“I’ll be alright, Ashton. Don’t keep worrying about me. Ask him to look at you, you’re hurt more than I am, tell him you got shot,” I mumbled. Why isn’t the silly boy getting any treatment?

He just smiled his heart-stopping smile at me. “Will you marry me, Anna?” he asked, looking into my eyes.

I looked up at him, shocked. Happiness made my heart start to race in my chest, which was pretty embarrassing with the monitor that I was attached to. I looked into his pleading eyes and smiled. I could see my whole future there, everything I wanted. Me and him – together forever. Maybe we’d have the little girl from that dream that I’d once had. Carter was dead so I was free now, I could marry Ashton. I wanted to be his wife more than anything in the world.

“I guess you’re not too pretty for me now, huh?” I joked, raising my hand and wiping his blood and tears from his face, leaving a clean patch on his cheek.

He laughed and grinned. “I guess I’m not,” he whispered, kissing my forehead lovingly.

I smiled happily. “Then I guess I can marry you,” I agreed, gripping my hand into his hair and pulling him down for a kiss. I closed my eyes and kissed him with everything that I had, but when I tried to open my eyes again, I couldn’t – they were just too heavy. I heard him shouting for me, screaming my name, panicked. I tried my hardest to answer, but I just needed to sleep now. I’d talk to him later. I felt my body relax as I finally gave into the blackness that I just couldn’t fight anymore.

Chapter Fifty

~ Ashton ~

Panic. I didn’t know what to do. The long, incessant beep of the heart monitor made my blood run cold. “Anna?” A sob rose in my throat. Her face was so still, her eyes closed. Her hand fell back to the bed with a soft thump. “Anna!” I cried, shaking her desperately. I jumped up and grabbed the medic roughly. “Do something! Don’t just f**king stand there!” I screamed at him, shoving him towards her. I stepped back to give him room as my world crashed down around me. I gripped hold of my hair as he started trying to resuscitate her.

She’d lost too much blood; she was going to die. I was going to lose her, the love of my life, my perfect angel. I was losing her, and there was nothing I could do about it. The shrill, unbroken tone from the heart monitor was incredibly loud in the small space; the sound of it literally driving me insane as I just stood there barely able to breathe. She was killing me. She was literally ripping my heart out. This must be what it felt like to die.

The medic looked up at me with hopeless eyes as if trying to tell me that what he was doing was going to make no difference. I shook my head. I refused to allow him to give up. “You get her back or, so help me, I will throw you out of this f**king ambulance while it’s still moving!” I growled angrily.

The medic jumped a little at my words and turned back to her, working her chest and squeezing air into her lungs. I watched with wide eyes, not knowing what to do, what to say or what to feel. I watched her face, willing her to take a breath, willing her heart not to give up on her, willing her to come back to me. I was more scared than I had ever been in my life.

After what felt like the longest time of my life, the medic moved back, looking a little shocked. “She has a pulse,” he said breathlessly. They were the four most beautiful words in the English language. “It’s weak, but it’s there,” he said, shaking his head. He looked a little scared of me, but I didn’t care about that.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I chanted over and over as we pulled into the hospital. As doctors ran out of the doors to meet us, I hung back, trying not to get in their way as I followed wearily behind them. All of my energy was gone. Now that the adrenaline from the fight was gone, I could finally feel the pain. It was burning through my chest and shoulder and my arm felt like it was made of concrete. Bolts of pain shot through my whole body every time I moved. One of the agents had followed behind the ambulance, so he slung my arm around his shoulder, helping me walk in, which I was grateful for. My legs felt like they would give out at any minute.

I followed her through the hallways but was told I wasn’t allowed in the treatment room with her, so I slumped into a chair outside. I put my head in my hands, praying with my mind, body and soul for her to be alright. If we could just get through this, I could make her my wife and take care of her forever. I’d make her the happiest girl in the world, she deserved that.

“Let’s go get you looked at,” the agent suggested, nodding down the hallway and the emergency check in desk.

I shook my head. “I’m not leaving her.”

“You’ll just be down the hall,” he encouraged, looking at me like I was stupid.

“Are you not f**king listening to me? I said I’m not leaving her!” I shouted, making him shrink back from the anger in my voice. He sat back down and didn’t speak again. The pain in my upper body was excruciating, but I just didn’t care, it didn’t matter, the pain was insignificant when compared to the pain that I felt in my heart.

After about ten or fifteen minutes, I heard a commotion down the hallway. I looked up to see Anna’s mother and father almost running towards me, surrounded by six secret service agents. They both looked grim so obviously they’d heard. I stood respectfully as they got to me.

“Agent Taylor, what the hell happened?” President Spencer cried as he gripped my hand tightly.

I gulped. “I followed a lead that turned out to be right. Carter was there, he stabbed her and she got banged up pretty badly. She’s losing too much blood, I don’t know if they can stop it,” I rambled, all my words slurring into one where I spoke too quickly. My heart was breaking as I said the words out loud.