Page 62 of Embracing the Consequences

Kara blinked and focused on Johnny’s face. His blond hair was covered by a backward baseball hat, his blond beard was trimmed short, and his blue eyes were dark as they narrowed on hers. She reached out and ran her fingers down his cheek.

His eyes fluttered for a moment, as if they were going to close. Instead, he gently grabbed her fingers and held them in his own. “Kara,” he said again, softly, “we need to move. How badly are you hurt?”

“My ribs are broken again,” she muttered softly. Her voice was thick—she hadn’t had any water in twenty-four hours, and her body ached everywhere.

“Can you walk?” Derrick asked from her right.

“I don’t know,” she murmured, feeling dazed.

“She’s in shock,” Kevin said from the doorway where he stood guard with Marcos. “Pick her up and let’s move.”

“Come here, baby girl,” Derrick said softly, sliding his arms under her knees and behind her back. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders and clung to his shirt as he lifted her from the mattress.

Kara hissed in pain as her ribs were jostled.

Gunshots echoed in the distance again.

“We need to move now,” Kevin ordered, his gaze roaming over Kara. “You good, baby?”

“Let’s go.” She nodded at him.

Kevin led the way out of her cell, his assault rifle held out in front of him. Johnny was right on his heels, Derrick following with Kara.

“Kara,” Marcos muttered as they walked through the door. He was on their asses as they moved, gun out and covering them from behind.

“Hey, big brother,” she murmured, suddenly feeling exhausted. She rested her head in the crook of Derrick’s neck.

“Baby girl, I need you to stay awake just a little longer. Can you do that for me?” Derrick asked softly.

She murmured against his throat, but she was fading fast. “Shit.” She heard Derrick curse as he held her tighter against him. It was the last thing she knew before everything went black around her.

Kara woke to an incessant beeping. A dull ache radiated throughout her body, though her knees and ribs burned the worst. There was a throbbing in her head, but it wasn’t horrible.

She was finally warm. After unknown hours or days of shivering from the cold, she was finally warm. Blankets weighed her down, or was that someone lying on her? She shifted and blinked her eyes open.

The hospital room was dimly lit, but she could clearly see the men stationed around her room…and Kevin curled around her body in the hospital bed. Derrick was on her other side, holding her hand, his head resting on the bed, sound asleep.

She found Johnny at the foot of her bed in a similar position as Derrick. He was holding her ankle under the blankets, half in the chair, half on her bed, and also sound asleep.

The door opened and light from the hall poured in. She couldn’t see the door past Kevin’s shoulders, but she didn’t have to wait to see who it was. Marcos moved around the side of the bed and her boys. He squeezed between Derrick and the wall and finally stood near Kara’s head. “Hey lilManita,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“Hey, Marquitos.” She sighed.

“How you feeling?” he asked.

“Sore,” she answered honestly. “Is the baby OK?”

“Baby is fine,” Kevin mumbled next to her, his hand sliding over her belly on top of the blankets.

She laced her fingers together with his and squeezed. “You sure? Did they do an ultrasound?” she asked, her voice getting louder with her questions. “What about my ribs? Did they pierce my lungs again? Or hurt the baby? What about my blood pressure?” she asked.

Johnny and Derrick both shifted awake as she spoke.

“Doctor did an ultrasound, and our baby is doing great. Your ribs just cracked a little bit, nowhere near like before,” Kevinanswered. His hand rubbed her belly again, their fingers still interlaced.

“You were pretty severely dehydrated, and your blood pressure was really low, but after a couple hours here, your levels started coming up,” Marcos added.

“How long have I been out?” she asked.

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