Page 113 of Broken Skulls

Dirk rushes to my side, wrapping his hands over mine as I cradle my head. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

I try to nod my head yes, but when I do everything goes dark.

Chapter Forty-Four

Elizabeth

When I wake up, a man I’ve never seen before is shining a bright light in front of my face. I hold my arm up, confused as to where I’m at.

“Hey, hun. You’re okay. We brought the doc in to take a look at you. It looks like you hit your head pretty hard,” Dirk says.

Instantly I try to sit up, but they stop me, forcing me to lie back down. Dirk tugs Jacob’s flannel over the top of my thighs to protect my modesty. I glance around the room. Jacob is gone and so is his dad, but the blood and mess remain.

“Where’s Jacob?” I ask, rubbing my hand over my forehead.

Dan and Dirk give each other a look.

“I need to see him.” Again, I try to rise.

The doctor places his hand in the middle of my chest. “Give it a minute, then we’ll try to sit you up. Do you have pain anywhere?”

“My head, but I don’t care about that. I need Jacob.”

Dirk brushes my hair behind my ear, leaning over me. “We had to lock him in the room downstairs.”

“What?”

Dan tries to help his friend console me. “He asked us to.”

“She has a concussion,” the doctor tells the two men by my side. He turns his attention to me. “You’re going to need to rest for a few days. After that, if you’re feeling up to it, you can slowly return to normal activity.”

Dirk asks Dan if he called Jesse and Lily.

Dan runs his hand over his mouth, nodding that he did. “They’ll be here soon.”

The doctor continues to run through a list of things, but I’m only half listening. The smell of the blood is making my stomach turn.

“You can take acetaminophen for your headache. I’ll stop back tomorrow and check on you.”

Dan hops up. “I’ll walk the doc out and find something for her pain.”

Three men walk in. I roll my head to the side and see they’re here to clean the room. Two of them begin to mop up the blood. When the third picks up a broken pot, tossing it in a black trash bag, I jump to my feet. Dirk tries to pull me back down, but I’m not having it.

I slip on the blood in my rush to stop the man with the trash bag. It sends me to my ass, but I push myself up and snatch the bag from his hand. “Stop! We can’t throw any of this away!” I scream as my eyes roam over Jacob’s destroyed plants.

Dirk pulls me into his arms. “Shh, it’s okay.”

“It’s not.” I shove away from him. “I don’t need to be consoled right now. I need to rescue the plants and the planters. I need to save it all.”

Dan comes back into the room with Lily and Jesse.

My frantic gaze meets Lily’s. “We have to save them,” I beg her. “The pots, everything. Please! He’s kept them alive since his mom died.”

The room is quiet as my words sink in.

“I’ll save them,” Lily promises. “Go with Jesse and get cleaned up. You need to rest.”

I fall to my knees, picking up a stray leaf. “I want to help,” I say quietly.

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