Page 52 of Beyond Rosy Irish Twilight

I shook my head. “Sore,” I said, faking the pain. My whole body did hurt, but it didn’t warrant medication. “Everywhere.”

He nodded and grabbed another dose from the bottle. “It says you’re supposed to wait another hour, but it won’t hurt to take it early. Just be careful with these. They can be addictive.”

He watched me carefully for a moment, so I nodded to show him I understood. The moment he put the pill in my hand, I started shaking. My breath came in fast pants and heat built up my spine. I squeezed my eyes shut as the sound of gunshots filled the room.

“Jade, it’s okay,” Jerrod said, trying to calm me down.

But I couldn’t stop the panic that was building. I felt the concrete digging into my knees as Asher pushed me to the ground. The absolute horror of seeing Patrick shot and then again when Chase’s body jerked.

“No,” I cried, shaking my head as the overwhelming feeling of panic shot through me. I wasn’t going to make it out.

“Jade!” Asher’s eyes locked on mine, just like they had while we were being shot at.

“Run!”

I couldn’t leave him. We were surrounded, and he was bleeding badly. There was no way I could save him. I had to get help. He shoved the gun into my hand and his eyes locked on mine. A wave of calm washed over me. I knew at that moment I had to save myself. I glanced around for anyone that could help, but all I saw were bodies laying on the ground. Men were bleeding out around me, barely clinging to life.

“Jade!”

His eyes never strayed from mine. His body was pressed tightly to mine as I struggled to break free from him, to run for my life. But with every moment that passed, I found myself clinging to him, desperate to be in his arms where he could protect me.

“It’s okay,” he whispered in my ear. “I’ve got you.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face against him as I felt the prick of the needle in my arm. He gently rocked me, holding me tight to him as the drugs kicked in.

“Make it go away,” I cried softly.

“It will, baby,” he said softly.

But he didn’t understand. None of them did. They thought they could take away the pain and the images, but they would never be able to erase the memories that would haunt me for the rest of my life. Those would linger and creep up on me when I least expected it, just as they always had.

No, I didn’t want them to go away. I wanted my whole life to go away. I wanted to permanently erase everything, and there was only one way to do that.

21

ASHER

I held her in my arms until she finally passed out from the drugs Lock injected into her. Her cries broke my fucking heart. I still didn’t know what had happened while I was passed out on the ground. Frankly, I was lucky to be alive. Some asshole slammed a rock against my head, leaving me bleeding like a sieve. And that was on top of the bullet Lock pulled from my thigh and the one I took to the side. Thankfully, that was nothing more than a deep graze.

I would limp for a while, and it wouldn’t be easy to move without pulling at my stitches, but the worst was the constant pounding headache. Still, my injuries were nothing compared to what Jade went through. I could only guess what had happened to her in the past, but being held in that motel room must have brought back a lot of bad memories. And I hadn’t protected her.

“Asher,” Lock said, breaking my thoughts.

I glanced over at him, still holding Jade in my arms even though she was sleeping. I didn’t want to let her go. I didn’t want her to wake up to those horrible memories without me here to help her through it. But by the look on Lock’s face, I knew this couldn’t wait.

I gently laid her down and covered her up again. She would be out for hours, so I didn’t need to worry too much for the time being. Easing off the bed, I hobbled out of the room, into the hallway. Lock pulled the door shut and looked me over.

“How are you?”

“I’m fine.”

“You look like shit.”

I grunted in irritation. “Just tell me what I can do to help her.”

He clearly didn’t like me dismissing his questions, but I had dealt with this before. She was the one I needed to focus on. And with Patrick and Chase both laid up, I didn’t have anyone else I could rely on to take care of her.

“I don’t think you should give her the pain meds,” he finally said.

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