Page 44 of Dark Truths

Gabriella snags the clothing and presses it to her friend’s bloody abdomen. “Yes, it is. Now can we go?”

I shouldn’t smile at a moment like this, but seeing that she still has the jacket I lent her during our walk along the beach one night brings a warmth to my heart. I had no intention of asking for it back when I first saw her wearing it and still don’t.

The entire ride to the hospital, Gabriella speaks to him in soothing tones, urging him to stay with her and to hold on while also yelling at me to “hurry the fuck up.” Lord…what I wouldn’t give to take her over my fucking knee right now for her attitude. I have so many questions to ask but know her main focus is getting Enzo to the hospital. By the time we make it, I’vepushed the questions to the back of my mind to focus on getting her friend inside. It’s a mad rush of bodies and orders being shouted, but within thirty seconds, Enzo is out of the car and on a stretcher, being pushed through the sliding doors, surrounded by medical staff.

Gabriella tries to follow, but the staff holds her back, telling her to let them take care of her friend and to just wait in the waiting room.

I come up behind her, placing my hand on the middle of her back. She clutches my bloody jacket close to her chest as she stares in the direction they took Enzo. Tears fall free from her eyes as she sniffles hard and inhales a shaky breath.

“Gabriella.”

All at once she turns toward me and for a quick second, I worry she’s about to push me away, attack me even, but she collapses against my chest instead, sobbing. I wrap my arms around her, pulling her closer to me. It’s dangerous to be out here in the open like this, but fuck it. Let someone see. All I care about right now is this woman in my arms. Regret fills me as I think about how I failed her during the heartbreaking loss of our child, but I’m here now. And Lord help the person who gets in my way of doing it.

19

Gabriella

I’m pacing. I know that, but I have to move. I have to do something other than keeping still. Because if I do, my thoughts will overcome me, and I’ll only just grow more anxious.

“Gabriella, please come sit down,” Dimitri softly orders.

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

I spin on my heel and face him with a very bitter expression. “Oh, I don’t know, Dimitri. Maybe because my friend is in surgery from a fucking gunshot wound. He could be dead at this very moment and there is nothing I can do.”

Dimitri stands and, in a matter of seconds, is before me, staring down with a dark expression that betrays his frustration at my sarcastic comeback.

“You’re right. There is nothing you can do—”

I reach out to smack him, but he captures my wrist in his hand and holds it close to his chest.

“Because you’ve done everything you can already.” His tone softens. “Because of you, he was alive when we got here. You did that. You kept him alive.”

“But what if he dies now?” Voicing my biggest fear hurts. Like saying it out loud will almost manifest the very real possibility into existence.

“He could, but I doubt it. From what I know of the man, he’s near impossible to kill.”

I snort lightly. “It’s the Viking in him.”

Dimitri groans with a teasing smile. “I knew there was something wrong with him.”

He’s trying to distract me, calm my anxiety, and give me something positive to focus on. I appreciate it.

I drop my gaze to his black leather jacket covered chest and whisper, “Thank you for being here.”

“Nowhere else I’d rather be.”

He steps back but keeps hold of my wrist, shifting his hand down until he’s holding my hand. My eyes focus on the sight of affection and follow him to a line of chairs in the waiting room.

I sit in one and can’t help but shiver from the cool plastic. Before he sits down, he shrugs his jacket off and wraps it around my shoulders, pulling the front snug.

“What if someone sees us?”

“I don’t care.”

“Yes, you do,” I remind him, trying hard to keep the bitterness from my voice.

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