Spike takes my hand and tugs, and the other two disappear through the fine cloud of smoke that is slowly filling the spaces between the trees. I can still hear screaming, and god, it’s a sound I’ll never forget. Spike wraps his arms around me, holding me tightly, as he hurries us toward his bike.

Then everything changes. It’s funny how quickly something can go from bad to worse. It happens so fast you barely get a chance to blink, let alone think.

I didn’t get a chance to think, I didn’t even get a chance to say I was sorry—nothing could be done about what happened next. Spike is moving me, and then suddenly bullets are being fired. It takes me a moment, a stupid moment, to realize what those bullets are hitting.

Spike’s body jerks with each bullet, almost like he’s having a fit. He manages to spin himself, and shield me. He finds a moment to protect me, yet I couldn’t find a moment to do the same. His entire body jerks, and jerks, and jerks, as bullets are fired into his torso. His eyes roll back, his mouth is suddenly open and he’s making a gagging, strangled sound. I know I’m screaming; yet everything seems to happen in slow motion.

Spike’s body slides down mine, and drops to the floor. Blood is pouring from the wounds, and it’s covering his entire body. I look up, my eyes hazy, to see a man standing about fifty meters away, loading his gun.

I do the only thing I can think of. I pull the gun from my pants and I aim it at him. I pull the trigger.

Blood splatters fill the air for a second, and then he slumps to the ground. I just killed someone, and yet it doesn’t even register. The only thing that registers is the bleeding form in front of me. I drop to my knees, and I crawl over, strangled, broken sounds sliding from my throat.

I don’t know how I move from one thing to the next, I just know that by the time Cade and Jackson come back, I am pumping Spike’s chest over and over. I’m covered in blood, from head to toe. Spike is gurgling, blood bubbling from his mouth. I’m pumping and pumping, begging, pleading, screaming, choking.

“Fuck, fuck.” I hear, but I don’t know who says it. “Get her outta here, now.”

Someone tries to touch me, but I slap their hand away. I can’t let him go. If I let him go, he’ll die. There’s so much blood. God, it’s everywhere. He’s making strange sounds, his eyes are open, but he’s not focused on anything. If I stop, I lose him. I can’t stop. I have to help him. I have to save him. Spike, oh god, please wake up.

“Spike, please,” I hear myself rasp. “Baby please, you’re going to be okay. Spike, wake up. Spike, please don’t close your eyes.”

“We gotta get out, now. Get Spike.”

“Ciara.” I think that’s Jackson. “You gotta move.”

“Spike,” I wail, as his body begins jerking, like he’s having a fit. Blood begins to splutter from his mouth as he coughs and chokes, and his eyes continue rolling. It’s without a doubt the scariest thing I have ever encountered in my entire life. I start screaming again, loudly, desperately, and my hands begin pumping harder and harder on his chest. “SPIKE!”

“Ciara, we gotta move!”

Frantic voices. Screaming. Gun shots. Bikes. I can’t pinpoint one noise, they’re all haunting my mind. I clutch Spike’s shirt and I keep pumping, my fingers curled in the blood-soaked cotton, his blood pooling and flowing like a tap.

“I’m sorry, Ciara.”

It’s the last thing I hear, before something hard hits me over the head.

After that everything goes black. But darkness doesn’t remove pain, it just numbs it...

For a moment at least.

CHAPTER 21

PRESENT – CIARA

“Ciara, hey...”

I hear the voice and I open my eyes, blinking rapidly to try and bring my vision back. I see Addison, and my heart fills with relief. That lasts a split second. When I remember why I am here, I jerk up in the bed and cry out loudly. “SPIKE!”

Addison grips my shoulders, trying to push me back down. “Hey, you need to lie down. Honey, you hurt your head.”

“Spike, where is he?” I wail. “Addison, where is he?”

She looks down at me, her eyes filled with a pain I never wanted to see. No, no...NO.

“No!” I scream. “No, Addi, no!”

She pulls me into her arms. “He’s alive, hey, shhhh. It doesn’t look good, though. I’m so sorry, but the doctors don’t know if he’ll survive.”

My screaming intensifies, and Addi just sits there, holding me. No. This can’t be happening. It can’t be. Spike is all I have. He’s everything. I’m in love with him. He’s the reason I breathe. No, this can’t happen.

“Hey, sugar.”

I hear Cade’s soft voice, and I open my tear-filled eyes to see him standing at the side of the bed, looking down at us.

“Cade,” I wail. “Cade, he can’t leave me.”

Cade swallows, and his eyes grow glassy. “I’m sorry, Tom Cat.”

“It’s my fault, it’s all my fault.”

He grips my chin, his face determined. “No, it’s not. It went wrong. It happens. It ain’t on you.”

I sob even harder, and Cade crawls onto the bed beside us. Then we just sit there, the three of us, praying in our own way that a miracle happens, and he makes it through. Something has to happen. He can’t die. He just can’t.

FOUR HOURS LATER

“Ciara?”