Page 72 of Tell Me Your Desires
Jaime rolled her eyes. Did nobody have faith in her? “You really think I’d let some motherfucker end me? Nah. Not in this lifetime, Max.”Not when I’m finally finding happiness again.
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t get cocky, Baros. When you start to lose sight of the danger, you won’t see it comin’ right at ya. The Doc is coming up on your left.”
Jaime glanced in her side mirror and saw Anya’s Lexus approaching. “I know the dangers, Max, believe me. My fucking eyes are open. They’re not taking her from me this time.”
Anya glancedup at her rearview mirror again. If Jaime thought she was being stealthy while tailing her, she was sorely mistaken. Each duplicated turn only irritated Anya even more. Why couldn’t Jaime respect her wishes and give her the night to process everything that was swimming around in her head?
“And why are you taking this so hard?” Anya asked herself. “See? If Jaime gave you more time to process, you could psychoanalyze yourself.” She rolled her eyes. “And talk this out with Derek instead of yourself.”
Anya pressed the remote for her garage door opener as soon as she was within range, feeling far more than annoyed whenJaime pulled into the driveway behind her. “Damn it!” Anya parked in the garage, as usual, and then contemplated just closing it and ignoring Jaime. If Jaime was going to ignore the fact that Anya had asked for time alone, then two could play that game. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She could, however, make it perfectly clear that if Jaime insisted on staying over for ‘security purposes,’ she would be spending the night on the sofa.
Jaime had barely stepped out of her car when Anya marched toward her. She knew this wouldn’t go well, but Jaimeneededto speak to her. She needed her to understand that everything they’d felt tonight was one hundred percent real. In that moment, Jaime couldn’t have given a single fuck who was watching. It was the perfect opportunity, in Jaime’s mind, to show Anya what she meant to her. “Anya…”
“I asked for some time, Jaime.”
Please don’t push me away. Jaime pleaded silently. “I know, baby, but…”
“Don’tbabyme. Not now. Not until I figure out what the hell happened tonight and why you did it.” Anya stopped when she saw Max’s car at the end of her driveway. “I said I didn’t want a detail, Jaime. Is this how it’s going to be? I tell you what I want, and you do the opposite?”
Jaime winced as she glanced behind her.Way to be covert, Max. “No.” She sighed. “But under the circumstances, I hope you’ll forgive me for being overprotective.” Jaime looked deep into those heavenly eyes and smiled. “I need to talk to you about tonight. I need you to know that it was all?—”
Two loud cracks echoed through the air. Although they were familiar, Anya’s confused mind couldn’t register them. One moment, Jaime was talking to her, and the next… she was falling.
“Jaime?” Then, Anya saw the blood. “Jaime!” Her brain and body went into action as she rushed to Jaime, frantically removing her jacket to use it as a compress.
“Jaime!” Max was out of his car and sprinting toward them, gun in his hand.
“Call it in, Max!” Anya ordered as she assessed Jaime’s injuries. The shots had entered through Jaime’s back: one in her upper shoulder and another in her side. There was so much blood that Anya was afraid a major artery had been nicked. “Get an ambo here, now! Then go find who did this!” She looked up at Max, who stood there, tears in his eyes. “Max! Call now!”
“I-I did. As soon as I heard the shots, I called back up and EMS. They’re on their way.”
“Good.” Anya pressed her jacket to one of Jaime’s wounds, but the other was steadily bleeding. “Give me your jacket!” As Anya looked down at Jaime, her eyes threatened to close. “Jaime, look at me. Baby, you stay with me, okay?” Again, Jaime struggled to remain awake. “No, open your eyes and look at me.”
Max stripped his blazer off and pushed it to Anya. “What can I do?”
“Go find the fucker who did this,” Anya answered without taking her eyes off Jaime.
“Anya…”
This time, she looked at him. “Go, Max! I have her. The shots came from the east.”
“That’s… where I was. I didn’t see anyone.”
“There’s a trail about one hundred meters from here. If they followed us, they could have turned off there and continued on foot. Find them, Max.”
He nodded, looked at Jaime, and took off in the direction Anya gave him.
“He’s scared,” Anya told Jaime, who was clearly in shock. “So am I.”
“A-Anya…” Jaime felt as though her body was shaking, but she lay unmoving.
“Shh, don’t try to speak.” Her makeshift compresses were soaked through, and nothing she was doing was stemming the flow of blood.
“S-sorry.” If this was it, Jaime had to spend her final moments apologizing to Anya. This had been her fault. Anya had never wanted to do this. And now, she may never get the chance to tell the woman holding her what she meant to her. “Anya, I-I?—”
“Don’t.” Anya’s eyes filled with tears. “Don’t you do this to me, Jaime. You can’t make love to me the way you did tonight and then leave me. You can’t make me fall for you, then…” Anya swallowed down the emotion lodged in her throat and shook Jaime a little. “Please, Jaime. Open your eyes. Look at me.” Anya felt Jaime’s body become limp. “Damn it, Jaime, wake up!”
Sirens sounded in the distance, and Anya nearly collapsed with relief. She had been in this situation before. When the call went out that an officer was down, the response was swift. Anya hoped it was quick enough for Jaime.
