Thank you, God.

Thank you, God.

“Ambulance!” I shouted. “Darius. Shot and stabbed.”

Ren hauled Rivers off Darius and dragged him away.

I didn’t look to see what Ren was doing, although I distractedly heard a fist thudding into flesh then flesh thudding into a wall (or the floor).

Instead, moving urgently, I slid on the blood to get closer to Darius who was on his back and not moving.

Lethargic, panting, my heart beating so hard it was painful, I didn’t need the knife to sink it into Rivers and help Darius, so I left it where it was but pressed a hand to his wound. I lifted my other hand to his chest and got in his face.

“There’re here. There’re here. You’re gonna be okay,” I told him.

Darius stared at me and I could hear Luke saying, “Gunshot wounds. Stab wounds. Head wound. It’s bad. We need a medic immediately.”

I felt hands on me and heard Lee speaking.

“Ally, let me get to him.”

I reached out and grabbed Darius’s hand. With effort pulling it to his chest and pressing in, I got even closer.

“You’re gonna be okay. The ambulance is coming.”

He kept staring at me.

I pushed in at his chest with our hands. “Talk to me.”

“You’re gonna be okay,” he repeated my words quietly.

For some reason, hearing his voice sent relief sweeping through me.

“Yeah. Yeah,” I nodded. “I’m gonna be okay.”

“They’re here,” he said, his voice weak.

Shit. Shit. Fuck.

“Yeah. They’re here.”

“So you’re gonna be okay.”

The hands on me grew urgent. “Ally, honey, let me in there.”

I ignored Lee and said to Darius, “Yeah.”

“’Cause they’re here,” Darius said to me.

I pressed harder to his wound as his blood flowed over my hand.

“No.” I shook my head. “Because you saved me.”

He held my eyes and lifted a hand to my face. “Yeah.”

I pressed my cheek into his hand and held his other one tight.

It was then, he closed his eyes and his lips curved in a smile I did not like.

“Finally,” he whispered. “Salvation.”

Then his hand fell away, landing at his side.

Lifeless.

After that, I threw my head back and screamed.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Pain in My Ass

The drug having worn off, my faculties back to mostly functioning, I sat in the hospital waiting room with the rest of the crew, Ren holding me close to his side with one arm, my hand held to his chest in his.

I had my head on his shoulder.

By the way, the hospital waiting room part of the Rock Chick Ride?

Not my favorite.

Ever.

And this one particularly.

They’d had a look at me when they brought me in. I was fine, still drugged, but I lost it when they tried to clean Darius’s blood off me.

I struggled, spat, clawed and no one could calm me. Not Ren, who tried first. Not Hank, who got in there with Ren. Not Indy, who Lee pulled Ren and Hank away so she could get in because he thought she would do it.

She couldn’t.

The person who did it was my mom.

And she did this by putting her hand on the nurse’s arm and saying, “She needs it. Let her keep it. We’ll see to her when the time is right for Ally.”

The nurse didn’t like it, but she moved away.

I stopped fighting.

So I still had his blood on me, there, in the waiting room.