Page 52 of A Soldier's Temptation
The dog led him to the two women who’d been left behind a stack of boxes on the far side of the floor. Now he knew why they hadn’t seen them after they’d breached. When John caught a glimpse of Ari’s face his heart almost stopped. Shira didn’t look any better.
There wasn’t an inch of her face that wasn’t covered in bruises and dried blood. The left half of her face was so swollen she was unrecognizable. But it didn’t stop Mr. Darcy from trying to comfort her. Whimpering, he licked her face a couple of times, but when she didn’t respond, his crying grew louder.
Praying they weren’t too late, John kneeled by Ari’s side and checked for a pulse. “She’s got a pulse. It’s weak but it’s there,” John called out, his relief obvious. Grabbing his knife he cut through the plastic ties to free her from the chair.
Before he could go to Shira to cut her loose, Disco had already released her. “She’d not doing well, looks like she’s got a compound fracture, both of them probably have concussions. We need to get them to the hospital,” Disco said as he checked Shira for open wounds.
Ari was still unconscious, but Shira moaned when Disco cut her free from the chair.
“Shira? Can you tell me where you’re injured? I want to move you,” he said.
If he hadn’t known for sure it was Shira, he’d never have believed it. Of the two of them, she’d been beaten much worse. When she finally answered, her voice was barely audible. She’d been full of life when he’d met her on Friday and now she sounded like a lost child.
“My leg is definitely broken, not sure what else. They punched me in the face a couple of times too.”
“Definitely a concussion,” Elwood said after he’d made sure both of the tangos were properly secured.
“Ari, Baby, can you hear me?” John was afraid to touch her.
Trying to remain calm when the woman he loved was lying broken and bloody on the floor, took all the willpower he had. He couldn’t get her to respond to his voice or light touch and her skin was cold and clammy. It terrified him.
Mr. Darcy looked up at him and whimpered and then nudged her with his nose. He didn’t get a response either. But that didn’t stop him. After the third time nudging her face and licking her check, Ari finally opened her eyes.
“Welcome back, Baby.” John’s relief was palpable. Seeing her eyelids flutter and open allowed him to breathe again.
Mr. Darcy licked her face and she smiled. If he hadn’t been watching he’d have missed her lips move but he couldn’t hear her. Leaning close, he kissed her forehead gently.
She whispered, “I knew you’d come. My white knight...”
* * *
To say Ari’s memory was fuzzy after the attack would have been a colossal understatement. Not that she was complaining. She’d rather forget the beating they’d given her, just the memories of pain and ice were more than enough. Besides, her body reminded her every time she moved.
When she’d woken up in the hospital, she’d been thoroughly confused and had a hard time remembering much of what happened. Her body reminded when she attempted to sit up in the hospital bed. The excruciating pain in her chest and the pressure and pain in her face filled her eyes with tears.
“Easy, Baby, you were banged up pretty good. You will need to take it slowly for a while.”
She hadn’t even noticed John had been sitting next to her bed until then. Closing her eyes, she tried to remember how she’d gotten to the hospital. It was like a fuzzy cloud hiding her thoughts. Then she remembered Shira lying on the cement floor.
“Is Shira okay? I want to see her.” Panic filled her voice and she tried to get out of bed again.
“She’s right here. We asked the staff to put you in the same room. See?” John stood up from the chair and pulled back the curtain dividing the two halves of the room.
Shira really was sleeping in the other bed. Thank God. Tears rolled down her cheeks and onto the front of her hospital gown, as guilt replaced relief of knowing she was alive. Would her BFF ever forgive her?
“Is she okay?” Ari whispered, not wanting to wake her friend.
“She might disagree with me but yes, she is okay,” John answered.
The beating Shira received had caused a lot more damage. When she’d tried to escape they’d used a baseball bat and broken her femur in three places. It took surgery to put her leg back together. Her leg would never be the same but at least she didn’t lose it. He’d found it interesting too that Disco had been hanging around waiting with him.
“Thank God. I thought they were going to kill us.”
“Colin is going to need to talk to you when you’re up to it. I told him I’d let him know. He wasn’t too happy, but he can get over it.”
Ari hadn’t heard John talk about him like that before and she wondered what happened while she’d been unconscious. Before she had a chance to ask, her doctor came to check on her.
“Glad to see you’re awake. Could you step out for a bit while I examine my patient?” Dr. Hernandez asked John.
