Page 135 of Married with Mayhem

Monte swore he would never let me fall and he doesn’t. We sink to the ground together.

A few people scream. Over Monte’s shoulder, I can see the Ferris Wheel lights. I’m surprised to look down and see blood spreading on the front of my dress. I could have sworn I was shot from the back. I’m not sure why there’s a growing stain a couple of inches beneath my right shoulder.

But now comes the pain, sharp and searing hot. I think pain might be good at a time like this. If I’m in pain, then that means I’m still here.

A man’s commanding voice takes charge in the background and he orders everyone to stand back.

Monte examines me with frantic desperation, trying to assess the damage. He rips his shirt off and presses it to the wound but he’s bleeding too. There’s a small hole in his upper left arm andthis suddenly becomes a much bigger deal to me than my own suffering.

“They hurt you,” I say and try to reach for him but I can’t move my arm.

“Brina.” His face crumples.

Sirens begin to shriek.

The Ferris Wheel keeps turning.

32

MONTE

They are finally removing the handcuffs.

The only reason why I care is because now someone might answer my questions about Sabrina instead of avoiding eye contact and retreating.

For the last three hours, I’ve been reliving the moment she went limp in my arms.

“Can I have your last name? As if I really am your wife?”

She asked me this and then she closed her eyes. I thought my soul had left my body. My fingers shook as I felt for her pulse and it was fluttery but it was there. She was still unconscious as they loaded her into the ambulance and drove away. I figured that I wouldn’t be allowed to go with her and I wasn’t.

The dead man, whoever he was, faltered when Sabrina got in the way. He didn’t mean to shoot her. He only meant to shoot me and I wish he had. But his panic over hitting the wrong target cost him everything. I raised my gun and squeezed off three quick shots that ended him.

Then I looked down and saw the blood. And my heart disintegrated.

I should have understood what was happening when she started running to me. Sabrina never runs anywhere. Her face was full of determination. And fear as well. She’d seen our attacker before I did. She knew what was coming.

The girl I love took a bullet that was meant only for me. She tried to save my life and now she’s somewhere in this hospital fighting for hers. I don’t know how to live with that.

“How would I know how your wife is?” grunts the cop who’d been guarding me before he got the call to remove my handcuffs. “Ask a doctor.”

I don’t even have the energy to call him a dick. He doesn’t fucking matter.

The curtain is yanked aside. A familiar face steps into the cubicle where I’ve been cuffed to a hospital gurney since I got here.

The newcomer gives the cop a nod of dismissal and waits until he leaves. He was on the scene at the carnival. He took charge and began managing the crowd so the ambulance could get through. Now he takes a seat in the grey chair the cop had been sitting in.

“I’m Ethan Krull,” he says. “I already know your name, Monte, but we didn’t get a chance to formally meet yet. I was the police chief around here until three months ago when I retired.”

“That’s nice,” I say and climb off the gurney. “But now that I’m unshackled I’m going to find my wife.”

“Hold on,” he says. “I’ve been told your wife’s being prepped for surgery so we’ve got time.”

“Where is she? Is she awake? I need to see her.”

“She’s stable,” he says. “That’s all I know.”

A relieved breath escapes from me with a whoosh. The night is far from over but ‘stable’ is a good sign.

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