Blood red.
I can’t see over the loveseat that blocks the view from the doorway into the living room, but I see Chance’s crumpled form behind it, and I slowly move towards him and check for a pulse.
Strong and steady, thank Christ.
He has one hell of a bump forming on his forehead, and I check the knife wound he has to his left shoulder, but it’s a clean cut that isn’t bleeding heavily anymore.
I stand, move around the chair, and feel a sob bubble up my throat.
“Dani!” I yell and rush towards her. I step over the unrecognizable man that is lying—unmoving—in front of her.
“He has the knife,” I hear Nate say weakly behind me. He rushes forward and kicks it away before checking the douchebag for a pulse. “Fuck! She fought, Lee. She fought while we were down there dicking around with a goddamn TV!” He stands and kicks the body behind me. “She fought hard enough that she killed a man threatening her with a knife with a damn lamp.”
I don’t move my eyes from Dani as I check for her pulse and find it weakly beating against my fingertips. “Help me stop the bleeding until the ambulance gets here, Nate!”
We both rush, careful of her pregnant stomach, and hold down the wounds we can, and I look into Nate’s eyes and see the same panic I feel.
That panic never leaves. Not while we soak through the towels we have held against her body and not when I notice that the pulse I keep checking is slowing down.
Not once—even when the paramedics rush through the door and take over care.
It doesn’t stop as we rush behind them as they carry an unmoving Dani on a stretcher.
And not when we’re speeding down the highway behind them on the way to the hospital.
That panic never leaves, and I know that, if Dani doesn’t make it, it’s a feeling I’ll never get over.
“Did you get Cohen?” I whisper towards Nate.
He’s rubbing his bloodstained hands together and doesn’t move his eyes from the back of the ambulance holding his sister.
“No.”
I look away from the road, shocked. “No?”
“He didn’t answer and I rushed after you before I called back. I’ll do that now,” he says with a monotone voice. His movements are robotic as he grabs my cell from the cupholder between us and presses the screen until I hear the ringing echoing throughout the cab.
“What’s up, Lee?” Cohen asks when the call connects. He sounds happy, I notice. “I should be back soon. I’ve—”
“Coh,” I say, my voice cracking.
He doesn’t say anything until I hear him roar through the phone. “Where is she?” he screams. “Where the fuck is she?!” I can hear the strain in his voice, and I imagine that he’s running towards his truck.
“We’re headed to Grady Memorial, Cohen. She’s in the ambulance in front of us.”
“Is she—”
“I don’t know, brother. I honestly just don’t know.”
Cohen disconnects the call, but not before I hear the sob that tears out of his throat.
Another thing I’ll never forget.
Never.
MY MIND GETS ME TO Grady on autopilot.
Every second it takes to get me there feels like eternity. Not knowing how she is, the status of her injuries, is like fuel to the fire of my misery.
After slamming the truck in park, I jump out and run towards the emergency entrance.
Fifteen minutes after the call from Lee.
Fifteen unknown minutes filled with thoughts of Dani and our child.
“Coh.”
I look over when I hear Lee croak out my name, and when I take in his appearance, I drop to my knees and feel every second of those fifteen minutes weighing me down as I cry out for my family.
It isn’t until I feel two strong hands press down on my shoulders that I look up and see both my father and Dani’s standing on either side of my fallen body.
“Get up, son. Get up and pull yourself together and be there for Dani and the baby. Until you hear otherwise, you don’t ever fucking give up hope,” my dad says and holds his hand out to help me stand.
I nod and accept his hand, standing and turning towards Axel. His eyes are red and bright with emotion. He doesn’t even try to stop the tears that are falling.
“Her mother will be here soon. She was at the salon when we got word. Melissa went to get her. Let’s go get word on our girl so that I can give my wife something good to focus on, yeah?” He doesn’t stick around to see if I follow.
I push down my despair and follow behind my girl’s father, praying with every fiber in my being that we get that good news.
When Izzy came crashing through the emergency room doors with Melissa, Dee, and Sway hot on her heels, we were still waiting for word from the doctor. Shortly after they arrived, my sisters and brothers rushed in. Lyn and Lila rushed to my side and wrapped their arms around me. My brothers, never the ones to wear their emotions on their sleeves, went to Mom’s side but looked at me with unmasked sympathy.