Page 92 of A Hurt So Good

I don’t think we’ve ever moved so quickly in our lives. Arya and Sasha both screamed so loud we heard it outside. The three of us turned and are now racing back to the house.

War kicks the front door in as he pulls his knife, and Denz and I pull guns. The girls aren’t in the living room where we left them. An eerie feeling washes over me as we move through the house. It’s not until we hear Arya screamrunthat we realize they’re out the back.

The three of us race to the back door and fly out to see someone with a knife to Arya’s throat. Sasha stands there, afraid and not knowing what to do.

“You run, she dies,” the man tells her. Sasha’s tearfilled eyes stare at Arya, not noticing we’re out here. War raises his hand, letting us know he’s about to do something, but God only knows what.

In seconds, he moves. He rushes the asshole who has his back to us, plunging his knife into his back. The man howls in pain, letting go of Arya, but for some reason, she falls to the ground. Denz and I share a look before we rush toward her, kneeling on the ground next to her. War and the guy are going at each other when we see the blood. Oh fuck. He cut her. She’s bleeding. Her mouth is opening and closing, but no words are coming out.

“Be still,” I tell her as Denz panics.

“He fucking cut her!” He roars so that War can hear him. We can all hear War growl loudly before he moves in on the guy again.

“Sasha, give them the address,” I tell her as I call nine one one and pass her the phone. She’s crying, tears rolling down her face as I shove Arya’s hands away from her neck and replace them with mine. I hold pressure on the wound as she stares up at me.

“You’re going to be okay, Arya. Do you hear me? You’re going to be fine.” She tries to nod, but I hold her still. I don’t want her to fucking move even a little right now. My chest is tight, my pulse pounding in my ears. There’s so much blood. Too much blood.

“This is it motherfucker!” I hear War yelling. I glance over, and he has the guy on his knees in front of him, the knife to his throat.

“You can’t kill me!” The asshole yells.

“Give me a good reason I can’t,” War asks him.

“I’m your brother!” What the fuck did he just say? We don’t have another brother. Do we? No fucking way. Dad would have told us. The three of us share a look before I look back down at Arya. I keep my eyes glued to hers as Denz says they’re taking him to the abandoned house before the cops come. I nod and listen for the fucking sirens. The cops don’t typically come over here, but whatever Sasha is screaming into the phone must have gotten to them.

It seems to take forever for them to show up, and when they do, they’re assholes. Thank God the EMTs are nicer than the cops are.

They get to work on Arya quickly, wrapping her neck up and loading her into the ambulance. The cops force me to stay behind and talk to them, but all I do is lie. I say someone was in the house and grabbed her, cutting her before running. I give them the opposite description of the asshole so that they won’tbe looking for him. Although, around this side of town, I highly doubt they’ll be looking for anyone.

When they finally release me, I grab Sasha and drag her with me to the car.

“Where’s Denz?”

“Handling the problem with War,” I tell her as we climb in and speed the fuck out of here. I have to get there. I have to get to Arya.

“Call my Dad,” I tell Sasha. She nods her head and dials the phone even though her hands are still shaking. I listen as she tells him what happened and that we’re on our way to the hospital.

“He said he’ll meet us there,” she tells me as she slides the phone into her pocket. I reach over and grab her shaking hand in mine, trying to reassure her that everything will be okay.

“She can’t die, Har.”

“She isn’t going to die.” Her hand squeezes mine as we pull into the hospital parking lot and climb out. We rush in and I give the lady all the information I have.

“She’s still in the emergency department. You’ll need to go have a seat over there,” she tells me. That’s the last fucking thing I want to hear. I want to see her. I want to know she’s okay. I ball my fists up at my side, ready to fucking tear this place apart, when Sasha grabs my hand. I look over at her, at the tears in her eyes, the hurt, and I know I can’t lose it right now. I nod my head, and we walk to the waiting room where we sit, and I pull her into my side.

“She’s okay, Har. She’s a fighter, obviously. She handled Rachel like a champ,” she tells me. I chuckle a little.

“You’re right. If she’s nothing else, she’s a fighter.”

“Do you believe what he said?”

“I don’t know, honestly. My dad slept around a lot when he was younger. It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if he were related,” I tell her, although I don’t know if it’s true.

“Why would he be after Arya, though?” I shrug my shoulders when dad walks in.

“Any word?” he asks. I shake my head as he runs his hand through his hair and sits next to me.

“What happened?” he asks. I told him exactly what happened from the time we got the call from Sasha until the time they hauled him off. “My son?”

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