“Any second,” Luke said as he crouched beside me and took her wrist to check her pulse.
“I swear. I didn’t hear anything. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I heard her come home and…” Trevor went on as he paced the floor, his eyes shifting to Savvy every time he turned.
I grabbed the blanket at the end of the bed and lay it over her while I held her limp hand in mine.
I heard sirens. Footsteps. There were people bustling into the bedroom, and I couldn’t focus on anything but her.
“Kite. They need to take her.” Luke dragged me back so the paramedics could put a neck brace on her, then they rolled her onto the stretcher.
Christ, this was my fault. I brought this into her life. I ran my hand through my hair as I watched Savvy being carried out of the bedroom.
My hands shook and my body trembled. “I did this. I did this.”
“We don’t know what happened. A lot of scum come into this building, Kite.” Luke said.
This was my father. Her place wasn’t robbed; nothing was disturbed. This was him.
Luke put his hand on my shoulder. “I called Crisis. He’s meeting you at the hospital. I’ll stay here. Talk to the police.”
I didn’t even realize I’d walked downstairs as Luke spoke. I climbed into the ambulance with Savvy, and my hand found hers.
“She’ll be okay,” Luke said as the doors shut and the ambulance’s siren blared.
“Sir?” Why? Fuck, why would he go after Savvy? Why hurt her? “Sir? We need her arm, sir.”
I glanced at the paramedic beside me who held a cotton swab in his hand. “Her arm, sir.”
The moment I released her hand, it was like I was letting her go. That she was slipping from my grasp. “Christ.” I put my head in my hands and closed my eyes, but the second I did, images of Savvy lying motionless on the floor haunted me.
I didn’t protect her.
“She’s going to be okay, right?” I asked the paramedic, my voice barely distinguishable.
“Don’t know about internal damage, sir. We’ll know more when they take her in for radiographs. But she’s stable. Heart and lungs clear. Blood pressure steady.”
I nodded, running my knuckles down her cheek. “I’m sorry, Savvy. Fuck baby, I’m so sorry.”
The ambulance stopped and I moved out of the way as the paramedics wheeled her in and I followed until they disappeared behind swinging doors and a nurse stopped me.
“Kite.”
I stood staring at the door, my limbs frozen.
“Kite, man.” Crisis’s hand settled on my shoulder, but I didn’t move. I couldn’t.
My mind was an infestation of emotions. Emotions I’d kept locked away, and now like a raging river hitting a cracked dam, they were leaking through me.
I didn’t know how to react. I was afraid to react. Fuck, this wasn’t me. I had control. For years, I had control.
But the dam had broken and behind it was the boy who’d lost his brother. A boy who was reminded day after day that it was his fault for not protecting him. That it was his fault his mother had died and the family was ruined.
Memories buzzed like wasps around me. Reminding me. Hunting me.
I inhaled a ragged breath and turned to face Crisis. “I have to go.”
“Whoa. Kite.” He grabbed my arm. “Where? Haven is on her way. And I called Logan. He and Emily will be here soon with Ream and Kat.”
Fuck, I couldn’t breathe. My chest was tight and my head felt as if it was going to combust. I had to get out of here before the anger boiled over.
“Text me when you know something.”
“Jesus Christ. You’re leaving? You just blurted out that she’s the first fuckin’ chick you stuck your cock in and you’re leaving? What the hell, man?”
The hospital doors hissed as they opened. The second the air hit me, I inhaled deep lungfuls of air.
I was being pulled away from Emmitt’s body.
Cold, wet, and alone. The river raging like I was. My father stood on the bank glaring at me. The hatred in his eyes. Hatred I’d been subjected to for years until I got out. And I got out because of Savvy. Saving her at the raid had ended up saving me.
He hurt Savvy. He fuckin’ hurt her.
It was the crack in the pink pot. It burst wide open and was spilling out onto the ground.
“Kite, where the fuck are you going?” Crisis shouted. “Kite!”
I strode across the parking lot to the street and hailed a cab.
I woke to the sound of beeping and tried to sit up, but the second I did, agony shot through my ribs.
“Savvy? Thank God.”
I blinked, attempting to focus, but everything was blurry. “Mars?” A warm hand lay on my forearm and gently squeezed. “Where am…?” I sucked in air as the memory came back like a movie reel on fast forward. Killian’s father. His hatred for Killian. My mother.