Page 78 of Ours to Keep

“Fuck, I found Mia!”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

JAX

I shine my torch towards the small form on the bed. “Mia,” I say, trying to keep my voice as soft as possible.

Her eyes flutter open, and I notice her pupils are dilated before she sluggishly brings her hand up to cover her eyes from the beam of my torch. I turn it off and glance back to Louis, who turns on the dimmer switch to give me enough light to see properly.

River says something into the comms, but my focus is on Mia. Louis relays something back in response as I kneel beside the bed.

“Mia, it’s Jackson,” I say again, gently tugging her wrist away. “Can you hear me?”

She replies, but her speech is slurred.

I glance around the room and notice that her clothes are pulled out of the wardrobe and her dresser is trashed, and I suddenly have flashbacks of finding Lily beaten and broken.

“Mia, I need to check you over, okay?”

“M-kay,” she slurs.

Using the tip of my index and third fingers on the side of her wrist under her thumb, I press down to check herpulse.

Her heart rate is slow, and her breathing is shallow.

Shit.

“Guys, we need to get her checked out at the nearest hospital.”

“What the fuck? Is she okay?” River asks, his voice tight.

“She seems to be semi-sedated. Her heart rate is slow, and her breathing is shallow,” I reply.

“I’m going to kill him,” River seethes, and I hear a grunt followed by muffled voices.

Pulling back the blanket, I notice she’s only wearing a small crop top and a pair of knickers. She needs something to wear. Glancing over my shoulder at the clothes strewn all over the floor, I grab one of her oversized sweatshirts.

As carefully as I can, after some manoeuvring, I manage to get the sweatshirt over her head and gently tug her hands through the sleeves, and that’s when I notice the bruises on her wrists and upper arms.

What the fuck? I have to breathe through my anger and not go back up there right now and end him once and for all. But she needs me, and I’m no good to her right now if I can’t keep my shit together.

“Here,” Louis says, a pair of joggers appearing over my shoulder. I glance up, but he keeps his eyes averted as I manage to pull them up and over her legs.

I wrap her in the blanket and lift her into my arms, her head resting against my chest.

“Jax, shit, man. We have company incoming,” Elliot mutters into the comms.

“Put your balaclavas back on,” I order. Whoever they are, I don’t want them having facial recognition.

“Done. Stay where you are, don’t come up. They’re here.”

Louis’s eyes shoot to mine, his etched in immediate concern. I glance down at Mia, feeling completely torn. I can’t leave herdown here while I go above deck, and I sure as hell can’t risk taking her with me and into fuck knows what.

The sound of raised angry voices solidifies that much.

“I’m going to go do some recon, find out what’s going on,” Louis says in a thick French accent. Gun raised, he quietly slips away. I don’t know what his history is, but for such a huge guy, he’s stealthy as fuck.

I back myself into the cabin, laying Mia back on the bed. Pulling out my gun, I close her cabin door behind me, leaving her in relative safety. If anyone comes down here, I’ll be ready and if they even attempt to come for her, they’ll have to go through me.

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