Page 8 of Red Queen (Red Thorns Crew 3)

No.

Not my stomach.

Is that my bladder?

There was too much chaos in my mind. There were too many sounds happening all at once. I tried locking on to Max’s voice. Or Rupert’s. Anything that might ground me back into reality. But I couldn't. Every time I latched onto something, my mind gravitated back to the pain. My eyes reminded me of just how beat up Max really was. I hurt so badly my body almost forgot about it, as weird as that sounded. I had moments of lucidity followed by moments that didn’t make sense. I saw flashes of light before darkness fell over my eyes. They’d focus, then unfocus. As if attempting to save me from the world still swirling around me.

And all of it culminated as a stark, disgusting reminder of who was really responsible for this.

Me.

I was responsible for all of this.

3

Max

The second she started coughing, I grew concerned. It was still wet. Still ferocious. Still making her heave. After all this time out of the water, with everything she had already brought up, she shouldn't still be struggling to breathe. She shouldn't have had to work so hard at it.

Rupert shook his head. “We have to turn around. This is serious, Max.”

I brushed her hair back. “I’ll call the doctor and have him meet us at the--”

“She needs a fucking team, Max! Look at her!”

My eyes fell to Dani’s pale face. Her body shook uncontrollably. Goosebumps fled along her skin. No matter how tightly I held her, I couldn't warm her up. She kept growing colder and colder in my arms. Despite my muscles trying so hard to reverse the damage that had already been done.

“Max!”

I grunted. “I’m thinking.”

“Well, think a bit faster before she dies in my backseat.”

My eyes shot up to Rupert and I saw him glaring at me in the rearview mirror. He was right, though. Something was off. Dani had been submerged for much too long, and there was no telling the damage that might have been done. This was more than just lungfuls of water. This was more than just being underneath the surface for a bit too long.

Dani had effectively died. I wasn’t sure how long she’d been out. But my thoughts were quickly pierced by the sound of the love of my life gagging again.

“Gorgeous?”

She turned to the side and her stomach started jumping again. But nothing came up.

“Dani! What’s wrong? What can I do?”

Rupert growled. “You can take her to the hospital.”

“Will you fucking shut up for one goddamn second!?”

Dani threw her head over to the side, away from my chest. It was all I could do to catch her before she fell to the floorboards of the truck. She gasped for air. I felt her stomach contracting. It was like her body was trying to get something up but couldn't. My heart raced out of control. I looked outside and felt more frustrated than ever.

More upset than ever.

More lost than ever.

“Turn around. Now,” I said.

I heard Dani wheeze. “No. We have to get out of town. The police--”

Rupert whipped the truck around. “Fucking finally. We’re less than five minutes out. I can have us there in a jiff. Hang on.”

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