Page 138 of Ace My Heart

“Mel,” Joel moaned desperately. He couldn’t save me. He could hardly even keep himself upright. I struggled for breath to force the words out. I had to tell him. I couldn’t die and not tell him.

“Drop the weapon!” another voice growled behind us. The pressure of the blade on my neck eased slightly, and I sucked in a shuddering breath, even though I could still feel it biting into me.

“Let her go or I shoot!”

My attacker still had his hand around my throat, even if the knife wasn’t pressed there anymore. I couldn’t open my eyes. He squeezed it a little tighter and I gurgled pitifully.

The bang was so loud that I flinched, trying to bring my pinned hands up to cover my ears.

It was still reverberating when the attacker’s hand loosened around my throat, and we both thumped to the floor.

It was still reverberating when pain blossomed in my shoulder. I opened my eyes and looked down at the blood very quickly soaking through my t-shirt.

It was still reverberating when the world went black.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Floating

There were flashes of awareness.

A blurry outline of a police officer leaning over me.

The high-pitched whirring of the siren in the ambulance.

A room with bright lights that smelt of antiseptic.

People peering down at me. Mum. Father Shannon. Sandra. Brad.

I had no strength to show them that I knew they were there. I had nothing more to give.

I let the darkness hold me under for a little longer. I wasn’t ready to face the real world just yet.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Recovery

Iknew I could open my eyes, that I was conscious. I just wasn’t sure that I wanted to face what was waiting for me.

Don’t be such a baby, Melanie Black!I chastised myself. I forced my eyelids open.

Brad was slumped in a chair beside the hospital bed, looking haggard. He must have sensed my gaze, because he looked up from his lap, his grey eyes exhausted. When he saw me looking his eyes widened, and he was at my side in an instant.

He hadn’t shaved or brushed his hair in days. I started to reach my left hand up to touch his stubble, but pain sliced through me. I gasped, and Brad reached under the covers to wind his fingers through mine.

“You were shot, Mel,” Brad explained in a voice that sounded dead. “The police shot … the intruder, but he was close enough that the bullet passed through him and ended up in your shoulder.”

I looked down to where the pain was. My shoulder was wrapped in thick padding. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, but it wouldn’t go away.

“Mel, I’m so sorry!” Brad’s voice was agonised. “I keep wondering if I hadn’t fought with you, then you wouldn’t have ended up going over there, and then you wouldn’t be stuck in this hospital bed.” His thumb stroked the back of my hand.

I fought to speak around the lump and the dryness in my mouth. “Joel?” I rasped.

Brad sighed through his nose, but he nodded. “He had a concussion from the blow to his head, but he’s recovered pretty well from that.”

“Well, don’t be sorry, Brad. If I hadn’t thought that … well, if you hadn’t argued with me, Joel and Sandra might be dead now.”

Brad looked away from my eyes, staring towards the machines I was hooked up to. “But you would be safe.Youwouldn’t be lying here with a hole in your shoulder.”

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