Page 20 of My Crazy Killers
I grin up at Dex, hoping we can make use of that while we’re here, and his eyes heat, as if he’s thinking about the same thing as me.
“Let’s get everyone cleaned up. Pete’s arm, Jagger and Wren’s backs. Is anybody else injured?” Elias asks as he scans Dex and Sly, who shake their heads. “Good.”
He moves to kneel below the sink, and we just watch him. He turns to us and frowns. “I’m looking for a first aid kit. The least you guys could do is help get them undressed.”
“With pleasure.” Dex grins as he helps slide the jacket off my shoulders. When he turns me around, he hisses. “Fuck, that actually looks really bad. I’m not sure how to get this shirt off you without it hurting.”
“You can’t,” I tell him. “Jagger and I already tried earlier, that’s why we left them on. We knew they’d start bleeding if we took them off.”
“Smart,” Sly says with a nod as he assesses Jagger’s back. “We’ll have to cut your shirts off of you.”
I watch as Pete pulls off his hoodie, leaving him in a T-shirt. Unfortunately, he doesn’t need to remove that sincethe gunshot is low enough on his arm to be visible beneath the short sleeve. Now I can see the wound, I realize he wasn’t playing it down; it really isn’t too bad. I don’t even think he’ll need stitches.
“We need to give them something for the pain,” Sly says as he watches Elias pull out a first aid kit they must have picked up.
He opens it up and starts rummaging through the contents. “There’s ibuprofen in here. It probably won’t do much, but it’s better than nothing.”
All three of us are given two pills and a glass of water as Elias continues to pull out supplies from the kit.
Finally, he turns to me with a pair of scissors. “We’re going to cut off your shirt, then we’ll have to peel it from your back.”
Jagger steps forward and signs,“Do me first, so you can figure out the best way to do it.”Elias frowns, as if he wants to disagree, but ends up nodding as he signals for him to turn around.
As I watch him cut the shirt away, giving us a better look at his back, I start to shake. It looks bad. Pulling the shirt free is going to be excruciating, and I’m not sure I’m strong enough to get through that pain.
I’m not sure if it’s the fear that overwhelms me or if I simply forgot to breathe, but suddenly I become extremely lightheaded, and when I try to speak, nothing comes out. The pressure in my head builds so fast that I have no hope in stopping it as unconsciousness takes me.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
SLY
Icatch her as soon as she starts to fall. I had seen her eyes grow distant, so I’d called out her name, but her eyes just rolled back in her head as she started to collapse.
“What happened?” Pete asks in alarm.
“I’m not sure, but let's move quickly and clean her back while she’s out. It’s the best chance we have to do it with minimal pain,” Elias says as he grabs the supplies and moves into the bedroom as he starts barking out orders, “Dex, lay some towels down on the bed. Sly, lay her on them on her stomach. Pete, get a bowl of warm water and some clean cloth to clean her up with.”
Nobody argues as we start moving. I look down at her and frown. How do I carry her without touching her back?
Jagger seems to see my dilemma cause he bends down and gestures as if to lift her feet. I hold her by her armpits as we carry her to the room. Dex finishes laying down the towels as Jagger and Elias help me lay her on her stomach.
Elias doesn’t take a second to pause, quickly cuttingaway her top and peeling it from her back so fast, even I wince from how painful it looks.
Blood starts to slowly leak from the cut lines, and I clench my fists in anger.
“I’m gonna murder that son of a bitch,” Dex says, mirroring my thoughts.
“You might have to get in line,” Elias says as he starts cleaning up her back with a wet cloth and antiseptic wipes. When he glances up at me and sees my frown, he gestures to Jagger, who’s standing silently with his arms crossed on the other side of the bed, staring down at her back with a mix of anger and pain. “I think Jagger might want to take out his dad himself.”
Jagger’s eyes lift to meet mine. I see surprise there, but there’s something else, too. Shame. Guilt.
“Elias told us Ivan’s your dad,” Pete explains.
“You should have told us,” Dex adds. “Or at least you should have told Wren.”
Jagger nods, looking even more guilty as his eyes drop to her.
“She knows now?” Elias asks, and he nods again.
