Page 96 of Protecting Kelli
“Flash?” she whispered.
“It’s me! I’m here. You’re safe. Where do you hurt?”
“You’re bleeding,” she said.
Flash blinked. He looked at his knuckles, which were indeed covered in blood. “I’m more worried about you. Talk to me, sweetheart. Shit, I need to call the police and an ambulance.”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the sound of sirens wailed in the distance.
“It sounds like Bree already did,” Kelli said with a little smile.
This woman. She amazed him. Blew everything he knew about strength and what it took to be brave right out of the water. He’d always admired his friends’ women for being so strong, but until this moment, it hadn’t sunkin justhowamazing every last one of those women were. Especially his own.
“Seriously, talk to me, Kelli. Did he cut you again? When we came in, he was slashing at you.”
“I think I kicked his knife hand. Then you tackled him.”
Flash closed his eyes in relief. But only briefly. He had to get Kelli out of there. This was no place for her…this disgusting, filthy, probably disease-ridden room. “Your thigh?” he asked.
“Hurts.”
“Right. Of course it does. I’m going to take you out of here. If anything hurts when I move you, let me know immediately. All right?”
“Okay. Is he…” Her voice trailed off.
Looking over his shoulder, Flash wasn’t surprised to see Smiley standing next to a bleeding and unmoving Williams. The knife he’d had was lying a little ways away from the body and his neck was at a very unnatural angle.
“Had to defend myself,” Smiley said with a shrug. “He kind of broke his neck in our altercation. Oh, and I’m gonna need you to hit me, brother. Pronto. Before the cops arrive.”
Kind of broke his neck. Right. It took a lot of strength to break someone’s neck, but Smiley had obviously no problem doing just that.
And Flash understood why his friend and teammate was asking for him to hit him. There was no way Tex or any of their other friends would allow Smiley, or Flash himself, to spend even one minute behind bars for killing this piece of trash. But a self-defense claim would go down a lot smoother if Smiley at least looked like he’dbeen in a fight. At the moment, he didn’t have a scratch on him.
“What?” Kelli asked, as Flash stood. He didn’t hesitate; he punched Smiley in the face. Once. Then twice.
“One more,” Smiley grunted.
“Stop! Flash, what are you doing?”
Flash hit his friend once more, and the men shared a small, satisfied smile as blood began to drip from Smiley’s nose. “That’ll do,” Smiley said with a nod. Then he turned and headed for the door, obviously eager to see if Bree was still around or if she’d fled, like every other time Smiley had gotten close enough to talk to her.
“What the hell?” Kelli asked, as Flash leaned over to pick her up.
“Self-defense,” he said softly. “We had to defend ourselves, and unfortunately ended up killing Williams.”
“Oh…Right,” she said, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and he carried her through the filth toward the door.
The second they exited the house into the late-afternoon sunlight, Flash felt as if he could breathe a little easier. Probably because he literally could. The fresh air, not clogged with the remnants of rotting food and dust, was like a balm to his soul.
To his right, Flash saw Smiley standing next to Bree, his hand once more around her upper arm. He couldn’t believe she hadn’t fled, and he was thrilled for his teammate. Maybe now he could get to the bottom of what was still happening with the woman. His obsession and curiosity could finally be assuaged.
He’d be interested in hearing her story, himself…after making sure Kelli was all right.
Police cars were now swarming the run-down neighborhood, but Flash kept his eyes on the ambulance that was behind them, already moving toward the vehicle as the police screeched to a halt. When an officer jumped out of his car and tried to stop him, he barked, “Can’t you see she’s bleeding and needs medical attention?”
To his relief, the officer let him continue toward the ambulance. But he was right on their heels, clearly not willing to let either of them out of his sight until he knew what the hell was going on.
Flash gently lay Kelli down on the gurney in the back of the ambulance and forced himself to stand aside so the paramedics and EMTs could do their job. It was possibly one of the most difficult things he’d ever done, letting go of her, but Kelli holding his gaze and smiling helped him stay calm.
