Page 79 of Made for You
I grinned. “You’ll wish I would. We’re going to be so disgustingly in love, your eyes will probably get stuck in the back of your head from all the rolling they’ll do.”
Right on cue, those eyes rolled, and a minuscule smile crept over her lips. She shoved at my shoulder and I stepped back a bit, then noticed my shirt sticking to my side. I glanced down, holding the shirt out enough that I could see the deep blue color had turned a darker hue.
“Boo! You’re bleeding!”
Her words hit right as the realization did, and I yanked up the shirt. Sure enough, my stomach was covered in blood. Someone gasped, likely Kiley, and Doc’s hand came to my shoulder.
“Sit down, Jaws. Let’s have a look.” His voice seemed far away, which made no sense since he was right next to me.
“I’m fine. I’m just… It’s a flesh wound.” It must’ve been when Carl had hit at me, but I’d never seen a knife. I’d been so focused on getting to Kiley, I’d thought he’d just punched, not stabbed. Now I was graying out. I hadn’t eaten today, like an idiot, and between the adrenaline and stress paired with blood loss.Crap.“Actually, I should sit down.”
Doc chuckled as he lowered me to sitting right there. My muscles tightened, and searing pain burned through me like I’d been stabbed again, but this time with something on fire. “He got me deep, but I don’t think it hit anything major.”
“That’s a fun theory,” Doc said, his voice that familiar matter-of-fact tone he took on in times like this. And yes, he’d examined me more than once, including after being stabbed. I trusted him with my life, which was one of many reasons he worked at Saint now.
“Should we go to the hospital? Do we have time to get back to Silverton, or do we keep going to Ogden? Is he bleeding out?” Kiley dropped to her knees on the side of me Doc wasn’t occupying and leaned over me, eyes huge. “You can’t die, Boo. You can. Not. Die. Okay?”
I reached up and grabbed her neck, hoping my touch would steady her. “I’m not dying, okay? This man here is the best there is, and he’s not going to let me die, are you, Doc?”
“Not a chance,” he said, sending a wink to Kiley as he finished bandaging the section of stomach. In the field, he might’ve packed me with quick-clot and we’d deal with the fallout later, but we were an hour from home and good doctors and likely a CT scan to make sure Carl hadn’t nicked my intestine or liver.
Kiley blinked at Doc like she was seeing him for the first time. “Okay, good.” Her brow furrowed, and she eyed his busy, gloved hands, then turned to me. “So I can call Nikki and tell her you’re gonna live?”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-SIX
Nikki
I’d left my phone in Gram’s room during dinner. It’d been hours since I’d texted Bruce, and I’d heard nothing back. Instead of fretting over the huge decision I’d made this afternoon—the choice I’d made to choose Bruce and let him choose me and see what happened—and the additional worry ofnothearing from him all day, I let myself be swept away by Amir and Gram and meeting all their friends. It’d been lovely.
Not so lovely? Returning to the room to find a dozen texts from Kiley letting me know that Bruce had been stabbed while rescuing her from her dad’s kidnapping attempt but that he’d be fine.
Pretty sure my skeleton bolted out into the night and attempted to run to him that instant, but the rest of me turned sluggish and threatened to sink into a puddle in the middle of Gram’s brightly colored new suite.
A half hour later, Dove and Catherine had come to get me from Silverton Springs, bless them. Catherine had answered instantly when I called and though, yes, I could’ve probably walked to Bruce’s house in the time I waited for them, I didn’t want to leave Gram or be alone. I was too frazzled, and I didn’t have to face things on my own anymore—imagine that.
As we drove, I talked to Tristan, who filled me in on the details now that he and the others had finished up with the police, and my mouth had hung open even as my heart raced. I couldn’t stand waiting any longer to hear what had happened, and Kiley or Bruce must’ve known that and had Tristan call.
I needed to get to Bruce, and frankly, I needed to get to Kiley. She must be traumatized.
When Dove pulled into Bruce’s driveway, I was out before she’d fully parked, jogging inside to find Adam, Wilder, Beast, and Dorian all milling around, and finally, Bruce splayed out on the couch.
I’d never crossed a room so fast. In an instant, I was by his side, kneeling next to him and cupping his face in my hands. “Are you okay?”
His smile grew the instant he saw me. “I am now.”
With a shake of my head, I leaned in to press my lips to his. Relief coursed through me even as a hundred questions bubbled up. “I’m so sorry I didn’t know. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.”
I’d just spent the afternoon reflecting on how I was going to stick with Bruce, that I’d be there for him and Kiley and figure out a way to be the person I thought I was instead of the person I feared I was, and yet here we were.My personhad been gravely injured, and where had I been? Picking at a piece of Boston cream pie and chatting up Gram’s gal pals.
But Bruce was having none of it. “No, Nik, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what was going on. I didn’t want to pile any more worry onto your day. But I realize how upsetting Kiley’s texts must’ve been.”
A breath whooshed out of me. “Bit of a shock, yeah. Are you really okay?” I let myself touch him—palm his cheek, then pass a hand over his muscular shoulder.
“I am. They ran all the tests to make sure. Fortunately, Carl was just making his last stand and wasn’t trained. If he’d known what he was doing and had any aim, I’d be in surgery right now.”
“What was he thinking?” I wondered aloud.
He shook his head, genuine regret on his face. “I think in a very messed-up way, he thought he was doing the right thing. He wanted a connection with Kiley, wanted to make up for giving up his place in her life. I think it hit him hard that she’s doing so well without him and wasn’t sitting here waiting for him to rescue her or something. It was rooted in the selfishness that had him signing away rights and landing in jail, so it was completely messed up, but I think I can see a thread of Carl-logic in there.”
