Page 56 of Then and Now (The Edge of Retaliation 3)
“Ethan,” I cry. “Please wake up. You’re okay. Wake up.”
He’s not moving. I’m too afraid to check if he’s even breathing. Tatum does the hard task of checking and presses his fingers to Ethan’s neck, checking for a pulse. I hold my breath, terrified of what he’s going to say next, terrified of the words I never want to hear in my life.
“He’s got a pulse, weak but there.”
Oh.
Thank god.
I keep the pressure on his chest, even though is blood is now soaking my hands. Tears keep flowing down my cheeks, there’s not a single thing I can do to stop them. Not a single thing. I wouldn’t want them to stop, even if I they could. I hear the sirens coming, and then the flashing lights turn into our apartment complex.
A minute later we’re being asked to step back as two paramedics assess the scene. They check the wounds, and then load Ethan up onto a stretcher and tell us which hospital he’s getting rushed to.
“Can I come?” I plead.
“Clean up, love, and then come in,” the female paramedic says, and I look down at my clothes and see blood all over them.
Oh god.
I’m covered in Ethan’s blood.
“I’ll go,” Jo says, following them into the ambulance.
Within a minute, they’re gone.
I turn and walk numbly into the apartment and into my shower, my mind dead. Not working. Completely frozen. I stare at myself in the bathroom mirror, covered in blood, and I pray. I pray that whoever is listening, whoever is up there, will make sure my friend lives, they’ll make sure he is okay.
Tears are still flowing down my cheeks; I want to scream but my voice is broken. Not working. Empty. I can’t even make my hands move to take my clothes off, to get in that shower, to clean up and drive myself to the hospital. Is this what shock feels like? Is that what I’m experiencing right now?
I don’t know.
The door behind me opens and Tanner steps in, his eyes meeting mine in the mirror. He closes the door and walks over to me, without a word, and carefully lifts my arms into the air. I allow him to take control, holding them up as he takes the blood-soaked shirt from my body and lifts it over my head.
I don’t move as he slides my shorts down and has me standing there in my bra and panties. I look at him with tear-filled eyes and whisper, “Why Ethan?”
“It’s goin’ to be okay.”
He doesn’t know that, though. He doesn’t.
Nobody does.
He turns the shower on and then takes my chin in his hands, forcing me to look at him. “You’re strong, Callie. You’re goin’ to get in this shower, and then I’m takin’ you to that hospital because he needs you. Do you hear me? He needs you.”
I nod, and he swipes the tears from my cheeks.
“I’ve got you,” he whispers, stroking my bottom lip. “I have got you.”
I nod again, hiccupping with a sob.
“Get into that shower, I’ll be ready when you come out.”
He lets me go and walks to the door, but I call his name before he can leave. He turns and looks over his shoulder at me.
“Make this stop,” I plead. “It’s time to end this.”
He nods.
He’ll end this.
I know he will.
21
JOANNE
I pace up and down the hall.
They rushed Ethan straight into surgery. I couldn’t understand anything they were saying as doctors surrounded him, one of them beginning CPR as they wheeled him down the halls to the operating room. Leaving me standing here, alone, not sure what to do or what’s going on.
Warm hands curl around my shoulders and I’m turned to face Tatum. I knew he would be following closely behind in his truck. He pulls me close and my head falls onto his chest, the tears flowing again. I’m not close to Ethan, but I do know he’s probably the best person I’ve ever met.
He’s just the kind of man you want in your life forever.
Not to mention he saved my best friend during the worst time in her life.
He doesn’t deserve this.
He doesn’t.
“It’s goin’ to be okay,” Tatum murmurs, pressing his lips to my forehead when I lift off and look at him.
“Is it?” I whisper. “Is it going to be okay?”
“Have some faith, it’s all you can do right now.”
I nod, my stomach tight, my heart aching in a way I didn’t know it could.
“I’ve called Alarick, told him what went down. They’re onto it. They had eyes on the apartment, and the guys who were watching followed the men who shot Ethan. He’s goin’ to let us know what he finds out.”
“Oh, thank god,” I whisper.
“The cops are goin’ to question us, because it’s a gunshot. If they do, you tell them you don’t know who it was. That he went out to get the pizza and someone shot him. The least they know the better.”
