Page 104 of Voracious

No one says anything as we get in the car and my voice isn’t my own. It’s coming from underwater and filled with static as I mumble, “Gloves.”

She can’t leave her contacts in and there’s blood all over my hands. I lift the mask off her face as whoever is sat next to me holds the gloves open for me and there’s even blood staining her forehead.It has dripped from her hair, going into her eyebrow and makes it look like she was crying blood.

Once I’ve got the gloves on and won’t push any shit into her beautiful eyes, I carefully peel them open. I only have one contact removed when whoever gave me the gloves turns the temperature to freezing. They don’t speak or I don’t hear them, who gives a fuck. Once her contacts are out, I clean her face with the antibacterial gauze then press my fingers to her pulse point.

It’s there, she’s alive, her chest is moving.

I lower my head so my lips are beside her ear then beg because my life depends on it. “Stay with me, lisichka. You haven’t finished your book and,” my voice cracks and lowers to a whisper, “don’t leave me yet. You’re strong, a hellion, so you can fight the devil to stay here.”

I don’t wait for the tires to stop as we pull up at the safe house and the doctor is already waiting. His face loses all color when he sees the state she’s in and he asks, “What’s her blood type?”

I don’t know if anyone answers or knows but I do.

“O positive.”

Brushing past him, I take her to the room we have set up and lay her on the bed. I move around everyone else to get the stains off her skin. The stupid fucking mask is still on my face as I uncover marks. Marks that are new, wounds. The blood on her skin isn’t just other people’s and two pairs of hands pull me away as the doctor audibly gulps.

I try to fucking fight them, but they push their full body weight against me until I’m out of the makeshift hospital room. We set this up for Nina. Not Ana. Not my life, it was supposed to be Nina in this fucking bed getting checked. My knees go weak, and I fall. Whoever was grabbing me tries to stop it, but no one can. She’s going to fucking die. I get a glimpse of her unconscious face and then the door is closed, sealing it off while she gets stitched up with Vlad standing watch.I can’t breathe or move as my entire body turns to stone.

If she’s not here, I’m not.

Ana hasn’t wokenup yet and I keep watching the seconds tick by, waiting for the doctor’s estimate to be over. Thirteen minutes and twenty-four seconds, then she’ll wake up.

Her lashes flutter with eight minutes to go and I stand, uselessly cupping her face, still waiting as I beg, “Open your eyes for me, lisichka.”

She groans. Sound. She’s alive. Her lashes brush my cheek as I move my lips around her face and her sweet voice isn’t diminished with the croak. “Dima?”

My eyes burn and I nod, afraid of letting go of her. Afraid of fucking speaking. I carefully pick her up and sit her across my thighs so she’s fully in my arms and my lips touch every piece of skin that they find. There’s still blood in her hair and none of the gunshot wounds were life threatening with them only grazing her skin, but her blood belongs inside her body. Never anywhere else. My eyes close as I tighten my arms around her.

“I thought I fucking lost you, what would I do?”

My voice cracks and she turns, wrapping her arms around me.She’s back. She hugs me and there’s emotion in her voice for once.

“I had to kill her, she wanted me to. So, I had to do it.”

I nod and hold her tighter, feeling her heart beating through my chest so mine can do the same.The sound of destruction vibrates through the safe house, again, it’s been coming intermittently, and everything is background noise, it doesn’t exist now that I have my woman in my arms, but Ana tries to move away.

I clear my throat of the dryness that’s taken residence there and cup the back of her head, keeping her with me.

“Promise to stay with me, lisichka, I can’t fucking survive you.”

She nods and her face splinters as tears fall from her eyes, but she still manages to soothe me as she sniffles, “Forever, we’ll meet in Venus.” Her face splits as she innocently asks, “With Nina? So I can say sorry to her?”

I nod as I press my lips to her temple, finally able to breathe after my lungs went without air for so long that they burn in protest.Her tears slow as she hugs me, finding safety in me, and I clear my throat so there’s no obstruction before I say, “You did what she wanted, B, you did exactly what you said you were going to and you saved her.” She shakes and I rest my lips on the side of her neck, feeling her pulse. “No one can hurt her now. Because of you, lisichka.”

I don’t know how long we sit there with the sound of a demolition as background noise. The doctor comes in and he keeps flinching at the thuds and roars shaking the foundations. It sounds like a wild animal has been let loose for fuck’s sake. Ana, my unbothered hellion squeezes me once and whispers, “Go check on Vlad, he’s your friend.”

Her lips touch my cheek, and she tries to look at the doctor to answer his questions.My arms don’t loosen until she repeats herself with that authority she keeps hidden.

“Go, it’s okay. Inessa and Tali will be upset and they’re nice.”

I go to find one of her saner brothers to sit with her. Val and Tali are nowhere in sight until I reach the deafening noise and they’re both pushing a door closed with a bunch of shit piled in front of it.There’s a coffee table, a sofa, and a dresser pushed against the door as they stand on the rattling furniture, pressing their body weight against the door.

I’ve seen these idiots go through so much shit and never look as lost as they do now. Val stares at me and his voice is low as he remains unblinking. “He’s fucking crazy.”

I can fucking hear that, but I don’t have the energy to argue with them and Tali tries to be helpful.

“He went out while you were sat with Ana and he’s been like this since he came back. It’s been five hours, and he hasn’t calmed down.”

---