Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
Indigo went limp in his arms. “Indigo!”
“Help is coming. Are you okay?”
Wilt dragged his gaze away from Indigo, his hand covering her stomach wound, pressing hard to staunch the flow of blood, and stared at Jeffrey.
“No, I’m fucking not! Indigo is hurt! And I didn’t do anything to stop it!”
He should’ve followed her to the makeup tent. He’d planned to stand outside, but one of the resorts security people had come up to him to ask a couple of questions.
“What about your shoulder? It’s dislocated.”
The adrenaline that had been rushing through his body disappeared at Jeffrey’s words, and the pain registered.
“Fuck!” He shifted slightly, and his vision blurred. He dug deep for the hard fought will that had gotten him through his SAS training–and many other shit situations–to douse his consciousness of how fucked up his shoulder was.
It worked enough to right his vision.
The sound of sirens registered. The place would be swarming soon. But all that mattered to him was Indigo and getting her the help she needed. He didn’t give a fuck about his shoulder. He’d deal with the fallout of him tackling Louella once he knew that Indigo was okay.
“It’s fine,” he told Jeffrey.
“Right. We’ve got Louella subdued.”
Wilt nodded, his attention only on Indigo, watching her chest rise and fall. He had wanted to pummel Louella for what she’d done to Indigo. How he’d contained the rage that singed his soul was a miracle.
Perhaps it was because of the woman he now held, lying with blood seeping out of her, that motivated him to move away when others came to help.
Footsteps pounded, and then there was a flurry of activity. Paramedics falling to their feet, opening bags, and pulling out the necessary items to stop the flow of blood and to stabilize Indigo enough for them to take her to hospital.
He hadn’t wanted to let her go, but the small part of him that was still rational, stepped aside and let them do what they needed to do.
“You need to get that shoulder tended to.” A paramedic stood in front of Wilt.
“It’s fine.” The throbbing was back, and as much as he tried to ignore it, it was becoming impossible.
“Doubtful, and I’m not leaving until you let me put it back in. The longer you leave it unattended, the worse the recovery is going to be.”
Wilt scoffed. “Shoulder is already fucked, but go on do what you have to do.”
The paramedic stepped closer. Wilt kept his focus on Indigo, watching as the two men tended to her, consciously relaxing his body when, in a few seconds, his shoulder would be aching in a way he’d become familiar with a few months ago when he’d dislocated it then.
“Fuck,” he hissed, as it took them three attempts before the joint was put back in.
“Make sure you get that looked at. It’s likely you’ve got some tendon damage.” The paramedic adjusted the sling that Wilt accepted without argument. There was no point, he knew he needed to wear it.
“Tell me something I don’t already know,” he mumbled, aware that they were getting ready to move Indigo.
“You going with her?” Jeffrey asked.
“Yes.” There was no way he was leaving her side. He didn’t care if they argued with him, he was getting in the back of the ambulance with her.
“I’ll deal with the police. I’ll send them to the hospital. Don’t worry, we’ll get to the bottom of all this. I can’t believe it was Louella. She’s been with us the whole time. Even Vincent is shocked.”
“Thanks, appreciate it.” Wilt looked to where Louella was sitting cuffed with the police in front of her.
“It’s always the ones you least expect,” he mumbled, annoyed that his background checks hadn’t shown anything unusual, he’d even noted that Louella’s sister was a model but now worked for a different agency after leaving Zara’s six months prior to this job.
From what he’d found, it was a friendly split.
There’d been nothing to suggest that Louella had any sort of issues and was a threat to the woman he loved.
Fuck, how I love her!
The thought eased the throb of his shoulder. It didn’t scare him, he embraced the feeling, finally understanding what his friends felt toward their soulmates.
“Yeah, I’m so sorry this happened.” Jeffrey’s words hauled him back to the present. “Keep me updated on her progress.”
“I will.” Wilt followed the gurney carrying Indigo, and the paramedic didn’t even open his mouth to argue when Wilt climbed in the back with him.
He took a seat on the bench next to Indigo. Her face as pale as the sheet covering her. Wilt closed his eyes, but the image of the blood seeping out of her was imprinted on his mind. It wasn’t something he was going to forget easily.
Gently, he picked up her hand with his uninjured one. He brushed his thumb across the top of it. “I’ve got you, Diva. I won’t let you go.”
She had to survive this. He wouldn’t accept any other option because now that he knew her, now that he’d had her, now that he loved her, he couldn’t imagine his life without her in it.
“Please wake up. Even for just a second. I need to see your beautiful eyes.” He brushed his lips across the top of her palm, hoping that, even while unconscious, she could feel him close to her. Feel the love he had for her.
Her eyelids fluttered open for a second before closing again. Wilt liked to believe she’d done that to show him that she was going to fight. Fight with everything she had to come back to him.
All he had to do was believe.
Everything in Wilt’s body ached. His back. His head. His shoulder. But what ached even more was his heart.
The last twelve hours had been a blur. He’d been in a daze through half of it.
They’d arrived at the Broome Health Campus, where she was rushed into a room.
He didn’t try to follow her, even though his natural instinct was to do so.
She needed to be treated, and him standing around pacing wouldn’t help anyone.
He’d also been ushered into another room where they looked at his shoulder again.
He’d shook them off and assured them he would get help, that the pain level was minimal, and he didn’t want any drugs.
Truth be told, the pain was bad, but not so bad that he couldn’t deal with it himself when needed.
He wanted to keep his wits about him so he could follow whatever the doctors told him about Indigo’s condition.
He would have to call Zara and give her all the details on what had occurred.
Zara would likely be on the next flight to be at her side.
Wilt fully expected Indigo to be transported to Perth. As large as the health facility was, her injuries would require a skilled surgeon.
He’d been right on both counts. Zara had told him she’d get the first flight, and after the doctors had stabilized Indigo enough, they’d prepped her for a transfer.
Now, some eight hours after all of that, he was in another room, waiting for news. He’d finally succumbed to the need to take some pain relief for his shoulder, and the drugs were relaxing not only his bruised and battered muscles, but everything in him.
He was having trouble keeping his eyes open, but he needed to. He was all Indigo had. She had no family, and her best friend was still in the air on her way over.
Movement at the door caught his attention, and he tiredly looked up, surprised to see a large group of people make their way into the room.
“What are you all doing here?” he asked when Steve sat beside him.
“We’re here for you. You didn’t think you’d go through this alone,” his boss commented as Tabby, his wife, kissed Wilt’s cheek before sitting beside her husband.
“Yeah, but how did you guys get back here so fast? I got your message about you being safely on board and out of the hot zone a few minutes before chaos hit. Is Bayden okay?”
“Cass at Alliez arranged for a private jet to get us out of Jakarta. She also arranged for a medical crew to be onboard to help with Bayden. We came straight here from the airport with him. He’s in surgery, but it looks like he’s going to be fine,” Damon answered, his eyes revealing his fatigue. Wilt imagined he looked about the same.
“That’s good. I’m glad you’re here.” And he was. His team shouldn’t know about the change in his and Indigo’s relationship, but the fact they were all there belied that assumption.
Or it could be the fact that the message he’d left Steve–the desperation and worry he had in his voice for Indigo–was likely plain to hear.
Even if he wasn’t in love with Indigo, there was no way he’d leave her by herself at the hospital. It wouldn’t have been appropriate. However, his call to Steve would’ve been concise and to the point, not the gibberish he was sure he’d left.
“How long has she been in surgery?” Reed asked.
His gaze darting to the door, no doubt expecting his wife to walk through it any minute now.
Like Andy’s fiancée Narelle would be. There was no way they wouldn’t have informed their loved ones that they were back and headed to the hospital.
Fortunately, their partners understood the brotherhood they all had, and that they wouldn’t leave anyone behind to deal with a trauma by themselves.
Hence why they were all there for him as well as Bayden.
“A few hours.” At least Wilt thought it was a few. He’d lost all sense of time.
“What happened?” Steve asked.
Wilt gave everyone a rundown of everything that occurred.
“Jeffrey is keeping me updated. Louella isn’t saying much, but they were able to locate her sister, who is actually a friend of Indigo’s, and Reina was never in the running for the job.
Greta had insisted on Indigo from the start, and she was the only one they contacted.
Reina had no idea what her sister was doing, and is mortified that she stabbed Indigo.
Reina did recall that she told her sister that the campaign was one she would love to have gotten, and I guess Louella decided that Indigo had taken it from Reina. ”
“Sounds like there are some issues with Reina’s sister,” Damon said.