Page 63 of Mine to Hold
Her chest rose and fell in a shallow breath.
His mom sat on the floor, cradling Rumor’s head in her lap, stroking her hair. “Keep pressure on that wound.” She wavedher hand to Chris. “Get something to make a tourniquet for Emmerson.”
“Ma. I told you, I’m fine. We need to?—”
“Shut up, son. That bullet went right through and you’re losing a lot of blood too. You won’t be any good to her if you pass out. Let Chris at least tie it off.”
Arguing with his mother wouldn’t be helpful, so he let Chris do what she demanded while he pushed on Rumor’s midsection.
She moaned and her eyes slowly closed.
“Come on, babe. Open your eyes,” he said. “I’m not going to lose you now. I won’t have it.”
“I’m sorry to have brought this to you,” she whispered.
“You have nothing to be sorry about. I’m the one who should be apologizing.” He leaned over and kissed her sweet lips. “Now, I need you to fight. You hear me. You have too much to live for. We have too much to look forward to.”
Jameson raced through the front door, followed by the paramedics, who tried to shove him out of the way, but he wouldn’t budge.
“Emmerson.” Jameson placed a hand on his shoulder. “You need to get out of their way and let them do their job.”
Emmerson nodded as two more first responders came in. He stood, taking a step back, and watched in horror as they began to hook her up to an IV and lift her onto a gurney.
“Sir, we need to get you to the hospital too,” one of the paramedics said.
“I want to go with her.” He pointed to Rumor.
“She’s in good hands.” Jameson stepped in front of him. “You’re going to the same place and not only do you need some serious stitches, but we have no idea what kind of damage that bullet did internally. I’ll ride with you, now let’s go. The faster we get there, the faster we’ll know what’s going on with Rumor.”
Emmerson ran a hand over his unshaven face. He’d promised her he would shave and he’d be damned if the next time she saw him it would be with this scruff on his face. He glanced at his mother.
“Chris, Emmett, and I will handle everything here,” his mom said. “Go.”
He wiped the tear that had escaped his eye. “Ma, if they weren’t already dead, I’d kill them.”
“I know,” she said.
He swallowed his beating heart. “I love Rumor.”
“I know that too. Now get out of here. Get that shoulder taken care of. She’s going to need you.”
Following Jameson out the front door, he climbed into the back of the ambulance. The other one was already racing through the neighborhood. He sat down, leaned back, and closed his eyes. “She has to be okay. It can’t end this way.”
14
Emmerson held Rumor’s hand, rubbing his thumb over the back side. Machines beeped in the background. An IV drip pumped medication and fluids into her system.
The sounds of people shuffling their feet in the hallway were a distant murmur.
“Hey, son.” His mother strolled into the room and set a coffee and something that smelled like bacon and a fried egg on the table next to Rumor’s bed. “Did you sleep here all night?”
“I’m not sure I’d call it sleep, but yeah.”
“I figured you might.” She pointed to the bag. “You need to eat if you’re going to heal.”
“I will.” He lifted the coffee to his lips and sipped. “Any word on the other men helping Tom and Tony?”
“Picked up a few hours ago and I was there when State took their statements. All part of setting her up to take the fall for the murders. They wanted her to pay for sending Tony to prison, but they picked the wrong town to do it in,” his mom said. “Has she woken up?”
