Page 53 of Between the Stars

Fuck.

If you don’t like the sight of blood, look away because it’s sprayed all over the snowy ground like a scene fromDexter.

Fuck. Fucking. Fuck.Breathing in deeply, I blink rapidly, trying to tell myself that didn’t happen, but by the pounding in my chest, I think it did. The dizziness comes on hard, my vision fading as sweat forms along my brow, running down the side of my face. I try to focus on staying conscious. Every second harder, every breath more of a struggle.

My vision is shakes, my head fucking throbbing. Nausea hits so hard it burns my throat. I look up to see Camdyn turn off the tractor and the PTO. She knows what to do immediately, but I’m not sure what to do next. I’m scared to move. I can’t feel or move my left arm as it lays motionless beside me. Hell, I don’t even know if it’s attached at this point. I raise my head, blood seeping through my shirt and pooling into the snow.Fuck. I’m fucked. A curse leaves my lips in a sharp exhale as my chest suddenly feels like it’s engulfed in flames. My eyes drift closed, my eyelids too heavy, the wooziness too strong for me to fight.

Beside me, Sev and Camdyn fall to their knees, eyes wide. Rolling to the side, I pant out quick sharp breaths, trying to control my breathing. I’m going to pass out, I know it. Or bleed to death. I catch sight of my arm in the process and it’s mangled, the skin stripped down to the bone.

“I go get Daddy,” Camdyn tells me, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Just before I pass out, my last words to Sev are “Don’t even think about drinking my blood little girl.”

CHAPTER19

Abrupt Departure

ABBI

I didn’t see that coming.

The warm springair heats my back and the commotion around me catches my attention. We’re seated outside a small café on the street, people passing by, all going about their afternoon as though they have some place to be.

And I’d rather be anywhere than where I am. Trapped in a situation I don’t know how to get out of.

“So what kind of house are we looking for?”

“A big one,” Griff teases, winking at me and then offering the realtor in front of us a bright beaming smile. It’s similar to the one he gave me when we met, but nowhere near the one I crave.

I bite my lip to keep from saying what I really want to. The last couple of weeks have been anything but the fairy tale I thought they’d be. Griff has turned into someone I don’t know. He’s controlling, vindictive, and my happiness doesn’t matter. I haven’t even planned my own wedding for Christ’s sake. His mom hired someone for that.

I stare straight ahead at the listing the realtor hands us. All the homes are in the hills of Tennessee where musicians and doctors live. I heard my mom once say, the larger the home, the less the love in it.

Beside me, my phone rings and Josie’s number flashes. I click the Ignore button and force another smile.

She calls back, almost instantly.

I lift my eyes to Griff who frowns, and his mother whose expression resembles his. “I’m sorry. I should probably take this.” I turn to the side and lift my sunglasses, swiping my finger over the screen. “Hey, girl. Now’s night a good time.”

“Oh my God, they had to air lift him to UMC in Lubbock,” she rushes to say, her tone pure hysteria. “I need you to come back to Amarillo.”

“Air lifted? Who?” I force a nervous smile, trying to remain calm and not drawn attention to myself, but my heart starts pounding in my ears. “What are you talking about? Is Rhett okay?”

“No, Jace.”

My heart stops. Literally. My lips are even numb, my throat tightening with the throbbing of my pulse in my temples. “What do you mean? What happened?”

Josie pushes out a heavy breath. “All I know is he was on a tractor and caught his arm in the PTO shaft. Camdyn and Sev saw it all.”

I stand up and make my way to the sidewalk surrounding the outside seating area where nobody else is. The sun shines down on my already heated cheeks and my stomach starts to roll. “Were they hurt? Are they okay?”

“They’re fine. Traumatized maybe.” She sighs again, her breathing shaking. “Abbi, I’m so scared. He lost a lot of blood and with the snow, it looks like a crime scene out there.”

“Oh my God,” I repeat, trying to suck in a long, slow breath of air to calm the tightness in my chest. I touch my hand to my chest, the rapid beat pounding against my breast bone. “What are they going to do?”

“Surgery I assume. Can you come down here? You know medicine.”

My first instinct is I shouldn’t go, because it’s Jace, and I should, because it’s Jace. I suck in breath after breath, trying to focus. I can’t breathe and it’s making it harder to comprehend the situation. My hand shakes as I hold the phone to my ear. “Josie, I don’t know. We’re in the middle of planning the wedding and buying a house. I’m studying to take my boards. I can talk to the doctors over the phone, but I think it’s a bad idea if I come there. He doesn’t want to see me.”

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