I swallowed. “What else did he do?”
The cop pressed his lips together and shrugged. “I’m not really sure. She had a big gash under her eye and a lot of blood on her cheek, so I’m assuming that was it, but she was also moaning something about her jaw, too.”
Holy shit.
My nostrils flared, and my jaw clenched, thinking about what he’d just said as I waited. The minute he looked the other way, I lost it, sprinting straight for the guy in the police car. I ripped the door open and just started punching. Leaving a gash under his eye and a fucked-up jaw seemed like a damn good idea to me. There wasn’t much he could do since he was handcuffed, and I landed at least three solid punches before he wised up and ripped himself backward to the other side of the car, where I couldn’t reach. I climbed into the car right after him, ready to kill him with my bare fucking hands, when I felt people grabbing my pants.
Two officers gripped each of my arms firmly and yanked me backward, out of the car.
“Hey, hey! What the fuck are you doing?” one of them yelled in my face.
My chest heaved up and down. I couldn’t help but hide my smile as I shook my head, not taking my eyes off the asshole scum in the back of the car. “Just trying to save a little taxpayer money.”
The guy in the car groaned and leaned his head against the Plexiglas partition, moaning something about wanting me arrested.
“Yeah, yeah. In your dreams,” the officer who’d been talking to me by the ambulance said as he shut the car door—and locked it. He turned back toward me. “Listen, I know you’re pissed off right now, and I would be, too, but doing shit like that isn’t gonna help your girl at all right now, got it?”
I nodded, still trying to catch my breath.
Another officer walked up and looked at me. “She’s stable for the moment, and they’re transporting her, but she’s asking for you. You can’t ride with, but if you want to see her for one minute before they go, now’s your chance.”
I shook my arms free from the other officers and strode toward the ambulance with the third officer on my heels.
“Now listen,” he said as we walked, “I need you to be calm and not excite her.”
I nodded again.
“And . . . I need you to prepare yourself and not freak out when you see her. She doesn’t look so good.”
My stomach sank again. “I don’t care what she looks like as long as she’s breathing.”
As we reached the ambulance, the other officers who were gathered around stepped back. I didn’t like the way they all half smiled at me with sympathy as I passed them. It pissed me off and scared the hell out of me at the same time.
I stepped up into the ambulance and knelt at Dani’s side. That officer was right, she didn’t look good. She had a huge piece of gauze taped under her eye and dried blood covered the right side of her face. Her jaw was already tinted a light purple, and the lower half of her face was so swollen I couldn’t even see her cheekbones anymore. Her left hand was completely wrapped and lay on her stomach with an IV sticking out of that arm. I didn’t know if I should, but I needed to have physical contact with her desperately, so I reached out and gently squeezed her shin area. Her eyes slid open slowly, and her brows crinkled when she saw me.
“Shhhh,” I said before she tried to talk. “Don’t say anything, okay? They’re going to take you and check you out, and I’m going to follow along in my car. I’ll be there the whole time, okay?”
A tear dripped from the corner of her eye and ran down her bloody face.
I wanted to wipe the tear from her face, but I was scared to death of hurting her, so I just left it. “Don’t cry, baby. It’s over now. He’s going to jail forever. It’s all over.”
She tried to nod, but her neck brace wouldn’t allow it.
“Don’t move.” I shook my head. “Not until they get you all checked out.”
“Okay, I’m sorry, but we’ve gotta get going,” a young EMT said from behind the ambulance.
“Okay.” I nodded at him before turning back to Dani. “I’ll be right behind you. Stay strong for me, okay? Now that you agreed to go under my wing, I’m not letting you out anytime soon. I love you, Dani.” I leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss at the very the top of her forehead. As I pulled back, another tear fell. I caught it with my finger and held it up. “I’m saving this one. You got this. I’ll see you soon.” I gave her another quick peck and squeezed her shin one more time on my way out of the ambulance.
Some of the people had cleared out, and the police had taped off the area where the attack obviously happened. Ellie’s arms were wrapped around herself as she walked over to me. “You okay?”