Page 54 of Devil to Pay: Cutter

“Aja?” It’s Dusty. I’ve never been so glad to hear another person’s voice in my life.

“We walked out of a Waffle House. Lima. We were jumped. I woke up in an abandoned garage. I… There…” I begin to cry harder.

“Honey…” she says softly. “I called Reap. He’s mobilizing the brothers.”

“Rough was with me. He… I don’t know what happened to him. But, Dus, Vlad left me. The men took me, they called him. He left me to them.”

She gasps. “No. That can’t be right.”

“Aja,” the woman, Kristy, says. “Do I need to call the police, too?”

I shake my head slowly. “I just hurt so bad. I feel like I’m going to pass out.”

Kristy places her hand to my forehead. “You’re burning up.” She swipes the phone from me. The ambulance should be here soon, but she’s really sick. Her skin is on fire.”

It becomes a struggle to keep my eyes open and my head begins to lull, but thankfully, there’s the sound of an ambulance in the distance. Kristy keeps talking with Dusty once the paramedics park and exit the vehicle. They walk over to assess the situation.

“Aja,” the medic, a woman, says and my eyes pop open. “Aja, can you tell me what happened?”

“Cut on dirty glass and chain-link fence.”

The pair of medics begin talking to each other fast and I can’t keep up with them. But the man rolls out a stretcher from the back of the ambulance as the woman continues to assess me. They help me up onto the bed and roll me into the back of the vehicle. There, the woman lifts my shirt to see what she’s working with and starts getting ready to get this med show going.

“I’m pregnant,” I whisper. She looks at me.

“How far along?”

“Only about six weeks or so.”

“I’ll make sure to let everyone know.”

“Can I close my eyes? The lights hurt.”

“You can close them, but I want you to stay with me. Don’t want you sleeping just yet.”

“Okay.”

I really hope I can live up to that promise. She gave me something for the pain because I feel when it starts to work, easing the sharp, stinging, burning back.

By the time they wheel me into the ER, I feel like things are going to be all right. Those men won’t find me here. I’m in a hospital. The medics transfer custody of me over to the ER doctors. They wheel me back into a room and start hooking me up to things.

“I’m Doctor Griffin,” the man wearing a white coat over blue scrubs says, introducing himself. “It looks like you have an infection from the cuts. We’re getting a strong antibiotic going so that we can properly attend to those wounds.”

He’s very handsome. Tall. Smooth, dark skin, and stunning, brown eyes. “Don’t take this the wrong way,” I say. “But you are very handsome. I thought you should know, but I didn’t want you to think I was flirting with you. I’m with someone.”

Dr. Griffin chuckles. “It’s good to know you weren’t flirting. But thank you.”

Whatever else he says gets cut off by blissful darkness.

Then, and I know this sounds crazy, but I’m awaken by a man saying, “Aja, baby… I’m here. I’m with you.”

Cutter?

Is Cutter here?

I open my eyes, they’re heavy and clouded, but there he is in all his beauty. “Thank Christ. Baby, how do you feel?”

“I’m okay,” I answer groggily.

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