Stay(119)

“Do you know where he is now?” he asked patiently.

“No.” The memory of Phoebe crumpled against the dumpster played out next. My heart broke all over again at the thought of her, and I started to cry.

“Maybe this should wait,” the auburn haired EMT said under her breath.

Wait. The word reverberated in my head. Wait. It was exactly what I couldn’t do.

“Please,” I spoke with more clarity. “He said if I ever left he’d go after my family. And Lynn. My friend Lynn. You have to get somebody there!”

The cop nodded and spoke into his radio again. “Do you know where this guy, Zane, would go?”

“No. Maybe back at the house,” I said and felt sick again. I wanted to be with Jackson. I wanted to hold his hand and tell him we made it, that we escaped. I wanted to press my lips to his and tell him I loved him.

“Where is the house?”

I sucked in air, on the verge of hyperventilating again. It didn’t matter where the house was if Jackson didn’t make it. Nothing mattered. I needed him. If it wasn’t for Jackson, I would be leaving for another country in a few short weeks, never to be seen again. If it wasn’t for Jackson, I would have given up.

“That’s enough for now,” the EMT said. She took my hand and talked me through quieting my breathing. I remembered what Jackson had said about saving the other girls.

“It’s okay,” I panted. I thought about the teeny-tiny little person growing inside of me and found a new type of strength. I took a long, shaky breath and looked at the police officer. And then I told him everything.





CHAPTER FORTY-SIX





NERVES TWISTED IN my stomach. My abdomen tightened. I squeezed my eyes closed, and swallowed the lump of vomit that was rising in my throat. The ambulance stopped. The cop and the EMT got up, letting me know that we had arrived at the hospital.

“I need to see Jackson,” I said.

“I know honey,” the EMT said gently and grabbed one end of the gurney. I strained my neck, trying to sit up and look into the emergency room as I was wheeled in. Nurses and doctors buzzed about the busy hall.

“Where is he?”

“He’s being taken care of,” the EMT replied.

“I need to see him!” I said again, my voice rising. I struggled against the safety restraints, painfully twisting my very battered body.

“Calm down,” the EMT said.

Calm down? She wanted me to calm down after what I had just been through? No fucking way. I thrust my weight to the side. The gurney came off balanced and almost fell. A nurse rushed over and put her hands on the foot of the gurney, steadying the little bed. I twisted again and yanked an arm up.

“We need assistance!” the nurse yelled over her shoulder.

I pushed up and pulled my other arm free. The IV line caught and ripped out of my arm. Pair seared through me, but that didn’t matter. I needed to get to Jackson.

The nurse put her hands on my feet. “You have to stop moving,” she said as she struggled to hold me down. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

The EMT took one of my hands. “Adeline!” She stepped to my side. “Honey, stop it! You’re already banged up. I’ll find Jackson.”

I jerked my head around. “Please do. Now. I need him!” I pulled my arm back, breaking free of the EMT’s grip. “Jackson!” I kicked my feet. “Let me go! I have to find him!” He was okay, he had to be. We had come so far, risked so much…he was alive, and he would be okay.#p#分页标题#e#

My eyes flitted around the ER. Curtains were drawn around small rooms, and Jackson was in one of them. I had to get up, had to go to him. He needed me as much as I needed him. I swatted at another set of hands that tried to hold me down.

“Bring me IM Ativan!” a man shouted. He was standing to my side, pushing down on my shoulder. “Now!”

“She’s pregnant,” the nurse told him. “She can’t have it.”

“Jackson!” I called. All of my energy was draining fast. Everything hurt, but it didn’t matter. I had to get up. I just had to. “Please! Let me see him,” I cried.

A curtain across from me pulled back. Several nurses stood around a bed, working on a patient. I heard one of them say something about taking the patient into surgery. They pushed the bed forward. Then I saw dark, wavy hair. Bandages covered most of his face. An IV was strung from his arm.

“Jackson!” He didn’t turn to look at me. He didn’t even move at all. I shook my head. “No. No, no, no! Jackson!” I watched in horror as the bed rolled by, out of sight and the ER. “I have to go to him,” I stammered as I fought against the hands that held me down. I curled my legs up.