Page 13 of His to Keep
“Come on, mate.” Johnny tapped his shoulder. “You can tell the sarge what happened. You’ll have to give a statement.”
“Jamie.” Marcus nodded to his brother. The two men had a brief unspoken agreement. Jamie stood guard at the rear of the ambulance.
* * *
Lana blinked in slow motion.
Her eyes were gritty and tingles rushed to her limbs like the blood was in a race. A brunette woman carefully strapped her onto a narrow bed in the back of an ambulance.
“Did he l…l...leave?” she mumbled.
“Yes, Lana, the man was arrested,” replied the medic. “It seems like he gave you a low dose.”
The woman was talking but her words just drifted in the air between them. Lana was struggling to pinpoint one thought from the hundreds whirling inside her mind like a surreal motion picture.
“Why? They arrest M…Marcus? He save me…” she babbled incoherently, each word slurred and lazy. Tight straps held her weakened body in place. “Please. Marcus.”
“Marcus is okay. He’s talking to the police. Rest now. The drugs will be out of your system soon.”
She nodded, barely understanding. The pounding in her head, became an overwhelming ache that exploded in her skull.
“My head sss…sore,” she whispered. “Sick…” Her eyelids drooped.
A deep male voice joined the conversation. “When will the drugs be out of her system?”
“I’m guessing it was Ketamine, but we won’t know for sure until they take a urine sample. It will take a while to work its way out. But don’t worry, we’ll look after her.”
“I’m sure you’ll take great care of her.”
“M…?” she stammered, drawing in her fuzzy lips and sucking.
The tall male moved closer, he looked familiar—almost like Marcus but his features were finer. He had the same strong jaw and honey coloured skin, with short, thick sandy hair and fair stubble.
He was attractive, like a muscular male model, but not as ruggedly handsome as Marcus. Still, he was devilishly striking with pensive, almost black, almond-shaped eyes and a solitary dimple on his right cheek.
“Marcus will be over soon, he’s giving a statement to the police. I’m Jamie, his younger brother.” The corners of his full lips curved upwards in a wicked, yet caring, smile. “Just rest up. You’re safe now, love.”
8
Marcus jumped into the back of the ambulance, fixating on her bruises with an antsy fury scurrying under his skin.
His fists balled when her head lolled to the side.
That motherfucker needs a bullet in the balls and left to bleed out.
Lana drifted in and out of consciousness as Carl’s drugs pumped through her bloodstream and took full effect. Her porcelain skin was marred by violence and icy cold.
She mumbled, garbling nonsense while her eyes rolled in her head like a china doll, scattering tremors of dread through his rigid body.
She was so fragile and vulnerable, now abused and beaten.
The drive to the private hospital was only a few minutes but every second that ticked by felt like a painstaking hour. The longer he had to watch her struggle, the angrier he became.
In the past he hadn’t wanted the responsibility that came with a relationship. That was the very reason he kept his heart out of the game. Now he had feelings for Lana and hated the worry and helplessness that was eating him alive.
The tests and examinations she endured only made his anger blacken into tar, sticking to every organ, suffocating each breath, and seeping around his heart.
Once they were complete, he demanded an update. The short female doctor, drowning in an oversized white lab coat, looked up at Marcus through rectangular lenses.
