“What?” I mutter, butterflies filling my stomach.
I walk over to the officer Zinnia’s talking to. She’s young. Maybe late twenties. But looks exhausted.
“Excuse me,” I say. “Can she stay with us until Tigerlily wakes up?”
The officer scoffs. Actually scoffs. “That’s not how this works.”
“How about you keep one of your guys here with her until Tigerlily wakes up—”
“That’s not how it works, kid.”
“Delay it,” I say, swallowing the lump forming in my throat. “Please. Don’t take her anywhere. Her sister just got shot. She doesn’t need to be processed somewhere right now. She needs to know if her sister’s okay.”
The cop raises a brow at me. “In order for her to have a bed tonight, she needs to be processed right now.”
The pit in my stomach drops. “What?”
“She can’t go home with her father under arrest,” she says to me like I’m stupid.
“She has Tigerlily. She’s over eighteen.”
The officer shakes her head. “I don’t make the rules.”
I look at the other cop standing nearby. “Please.”
Zinnia grabs my arm. “Don’t let them take me, Jax. Please.”
“Delay it,” I demand. “Please. Just a few hours.”
“We don’t have extra cops to sit around and babysit, son. Now, Zinnia, is it? Get in the car.”
“No!” Zinnia screams.
“How about this,” I say, putting my hand out. “I’ll bring her to the station tomorrow. She’s stayed at my house before with Tigerlily. She knows it. It’s familiar.”
The officer takes Zinnia’s arm and starts guiding her toward the door.
“The best thing you can do is register to become a foster parent,” she says over her shoulder.
“How long does that take?” Zephyr asks from behind me.
The officer shrugs. “A few weeks.”
“A few weeks!” I can’t keep the anger out of my voice. “You’re taking her from her sister for a few weeks?”
She gets Zinnia into the back of the patrol car.
Zinnia’s hitting the window, crying so hard her face is red. “Lily! Lily! Please! My sister!”
I stand there watching the car pull away. Helpless. Useless.
We stand there in the parking lot, watching until the taillights disappear.
Then we walk back inside, sit down in the chairs, and wait.
Wait for Tiger to wake up.
Wait for someone to tell us she’s going to be okay.
Wait for this nightmare to end.
But the hours stretch on. And nobody comes.
And all I can do is sit here with blood still on my hands and pray that she survives this.
Because if she doesn’t—
If she doesn’t, I don’t know what I’ll do.
But I have an idea of where to start.