Stay(108)

“M-medicine,” I stammered, not taking my eyes off the blood.

Lou grunted and called for Zane. He reached into the white bag and threw an orange bottle of pills at me. I didn’t catch it; the pill bottle rolled across the floor. I deliberately moved slow as I bent to pick it up.

Zane rushed forward and grabbed my wrist. “You better take all of those,” he sneered.

“Why the hell wouldn’t I?” I quipped, my face twisting with rage. “It’s not like I want to have chlamydia, idiot.”

Zane raised his fist. Lou caught it. “Hey now,” Lou said in a low voice. “She’s not ours anymore.”

“I was never yours,” I snapped. Zane’s sky-blue eyes flashed but he lowered his arm. He unlocked the basement door. I could tell it took a great deal of restraint for him to not push me down the stairs.

Little droplets of blood had splattered the wooden steps. The railing was stained scarlet where someone’s bloody hand had clutched onto it as they struggled down the stairs. Apprehension built up, and I hurried down the stairs.

“Addie,” Lily panted. Standing in front of a cot, her body blocking someone from view.

“Thank God.” Rochelle sat on her bed, biting her lip and looking away. “I can’t get the bleeding to stop.”#p#分页标题#e#

Lily stood up, the front of her clothes red. “He’s going to bleed out,” she whispered. She swallowed hard, her eyes wide with terror.

“Who?” I asked, though I already knew. Lily took a step away from the cot. The orange pill bottle fell from my hand. Jackson sat on the edge of the cot with his hands pressed to his abdomen. Blood seeped from between his fingers and dripped onto the floor.





CHAPTER FORTY-ONE





“HEY ADDIE,” HE said through gritted teeth. I felt as if the floor gave out from under me and I dropped through blackness into freezing water. I was drowning. “It’s not as bad as it looks,” he said with a forced smile.

His dark eyes met mine, reminding me how to swim. I rushed over to him, dropping to my knees. My body trembled. I put my hands over his. “What happened?” I asked quietly, hardly able to get any volume to my quivering voice. I forgot to act like I didn’t care. Even if I had, I couldn’t hide my fear.

“I pissed off Nate,” he grimaced.

“So he stabbed you?” I asked, heart racing.

“Not exactly.” Jackson wrapped his bloody hands around mine. He closed his eyes in pain. “Sliced.”

“What?” My voice was shrill and pinched with fear. I raised my hands up bringing Jackson’s with me. The front of his gray t-shirt was saturated with blood. Terrified that I might see his intestines hanging out, I slowly peeled the wet shirt off his skin. “Oh God,” I breathed.

Starting under his ribs and going diagonally down to his right hip, was a very fresh cut. It was straight and the edges were clean. I sucked in a shaky breath.

“How deep?”

“Not very. Barely got the muscle. I think.”

“Think?”

“I can still move,” Jackson theorized. “So it can’t be that bad.”

“Right.” I sniffled, unaware until now that tears were streaming down my face. “Lay back,” I told him. “Lily, bring a towel.”

Jackson winced but obliged. I rolled up the hem of his shirt and put my hand over the wound, gently pressing down.

“Hurry!” I called to Lily.

“It’s okay, Addie,” Jackson tried to soothe me. “I’ve had worse and lived.”

“You’re not helping,” I told him.

“It’s true.”

I pushed both sides of the cut in, hoping that if I closed it off, the blood would clot and form a scab.

“Will this work?” Lily frantically asked. She held up a washcloth.

“Good enough,” I told her. She ran over and handed me the washcloth. I folded it in half twice and laid it over the wound, then flattened my hand over that and applied pressure.

“How long 'till it stops bleeding?” Lily asked. She chewed on her nails, nervously shifting her weight. “I’ve never seen this much blood before. I didn’t know it had a smell to it. It smells like pennies,” she rambled.

“I don’t know,” I answered. “Soon, I hope.” I could feel Jackson’s abs flex as he started to get up. “No,” I told him. “Do not move. You’re going to make it bleed more. No moving until it stops.”

He grunted in response but didn’t attempt to get up. My hands shook, and more tears spilled. Bloody fingers caressed my cheek. I turned my head to look at Jackson. His eyes locked with mine. His already beaten face had a few more bruises. There was a fresh cut next to his right eye. Blood was crusted on his chin, and the skin on his neck was red and irritated, as if something had been wrapped around it.#p#分页标题#e#