Page 2 of Save Them

This shouldn’t be happening to Lay, she’s been through enough. She has barely started telling us everything that’s happened to her, only a few details here and there, but from speaking with Declan about his life, I know enough. Our beautiful warrior deserves to finally be able to live her life without any of this fear and pain.

The need to protect her overwhelms me, every part of me taut with stress over how exactly I can do that. Every time I think I can keep her safe, this fucker stalking her shows us he’s still ten steps ahead of us. We only just found out his name, and he’s been out violating Lay’s things and straight up murdering women. I’m not equipped to protect her from this, and it’s fucking gutting me.

Pulling up to the hospital, my adrenaline kicks into overdrive, and my hand squeezes Lay’s protectively. The moment the ambulance stops, I jump out to get out of the way as quickly as possible. A nurse comes up, directing me away from the ambulance and inside to a private waiting room. She leaves me there, telling me a doctor will be in to speak with me shortly.

The moment she leaves, my body deflates, and my eyes fill up with tears at the situation we’re in. Dropping my head into my hands, I let out all of my worry, fear, anger, and frustration. This world is so fucked up, I’ve known that for a while, but for it to touch my life and loved ones the way it is — it’s almost too much to handle.Almost.For Alayna, I can’t imagine there would ever be anything that was too much.

Making sure I let the guys know we’re at the hospital and where to find me, I sit back and get as comfortable as I can to wait for the doctor. The chairs are a hard metal with a slippery fake leather cushion that feels akin to sitting on a rock. They’re an awful mint green colour and obviously made for people with a much smaller frame than my own. At six foot six and close to three hundred pounds, most things aren’t made for people my size.

Squirming in my seat, I breathe in the scents of the hospital around me, every distinct hospital smell putting me more and more on edge. It’s taking everything in me to keep sitting here and not get up to find some way to help. It’s hard to sit around in this doing absolutely nothing while the woman I’m falling for is god knows where in this hospital. I don’t know how she is, if she’s safe, anything.

Lay shouldn’t be in somewhere in this hospital all by herself! There’s someone after her, literally killing people to get her attention. It was stupid of me to walk away from her, I should have demanded to stay by her side. Why the fuck didn’t we have a police escort when someone is out to get her?

Standing up abruptly, I bang the chair against the wall loudly in my haste. My heart rate jumps at the sound, my teeth clenching together with anxiety. Pacing the room from one end to the other, I run through how to find Lay, how to make sure she’s okay. Waiting for the doctor is taking every single ounce of my patience, all while my hands drag through my hair aggressively.

Stopping in the middle of the room, I observe the doctors and nurses rushing past the glass door. All I have to do is walk out there and demand someone tell me where she is. The doctor is taking far too long to get here which probably means something is very, very wrong. Lay needs me, I know she does. I’m standing in this stupid fucking room with the stupid fucking hard chairs, away from her, my girl.

Not for fucking long.

My foot moves one step before a nurse walks into the room, Rhys and Adam right on her heels.

“Just in here,” the nurse announces, smiling at the three of us. “The doctor will be in shortly to speak with you all.”

“That’s what the last nurse said, and I still haven’t seen a fucking doctor,” I growl out, my hands clenching at my side. “When will the doctor actually get their ass in here?”

“Riggs,” Rhys speaks, his voice holding a note of concern. Turning back to the nurse, he smiles placatingly and apologetically. “I’m sorry, it’s a stressful time. Thank you for showing us here. We’ll wait for the doctor.”

Adam places his hand on my shoulder, his eyebrows raised in concern as he takes in my appearance. The nurse walks out quietly, not acknowledging a damn thing I said. Rhys turns back to me, his face confused and concerned.

“What was all that about?” He cautiously approaches me, my eyes tracking his every move as an intense, rage-fuelled panic fills me to the brim.

“Lay is out there in that hospital all alone while a fucking psychopath is after her. The doctor should have fucking been in here by now!” My whole body shakes with my anger, the fury I feel for the fucker going after Lay is fuelling a deep fire in me. “That’s our fucking girl out there! I need to—” My voice breaks, the full dam of my emotions breaking open. “I need to protect her.”

“We will protect her,” Rhys murmurs, pulling me into a hug as Adam pats my back. “She is safe right now. We want to make sure she’s okay, passing out like she did can be dangerous. Being in the room would mean we’re only in the way.”

“There’s no way that this asshole is going to get to our girl with us here plus, the cops that followed us. I know you have this intense need to protect everyone since Hannah’s death,” Adam says, sitting in one of the hard chairs and winces. “But we’re all here and we’re ready to protect Lay. You do not need to protect everyone on your own.”

Nodding my head, I step back and take some deep, slow breaths to calm myself down. Losing my shit is not going to help anything, I need a clear head on my shoulders. They’re right, I don’t need to do this alone. The three of us are here to help her, our girl. When I look up at the two of them, they smile at the rage they see missing on my face.

The door opens again, this time a woman in scrubs and a white coat walks in, a small smile on her face. “Are you the friends and family of Alayna Morgan?” Looking down at her clipboard and back up, “Riggs, Rhys, and Adam?”

“We are,” I confirm, stepping forward eagerly with Adam and Rhys by my side. My heart is beating so fast, hope soaring through me at the mention of our names. That can only mean one thing…

“Perfect! If you would like to come with me, she’s awake and asking for you.”

Holy fuck, she’s awake.

Those words repeat in my head over and over again as the world blurs around me. Thank every fucking god known to man that Lay is awake. Not only is she awake, she’s asking for us. That means she’s trusting us, leaning on us, and wanting us. That’s a gift that I will never take for granted. I will spend every day proving to her that I am worthy of it.

Chapter Two

Alayna

Blinking my eyes open slowly, the bright lights around me sting my eyes. There’s voices and beeping coming from everywhere, making the pounding in my head hurt so much worse. Taking in the stuff around me, the realization of where I am slowly sinks in, and with that, everything that happened tonight. A hospital, I’m in a fucking hospital because I’m being stalked by a psychotic man. Lifting up my hands, I sigh with relief to see I’m not bound, which probably means I’m not in the psych ward.

“Ms. Morgan, you’ve given everyone quite the scare.” A female voice comes from my side, pressing cold hands to my head. “I’m Dr. Corbin. Are you able to tell me what year it is?”

“The year is two thousand nineteen,” I murmur, wincing at the pain in my head.

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