“Aiden?”
Mo had Chris down on the carpet near the back door, surrounded by glass, his knee in the center of Chris’s back. Chris was screaming about being cut. Lo had Corinne up against the wall, yelling at her to stop moving as he clamped handcuffs around her wrists.
I blinked again. Aiden’s head rolled slightly to the side, nudging against my foot. I knelt slowly, unable to fathom what was happening around me, and placed my hand on his chest. My hand got sticky, and red fluid oozed between my fingers. I didn’t understand where it was coming from.
“Aiden?” I slipped my hand under his head, pulling it onto my thigh. His eyes closed briefly and then opened again, staring up, but not seeing anything. I place my other hand on the side of his face, smearing his cheek with red. There was shouting all around me, but nothing made sense. I felt cold, and my mind was blank.
Flashing lights.
Sirens.
There was noise all around me. Unfamiliar voices spoke quickly and violently as the room filled with people. My knees hurt as I knelt on the tile floor with Aiden’s head in my lap. He was staring up at me with blank eyes, and his chest rose and fell with quick, staccato breaths. He was shaking. No…wait…I was shaking as I held him.
A woman in a blue uniform was speaking to me, but I couldn’t comprehend her words. A man in white and green crouched in front of me and held Aiden’s wrist between his fingers.
“Please, ma’am, we need you to back away.”
I looked toward the sound of the man’s voice but didn’t move. Arms were linked around my shoulders, pulling me from the floor as the man took Aiden’s head and laid it on top of a rolled up towel.
“Aiden? Aiden!”
“I got you.” Lo’s voice was in my ear as his arms went around my shoulders, pulling me back. “Take a breath, Chloe. I got you.”
More people dressed in white and green gathered around with bags in their hands, blocking my view. I knew in the back of my mind that something was seriously wrong, but I couldn’t grasp what it was. What was the red on the floor? Why wasn’t Aiden moving?
My head jerked back as it all hit me.
The barrel of the gun, pointed right at me. Aiden’s quick movement. The blast. Aiden on the floor, covered in blood.
“Aiden’s been shot!” I screamed.
Frantic now, I tried to escape from the arms holding me back. My legs were weak, and they refused to hold me upright any longer. Lo’s voice was in my ear.
“I know. I know, babe. They’re going to take care of him. We just need to let them do their jobs now.”
“No!” I kept struggling but was becoming weaker by the moment. None of this was right. None of this made any sense. This could not possibly be happening. My peripheral vision darkened. Everything else went fuzzy as dizziness overcame me. None of my muscles would respond to my mental commands, and I started to fall as darkness surrounded me.
A moment later, I was on the couch in the living room with a blanket pulled up to my chest. My feet were resting on top of a pillow, and there was a woman in green kneeling beside me.
“Chloe?”
“Is she awake?” Lo’s face loomed above me.
“Can you tell me your full name?” the woman asked.
“Chloe Ellison,” I replied automatically.
“What’s your address, Chloe?”
I rattled it off as I tried to raise my head and look around the room.
“Where’s Aiden?”
“He’s on his way to the hospital,” Lo said. “Listen to the nice lady, and then I’ll take you there.”
“He got shot,” I whispered as tears began to fill my eyes. “Lo, she was shooting at me, and he got in the way!”
“Well, you must be someone pretty damn special then, don’t you think?”