ReBoot (MAC Security 4)

“The fuck?” He lets me go so fast that I stumble slightly and wince at the thumping in my head and eye. “I told him I’d fix anything that needed doing.”

I don’t know who he’s talking to because he’s now walking away, still muttering stuff under his breath. I stare at the empty space where he stood only moments ago. I’m so confused, maybe I have a concussion?

I take a step forward, my legs feeling like jelly and blood now dripping down onto my chest. I can’t even stomach the thought of going to the hospital and needing stitches.

I hold onto the wall as I make it into the kitchen and take a deep breath. In and out. In and out. That’s it, just breathe.

“Whoa.” Evan catches me as I start to slide down the wall, feeling like I’m going to pass out any second. It’s not even the actual cut that’s making me feel like this: it’s the sight of blood. I was always like this with blood, that’s the reason why I got caught and sent to prison. If it hadn’t been for that growing pool of red—No, don’t go there, not right now.

“We need to get you to the emergency room,” Evan says, his voice so close to my ear as his arm bands around my waist from behind, trying to keep me upright.

“No!” I shout so loud that I wince as it bats around my head like a ball in a batting cage. “No hospitals.”

He turns me to face him slowly, his worried eyes watching me intently. “You need stitches for sure.”

“I—I can’t go to the hospital,” I whisper, my voice cracking on the last word. “I’ll be fine.”

Evans huffs and blows out a slow steady breath, making me shiver as it whispers across my skin.

“Can you walk?”

“I said no hospital,” I repeat, my voice still coming out weak.

He shakes his head like I’m crazy and lifts me into his arms. I gasp and hold onto his neck as he grabs a bag off the floor and walks out of the house. I watch as a muscle in his jaw tics as I touch his neck, but he doesn’t acknowledge it as he walks us out of the front door and locks it behind us.

My head swirls with questions: Where is he taking me? Why is he here? Why am I all of a sudden really hungry?

I don’t ask any of them out loud though, because for some unexplainable reason, I trust Evan. I also don’t want to bring up the fact that I really want to eat fries and ice cream. So instead of opening my mouth to ask the questions, I lean my head on his chest, wincing as my cut touches the softness of his white t-shirt. I release a breath that I didn’t realize I was holding and relax in his arms.

“I’m going to slide you into the seat,” he says when he’s at his car. I nod my head in answer and then grimace

at the thump that follows in my head. Just stay still dammit!

Once he’s slid me in the seat, I lean my head against the headrest and watch him as he gets into the driver's seat and turns the key, the engine roaring to life and vibrating through the leather seats.

He reaches over me, opening up the glove compartment and pulling out a wad of tissues. “Hold that over it.”

I take them from him, our fingertips touching. My stomach bottoms out, almost like we just drove over a really big bump in the road or the dip you get when you’re on a roller coaster.

“I didn’t lock the center up,” I blurt out as he drives past it.

“I’ll get someone to sort it,” he tells me, not taking his eyes off the road.

“Wait… I think I did… I can’t remember.” I look off to the side, trying to remember if I did lock up or not.

I give up the battle as the vibrations of the car and Evan’s easy driving start to lull me into a sense of peace and I close my eyes; just for a second, I tell myself.

“Stay awake,” I growl, extending my hand to her thigh and squeezing. She moans softly in response.

My gaze flicks from my hand to her face, and I can’t stop the urge to protect her from rolling through me. When she walked into Livvy’s house with blood dripping over her hand I immediately thought the worst—that someone had hurt her.

She wasn’t meant to have been back for hours, which is why I was there, checking the place for any bugs that Darrell may have planted: I found nothing.

I knew that I couldn’t leave her, not in the state she was in, she looked like she was going to pass out any second, so I made the snap decision to take her to the emergency room. That soon changed when she demanded no hospitals. The fear in her eyes and the shaking of her hands told me that she had a genuine fear of being in one. I understood because the last time I’d been in a hospital as a patient was when I was a kid and I’d finally escaped from the evil woman who brought me into this world. I knew I had to help her, I just didn’t know how.

Until Luke popped into my head. He’d be able to stitch her up no problem, but bringing an ex-con onto the compound wouldn’t bode well for me. I knew that, yet here I am, pulling up to the gates and pressing the button on my steering wheel for them to open.

“Lexi,” I call again as I pull up outside of the warehouse. Her silence has me panicking so I jump out of the car and run around to her side, yanking the door open. “Lexi!”