Page 66 of Wildest Desire

“I think you mean, if I hurt her more,” Sam cuts me off, and I look over at Travis as my heart threatens to jump out of my chest. “Can you hear her?”

I put the speaker up to my ear to make sure I can. All I can hear is heavy breathing, and then, “E…th…an,” in a very faint voice and I break out in a cold sweat. What has he done to her?

“Lexi, I—”

“I what, Ethan? I’m going to watch her die in front of me. I’m going to watch every last drop of blood drain from her body, and listen as she drags in her last breaths.” The line goes dead, and I stand frozen staring at the phone.

“Drink.” Travis puts a glass of whiskey in front of me.

Taking the glass from the tabletop, I throw it against the wall and stand there watching the glass shatter across the floor. Walking over to the laptop, I look over at Travis. “Does Tanya have the Find My Phone app?”.

“No, her phone is off.” He looks at me and says nothing else.

Lexi’s phone is on, so if I can pinpoint it, I’ll know where to go and can get there fast. The way she sounded over the phone petrifies me.

“Where is this?” I ask, looking at the red dot flashing on the screen.

“That’s the old warehouse building where all the—” He stops talking when he sees the look of dread on my face. I can’t hear the last part of that sentence. I can’t think about all the drugged-up people being there when she can’t look after herself. I don’t think I could survive if I dwelled on those thoughts. My sister went through a stage of using, and who knows what they will be doing to her there, what if they give her something?

“Let’s go,” I tell him, grabbing my keys and running out of the apartment. The one thing I feared the most has happened. I didn't want her to leave the apartment without me. Why the hell did I let everything else cloud my concentration and forget that it wasn’t okay for her to go anywhere alone? It’s my fault that crazy fuck got her.

Speeding out of the garage, I take a second to look around and make sure I don’t hit anyone.

“Hey, she’s a fighter. You know that.” I hear Travis, but I don’t look over at him. “Ethan—”

“Travis, please stop talking and let me drive.” I can’t let him tell me things that might not be true.

There’s nothing I can do at the moment but drive and get there as fast as humanly possible. One thing is for certain, though. Once this is over, and Lexi is safe, she won’t be leaving my fucking side.

Parking in front of the warehouse, Travis and I jump out and run in. The place is void of anyone or anything. It’s like a ghost town. “Lexi!” I call out, hoping against hope for a response.

“Ethan!”

“Tanya?” I look over at Travis as he runs past me, and I follow him up the stairs. Reaching the next floor, I watch Travis run to Tanya, who’s tied to a rickety wooden chair. I look around for Lexi but don’t see a trace of her at first glance.

I run over to Tanya and Travis as he unties her from the chair. “Where’s Lexi, Tanya?” I kneel in front of her.

“He st-st-stabbed her.” Tanya looks at me with tears coming down her cheeks, “Twice.” She whispers the last part, and I think I just heard my heart shatter into pieces. I look at what Tanya's fixated on—a trail of blood.

Following the trail, I look at a group of people on the ground with needles still in their arms. I look back at the ground and follow the trail of blood. “Travis, call an ambulance!” I shout, so he can hear me in the other room. I want them on the way here to save her when I find her.

Opening the door, I look around the room and shove the table that's against a wall out of the way. I rush over to Lexi when I see her body lying on the dirt-ridden ground I quickly drop to my knees staring at the blood soaking through my jeans. There’s so much. How can she survive this amount of blood loss? Looking down, salt water fills my mouth, and I want to vomit. Her chest isn’t moving. I can’t be too late.

“Lexi? Babe? It’s me." I gently move her hair away from her face. She’s as pale as a ghost. Looking at her body, I see a needle sticking out of the crook of her arm. Pulling it from her sticky skin, I sling it across the floor. “Please, wake up,” I say, pressing my forehead against hers. “I can’t lose you—I won’t lose you.” Moving my hand down her neck, I feel for a pulse.

“Ethan?” Travis calls out, walking up behind me.

“She’s not breathing,” I choke out as I continue feeling for a pulse. For the first time, I feel like I’m losing everything good in my life. “Lexi, please… Fight this. Fight for me—for us.” It feels like the weight of the world is sitting on my chest. My heart is crumbling and I'm helpless to do anything but watch her slowly fading away. It’s killing me that she isn’t moving. My heart feels like it's sinking into an abyss of despair. The pain is quickly turning into ice-cold anger, leaving me numb. My vision blurs with the tears building in my eyes. I see Travis’ lips moving, but no sound reaches my ears. My focus is solely on Lexi. Feeling for a pulse, watching for any sign of her chest moving, listening and begging for a whoosh of air as she takes a breath. Anything to give me a little bit of hope that she's still with me.

I move closer to her ear, hoping it'll help her hear me. “Lexi, wake up, and I promise I’ll show you how much I love you every single minute of every single day. I promise I’ll never hurt you or let you be hurt again, but you have to stay with me,” I say, focusing on where the blood has come from. I see the long slash along her side, the source of the blood that’s still oozing from her. Pulling my jacket off, I place it over the wounds. The blood begins to seep through my jacket, but I couldn’t care less about my garments. I only care about helping Lexi—my Lexi.

“Sir, we need you to move so we can get to her.” I hear someone say, but I’m frozen and can’t get my body to move out of the way. I’m afraid to leave her for even a minute.

“Ethan.” Travis, says, pulling me away.

I sit on the floor trying to understand what the medics are saying, but can’t focus on anything other than them putting a mask over her mouth. “Is she alive?” I ask. They wouldn’t put it on her if she weren't, would they? “Is she alive?” I ask again, watching as they look at each other.

“Stretcher,” one says to the other who pulls it over to them. “Count of three. One, two, three.” They pick Lexi up, place her on the stretcher, then start rolling her out of the room.

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