Chapter 41

Daelyn

“There she is…” Dmitri strokes my cheek with the barest of touches and then his hand falls and he goes limp in my arms.

“No!” My heart shatters into a million pieces. I shake Dmitri, but he doesn’t open his eyes again. This can’t be real. This can’t be happening. “Wake up, D.” I shake him hard but he’s lifeless. Blood creeps across the floor and it’s a mix of mine, Kaleb’s and Dmitri’s. It stains everything red, red, red.

I can’t think. I can’t move.

I can’t feel.

“Dmitri, don’t go.” I shake him harder. “Please.” Why isn’t he waking up? His body is still so warm. Sweat and blood have made his forehead sticky. “Please come back. Wake up. Don’t die on me. I…”

This is a mistake. It was supposed to be me. I hug him tight and feel the wetness from his blood all over my hand covering his gunshot wound.

“It was supposed to be meeee !” I scream.

“Fucking hell,” Silas says. “You gotta get out of here, sweetheart.” The old man drags me away from Dmitri and I’m too stunned to fight him.

“I got her.” Ace grabs me by the back of the neck and squeezes it. I’m still too shocked to realize I’m being shoved outside and into his car. The door slams shut. My pulse swishes loudly in my ears.

Dmitri is dead. Swish .

Addie is dead. Swish .

Kaleb is dead. Swish… Swish… Swish .

I scream until my voice breaks. This is all my fault. Dmitri was never supposed to get hurt. Addie was never supposed to be touched.

I can’t live like this. I can’t…

Ace shifts into gear and hightails it out of the Scrapyard’s lot.

“Kill me,” I whisper. “Or give me something to use and I’ll do it myself.”

Ace’s eyes blow wide with terror. “Daelyn, no.”

“Yes.” My tone is as hollow as my heart, my eyes dead. “I can’t live without them.”

“Addie’s okay,” he lies, and reaches over and grabs my leg. “Dmitri will be too.”

I shake my head and feebly smack his hand off me. “Fuck you.” How dare he lie to me right now. “I was there. You took her. You…” I can’t even say the rest. He knows what he’s done.

Anguish cuts through me like a chainsaw.

This whole time, I thought for sure Ace cared about her. I was so terrified they were sneaking around behind my back, and to hear him say he…

“Look at me, Daelyn.” Ace grips my chin and forces me to face him. “I didn’t kill Addie. I swear. You know I’d never do something like that.”

And I never thought I’d kill Kaleb, but here we are.

“She’s alive.” Ace grips my face harder. “I fucking swear, Dae. It only sounded like I hurt her because I needed Gretchen to believe I’d followed her orders. But I’d rather set myself on fire than lay a hand on Addie.”

I want desperately to believe him, but…

Ace lets me go. “Dmitri came to me last night. He said he was setting something up to get Kaleb out of our lives for good and asked for my help.”

My lungs collapse and all the air whooshes out of me. “What?”

“I don’t know how he found out where I lived, but yeah. He came to me and said you told him everything about Gretchen from the beginning. Hell, he even said you told him all your crimes and started rattling those off, too.”

I have no words because shame creeps into my chest, filling in the gaps my heartbreak hasn’t touched. Why would Dmitri go behind my back and do this? “What else did he say?”

“He promised he’d get us out and asked if there was anyone else who needed help as badly as you.”

I swallow the lump in my throat. Dmitri tried to save as many as he could and has paid the ultimate price for being a fucking hero. It makes me sick. “What did you tell him?”

Ace turns onto a long dark road. “I told him Casey needs help, too.”

Casey, the brother of the man who murdered Dmitri’s father. How could D have such forgiveness in him? Then again, it wasn’t Casey who was sent, and Corey, like the rest of us, didn’t have a choice with Kaleb.

The car stops and the backdoor opens.

“Come on, Dae.” Casey’s suddenly there, helping me out. “I got her from here, man.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Go.”

Suddenly, Casey has my arm slung around his neck and he’s walking me into a building, holding me up because my legs aren’t working right. Ace takes off to who knows where, his tires kicking up dust and gravel as he disappears.

Casey voice is barely audible when he says, “You did good tonight, Dae.”

I can’t even respond. The reminder of what I’ve done sends me over the edge all over again and I bawl.

“Shhhh, I know, I know.” Casey tucks me into his chest and holds me together. “He wasn’t a good man. There was never any good in him, baby.”

“There’s nothing good in me either,” I cry. “And Dmitri is now…” A fresh wave of grief steals the air from my lungs. I drop to my knees and scream out my sobs.

Lights flash in my face as a van pulls into wherever the fuck Ace has dumped me.

Casey hauls me to my feet. “Come on. We have to hurry.”

Silas hops out of the van and rushes to the back, and a guy I’ve never seen before runs out of the building to meet him. They carefully pull someone out of the van.

It’s Dmitri.

Hope is a dagger piercing my heart when Dmitri makes the most glorious, agonizing sound I’ve ever heard. He’s alive ! I try to break away from Casey to get to them, but his grip tightens. “Let them go in first, Dae.”

The guy helping Silas get Dmitri inside grunts. “Fucking hell, bro, you’re a mess.”

D limps and can’t walk without a lot of help. He screams out in pain, and my reaction is visceral to it. I escape Casey’s hold on me, using the moves Dmitri taught me, and run across the gravel parking lot to get to him.

“He needs a hospital!” I shout.

“No cops. No hospitals. No evidence.” Silas tips his head toward the door. “Everyone better get the fuck inside before we’re seen.”

Two motorcycles blaze up the road and fiercely turn into the lot with us. The first one sprays gravel as it skids to a stop, and the rider pulls off his helmet, tossing it on the ground as he lets his bike fall to it’s side and he runs towards us. “What the fuck happened?”

It’s Ryker.

And Vault isn’t far behind.

“That’s for him to say,” Silas answers. “But he won the fight.”

“Jesus Christ.” Ryker helps Silas and the other guy carry Dmitri in. “You stupid motherfucker.”

“Tried to… protect…y—” Dmitri’s legs give out as he falls unconscious before they even get him inside.

“What the fuck happened, Knox?” Vault roars.

“I was brought in last minute to assist with a patch-up, which only meant one thing.” The new guy, Knox, frowns. “That’s why I called you guys.”

Ryker, Vault, Silas, and the new guy all carry him into the building while I’m still standing in the parking lot, confused and unable to move again. I don’t understand what’s happening.

Vault pushes the door open and stalks towards me. One look at the blood all over me and he’s pulling me into a hug. “Are you okay?”

“No.” I don’t want to be touched. I don’t want to be here. I’m frozen. “He’s been stabbed, shot, and beaten.” My belly rolls imagining how much pain Dmitri must be in and I shove back from Vault. “He needs a hospital!”

Vault shakes his head. “The old man has a doctor on hand for shit like this.” Vault looks at my face, and his brow furrows. “Your nose is broken.”

“I’m fine.”

“Here, let me set it.”

“I’m fine! Fuck my nose. I don’t care about me, fix Dmitri!”

Vault grabs my shoulders and says in an eerily calm tone, “Fixing you will help him.”

I stall out and he nods his head. “On the count of three, okay?” He presses his thumbs against my sore nose, “Three… two… one.”

Blinding pain almost makes me vomit, but I’m too disconnected for my brain and body to sync up.

“Atta girl.”

“Get in here, Daelyn,” Silas orders from the door. His fat belly stretches his blood-stained shirt out and he looks like he’s about to keel over. I’m scared out of my mind. So many things have gone wrong, I can’t process it, but I burst into movement.

Silas grabs my arm before I can make it past the door. “You’re only job,” he says sternly, “is to sit and talk with him, okay?”

My mouth runs dry when I hear Dmitri scream. Desperate to get to him, I push past Silas, racing towards that horrible sound.

Some guy in scrubs is already cutting D’s shirt off. The stab wounds ooze blood, and his breathing is labored.

Silas shoves a fat finger in my face. “Just hold on to him and he’ll hold on to you, understand me?”

I nod.

“Knox, start the IV,” the scrub guy says.

“Talk to him, honey.” Knox smiles, but it’s not a nice one, as he gets to work. “Don’t let all this be a fucking waste.”

I gulp down all my pain and focus on what’s important.

“Dmitri,” I say against his ear. “You did so good.” There’s so much blood… “It’s done.”

“Happy thoughts, Daelyn.” Knox runs the IV line and hangs a bag on a pole. “Happy sappy shit only.”

I nod, trying to find something joyful worth saying. I’m not sure I can do this. There’s too much blood. What if his organs have been punctured? What if his brain can’t take one last concussion? What if…

“When you’re all patched up, we’re going to the beach.” I place my hand in his, not liking how cold and clammy his skin feels. “How about that?”

Knox puts an oxygen mask on Dmitri’s face.

There’s a lot of fast movement. I can’t bear to look at what they’re doing to him. I can’t stand to hear what the scrub guy is saying. Ryker stands in the doorway, his arms crossed as he glowers at me.

He blames me for Dmitri, as he should.

“Where should we go?” I run my hand down his arm. “Bahamas? Tahiti? Fiji?”

There’s a lot of clanking and cursing from Knox and the scrubs guy.

I clear my throat and bend down to whisper in his ear, “Don’t leave me. Please don’t go. I’m sorry it took me so long to find you. I’m sorry you fought so hard… for so long. But I’m here. Me and you are here . The bad is over.”

“She killed for you, bro,” Knox chimes in from across the table. “Lucky motherfucker.”

“She went to Hell just to drag you out,” Ryker says.

“She’s waiting for you to come back to her, D,” Vault adds.

Tears silently slip down my cheeks while his family rallies around him.

I brush my mouth against Dmitri’s temple and say, “Addie’s going to be okay.”

My heart breaks thinking of her. I don’t know if Ace lied to me or not, but I’m desperate enough to believe that she’s really okay. Even if it’s not possible.

“She’s probably making her horrible banana pancakes right now,” I add, my throat closing up. “I’m so glad you got to meet her. Hug her.”

I’m going to be sick.

Dmitri’s eyes pop open and he tries to sit up like he just had a shot of adrenaline. His abs flex and several of the puncture wounds open and bleed more. He rips the oxygen mask off his face and screams.

“Fuck!” the scrub guy says. “Knox, get the—”

“On it!”

There’s a lot of rushing around again and beeping noises go off loudly in the room.

Dmitri falls back, his head smacking the table he’s on. Spittle flies from his mouth. “Fuck!” He hyperventilates. His face twists with agony, his eyes welling with tears. “This hurts.” He groans with clenched teeth.

“Look at me,” I say, panicking. “Dmitri, eyes on me.”

He shakes violently, grunting as he tries to suck in a solid breath and can’t. He slowly turns his head to me. “Dae…”

Eyes bloodshot and swollen, he goes to touch my face, but his shoulder is a wreck with that bullet hole, so it just flops and dangles off the table.

He cries out in agony again. “Fucking hell, get me something to bite on, damnit.”

Ryker swiftly yanks his belt free and shoves past me to place it in his mouth. I grab his limp arm and rest it on his side, holding his bicep. Dmitri chomps down on the leather, his nostrils flaring as they sew him up.

It only takes a couple minutes for him to pass out again. I pull the belt out of his mouth and Knox puts the oxygen mask back on him.

“I hope he stays out for the rest of this,” Vault says.

“Not with the massive concussion he’s likely got,” Knox argues.

Things grow frantic. Messy. When the scrub guy pulls the blade out of Dmitri’s side, I nearly pass out.

“He’s gonna be okay. He’s gonna be okay.” Knox works fast to staunch the bleeding. “He better fucking be okay.”

I press my hand to Dmitri’s chest. “Don’t you dare leave me. I swear I’ll crack into Hell to find you, Dmitri.” The sweetness I tried to save him with evaporates. All I have is savagery left in me. “I’ll drag your ass right back here with me. I don’t care how long it takes. I don’t care who I have to fight… who I have to kill… I will get to you.” I dig my nails into his chilled skin. “I’m not letting you go. Ever . Do you hear me?”

Knox sighs. “We’re good.”

I’ll take his word for it because I’m not looking at the grotesque wounds on my man’s body.

“Now listen to me.” I scrape my nails along Dmitri’s scalp. “You’re going to buckle down and get right or I’m going to the beach without you.”

His eyes flutter open, scaring the crap out of me. He slowly pulls the oxygen mask off again. “You… wouldn’t… dare…”

“Try me.”

His eyes glaze over for a few seconds before latching back onto me. “There she is,” he says softly.

My heart soars.

“Keep your mask on, dipshit.” Knox places it back over D’s face.

Dmitri slowly raises his hand and flips him the bird.

Ryker and Vault chuckle from the doorway and I have no idea where Silas or Casey have gone.

Then Dmitri barks out in pain again, his body locking as a fresh wave of agony tears through him. “Fuuuuck!”

“Stay still,” the scrub guy orders.

The pain he’s in must be excruciating. “Hey, hey, look at me.”

Dmitri’s gaze swirls back to mine. His eyes are swollen and there’s so much blood on him. It makes me want to kill Kaleb all over again. “Eyes on me,” I order, taking the reins. “Stay with me, Dmitri.”

He grunts and trembles while they work on the worst of his wounds. A tear falls from the corner of his less swollen eye. Our connection never breaks.

“You’re doing so good.”

His resolve hardens even though he keeps trembling in silent torment.

“Why can’t you give him a painkiller or something? Knock him out so he doesn’t have to feel any of this.”

“No!” Ryker and Vault yell at the same time.

“He doesn’t allow that,” Knox explains. “Stubborn masochistic fucker.” He puts his hands up. “Not that I’m kink shaming, but damn, a little relief might do you some good, bro.”

Dmitri clenches his teeth. “No.”

I think I understand why he wants this pain, and it has nothing to do with sexual gratification.

If he can still hurt… then he’s still living.

“I’ve got you,” I say, lacing my hand with his. “You feel me?” I squeeze him. “You’re still alive. You’re still fighting.”

His expression tenses as they finish closing the last puncture.

Finally, it’s over.

“He’s going to be okay,” the scrub guy says. “I have no clue how he got this goddamn lucky, but the blade struck bone or soft tissues. Not a single vital organ was hit.”

Relieved, I slump over, kissing his forehead. “Here that? You’re stuck with me for life now.”

“You had an angel on your shoulder tonight, D.” The scrub guy pulls off his gloves and tosses them in the trash. “Either that, or the devil still isn’t done with you.”

Dmitri groans as his eyes flutter shut.