A vision surfaced of Liv lounging in a hot tub across from him, a small smile playing across her lips. His birthday. He’d indulged every one of his senses that evening. For hours.
The thought of her turned his eyes into heat-seeking missiles as he sought her out. His heart stuttered inside his chest.
She wasn’t at the picnic table. He searched the nearby area, his panic growing.
Nothing.
He noticed her bag was still on the picnic table.
“Liv!”
Zeke took off,hauling ass at a pace that would’ve made Usain Bolt proud. Distantly, he heard Ash’s shoes beating the pavement behind him.
When he neared the table, he found her in a dazed heap on the other side. She tried to push herself upright, but appeared to be favoring her left shoulder.
Red bloomed on her pale yellow top like a Nickelodeon paint splatter.
He landed hard on his knees at her side. “Liv.” His throat was tight. “I’ve got you, sweetheart.” Over his shoulder, he yelled, “Call 911.”
“Already on it,” Ash said in a calm voice.
Red rivulets trickled down her face from a wound on the left side of her forehead. A black-and-blue knot was already forming beneath the thin layer of skin.
Holding her in his arms, he eased down the neckline of her top for the source of the blood on her shoulder and found a half-inch stab wound in the meaty part where the neck and collarbone met.
“Sonofabitch.” He glanced around in search of something to stuff into the blood-pumping wound. Finding nothing, he started pulling at the neck and shoulders of his shirt.
“Here.” Ash ripped off his pristine white dress shirt, balled it up, and handed to him.
The wail of sirens reached him as he stuffed the material against her wound. She winced and emitted a low groan.
“I’m sorry, Liv, but I need to get the bleeding under control. The ambulance is almost here.” He kissed her forehead while pressing down harder.
“Do you see anything?” he asked his brother in a low voice.
“Nothing out of the ordinary. The curious are starting to approach, though.”
“Same voice as before,” Liv whispered, her eyelids fluttered open. She blinked several times, as if batting away a thick fog.
“You’re looking for a guy, Ash. He might try to blend in with the onlookers.”
“Got it.” His voice held no trace of annoyance, only unremitting calm, even though Zeke was telling him something he’d probably learned in FBI 101.
When Liv’s eyelids fluttered closed, he tapped his fingers against her cheek. “Stay with me, Liv.”
Her eyes widened, then drifted closed again. “No, Liv. Stay awake.”
When her lids continued to fall, he elevated his voice and smacked her cheek harder. “Agent Westcott, you will not fall asleep.” His throat ached with a crush of emotion. “Not until I hear the words.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ash wave down the ambulance.
“What words?” she asked, her voice so freaking weak.
He said nothing, feeling like a damn fool suddenly.
“What. Words?”
“I love you.”