Page 49 of Cursed Fox

When I finally did stop, I was heaving for air from holding my breath and my fists were a bloodied mess.

"Mom!"

This time, sure of what I heard, I scrambled off Thomas and frantically looked around the room for Nancy. I found her on the floor, blood pooled around her, and Jessie screaming for Nancy to wake up.

"Untie me, she needs help." I scrambled across the floor to Jessie and did as she asked. As soon as I got her hands undone, we both worked on the knots on her legs.

Jessie shot from the chair the moment she was free and raced straight for her mother.

"Oh God." I slid across the floor until I was kneeling next to a pale-faced Nancy. "Please tell me she's going to be okay," I pleaded, not the least bit caring how pathetic it made me sound.

"I don't know," Jessie wailed as she put pressure on Nancy's right thigh. "I need your belt."

I fumbled trying to get it off, but as soon as I had it free of the loops, I practically threw it at Jessie who caught it with one hand. I watched in horror as Jessie wrapped it around Nancy's upper thigh and tightened it until the bleeding slowed down some.

"Call for an ambulance."

It was a damn good thing Jessie was keeping her head about her, because I sure as hell wasn't.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed 911. When the dispatcher answered the call, I rattled off all the information and begged them to hurry.

"Please be okay," I whispered to Nancy. "Please don't leave me like the others."

My worst nightmare was coming to life as I sat there and watched the woman I loved bleed out.

"I love you," I leaned down and whispered straight into her ear. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before this, but I love you so damn much. You've made my life better and I don't know how I would survive without you. Please don't leave me."

I continued to plead with her over and over again until the paramedics and police arrived.

Jessie had to pull me off her so that they could work. "You need to let them do their job."

"I can't lose her," I told Jessie. "I know you don't know me at all, but I'm in love with your mother and I can't lose her." Tears shamelessly poured down my face but I didn't have the energy to push them away.

"We're not going to lose her," Jessie said with conviction. "We have to believe that."

I hoped like hell she was right.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Lex

The trip to the hospital was agonizingly slow. As Nancy's daughter, Jessie, was able to ride in the back of the ambulance while I was stuck driving my Jeep. I tried to follow right behind the ambulance, but was cut off at an intersection and hit every red light after that.

By the time I got to the hospital, I parked my Jeep illegally in the drop-off area and raced inside. Jessie met me just inside the doors and it was then I noticed the blood on her hands.

Nancy's blood.

My legs gave out and I fell to my knees right there in the reception area, tears pouring down my face.

Jessie knelt down next to me and put her arms around my shoulders. "The bullet hit her femoral artery. They've taken her into surgery."

My chin hit my chest as the tears continued to flow. I didn't care to stop them. Things were bad. Really bad. The only hope was that we had done enough before she got to the hospital to give Nancy a fighting chance.

A nurse ushered us out of the lobby and into a waiting room where two other families huddled together and waited for news of their own loved ones.

"I need to call your brother and my team," I told Jessie when I finally found my voice.

"Let me talk to Jimmy and explain what's going on."

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