Page 103 of In Hiding

“Who are you?”

“I’m Damien, a friend of Jake’s.”

“Oh, Jake.”

Her mind turned to the man she’d sent away. Who’d come back to protect her. William made a distraught sound and she grabbed his hand. They raced up the steps back to the house. Four men sat tied up on her veranda. She ignored them as she ran into the house. The lights were on and a small huddle of people had gathered at the entrance to the kitchen.

Erik and another man knelt beside Jake. They moved aside to let her in.

Lying with his eyes closed and his chest barely moving, Jake was as pale as a sheet. Erik pressed a stack of tea towels to the wound in his chest but there was blood everywhere. It had soaked through Jake’s clothes and pooled on the floor beneath him. It was all over Erik’s hands and she could smell its copper scent in the air, sparking the memory of the night she almost bled out.

Sarah blinked back to the present and shuffled closer to Jake’s face. He roused when she cradled his cheek, his eyes fluttering open. Sarah pressed her forehead to his.

“I’m here,” she whispered. “You came back for me.”

“Never left,” he breathed. “Love you.”

Her heart squeezed and she pressed her lips to his. “You saved me. Again.”

He tried to smile. “Always.”

As the paramedics arrived, Erik pulled her aside to allow them to work on Jake. She recognized Julie, who smiled at her and assured her Jake was in good hands. “After all, we have the best trauma surgeon.”

“I’m coming,” she insisted. Julie only nodded. “Of course.”

Numb all over, she watched them stabilize Jake before following the gurney outside. Two police cars sat in the drive, but she ignored them as she waited for Jake to be loaded into the ambulance. She climbed in after and allowed Julie to buckle her into the passenger seat.

“He’s lost a lot of blood,” she mumbled, watching the second paramedic set up an intravenous line. “He can’t die.”

“He’s tough,” Julie patted her hand before tucking a blanket around her. “How are you feeling?”

Sarah blinked. The numbness had spread to her hands and her mind emptied itself of all thoughts except one: Jake.

“I thought so. Joan, she’s going into shock. We need to move.”

18.

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