Twenty-Nine | Jo
Twenty-Nine
Jo
“Press harder,” I said, my voice a little shaky as I watched Dom. “You have to put enough pressure to stop the bleeding.”
“Fuck,” he whispered, his eyes darting to my face. “You scared the shit out of me, baby.”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t planning on getting shot.”
He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he pressed his lips together.
“I’ll be okay,” I assured him as he pressed down harder like I asked him to.
“The towels keep getting soaked with blood. I don’t know if we have more.”
He started to remove them, but I reached up and stopped him.
“Don’t. If you take them off, you risk opening the wound again. You need to keep packing the wound and maintaining pressure to get the bleeding to stop.”
He nodded, returning his focus to pressing down on my shoulder.
Given that I was still alive, the bullet must not have hit anything vital, but the amount of bleeding was concerning.
Dom’s phone rang, but he ignored it while he kept putting more pressure on my wound.
“Who’s calling?”
“Axel. I called him and told him what happened. He’s heading up and bringing Dr. Foster with him. I’m supposed to answer—”
He stopped mid-sentence and reached down with one hand to answer the phone, then put it on speakerphone. I let out an easy breath, trying to force myself to relax and ignore the pain.
“Hey,” he said as he set the phone down beside him. “She just woke up.”
“Jo, this is Dr. Foster. We’re on our way, but I wanted to call and walk Dom through everything,” Dr. Foster said. “How are you feeling?”
“Overall, I’m fine. My shoulder hurts like a bitch, but other than that, I’m okay.”
“Is the wound still bleeding?” she asked as I looked at Dom.
“It’s okay to slowly lift the towels. Start slowly and if you see a rush of blood, stop and put pressure again,” I said, keeping my eyes locked on his.
“What’s the plan if the asshole who shot her comes back?” Axel asked.
“I will kill him,” Dom growled as he slowly lifted the towels.
“Give me your gun,” I said, nodding to where it was lying on the floor beside him.
“Jo, I’m not going to—” he started, but stopped when I raised an eyebrow at him.
“You’re working on saving my life. Stop being stubborn and give me the gun so I can protect both of our lives.”
He blew out an aggravated breath and handed it to me before going back to removing the towels.
“All of the towels are off and the bleeding looks like it’s stopped for the most part,” Dom said, looking at my shoulder.
“Okay, good. That’s what I wanted to hear,” Dr. Foster said with a sigh.
“We have a long drive ahead of us with this storm, but I’m going to walk you through as much as I can.
Since Jo is awake, she can help you. There’s a medical bag in the guest room in the safe in the closet.
The code is 4486. Go grab that, and I’ll talk you through everything. ”
Dom gave me a nervous look, so I nodded for him to go. I knew he would only be gone a minute or two at most, and aside from the cold air that was coming in through the hole in the door from the bullet, there was nothing to worry about.
I took a deep breath in and slowly released it as I heard the front door creak as it opened.
Dom had taken his phone with him to the room so Dr. Foster could help if he had any trouble with the safe.
I leaned up the best I could, staring in disbelief as a dark figure stood in the doorway dressed in all black with a ski mask covering their face.
I didn’t say anything as I stared at the gun aimed at me. I knew that I only had seconds to act before they finished the job they had already started. It was too late to warn Dom, and I didn’t want to risk him walking out and getting shot by this asshole instead.
They cocked their head as they stared at me, taking me in.
Without delaying any further, I lifted the gun and pulled the trigger, firing a single shot.
I heard footsteps rushing down the hall at the same time the body hit the floor. I slowly sat upright, staring at the masked intruder as Dom came to a stop beside me as I kept the gun aimed at the person lying on the floor.
“I’m fine,” I said quickly. “I don’t know where I hit them, so take the gun before they can shoot one of us again.”