"I...I can't get her out."
"Ma'am you shouldn't move her if you can help it."
"The car is on fire. I have to get her out."
During my fight with the seatbelt the thing I feared most happened. Tiny flames are shooting up and racing backwards towards me and Laura. Evie is beside me with something that looks like scissors or a multi-tool.
"It's was a gift. Don't ask." She works through the first strap and starts on the one around Laura's waist. As soon as she has her free I pull until all three of us are falling back in the mud and wet leaves. Ana runs over and helps us lift and drag her up the slight incline we slid down when we left the road. When she is lying on the road I start looking for signs that she is alright. I can feel a faint pulse and become aware of the fact that she's bleeding from a wound to her chest.
"Oh God, please hurry." I'm still clutching the phone to my ear. "Ana give me your sweater." Ana rips it off and hands it over, taking the phone when I pass it to her. I wad the sweater up and press on the opening. I don't know if I'm helping or if I'm just making everything worse. I have no idea what I'm doing. I can hear the sirens off in the distance now but I don't know if they'll be here in time.
Another sound fills the air but I don't turn to find out what it is. Everything still sounds a little distorted to me like my head is in a barrel. Cars are pulling up soon after and hands grab me under my arms and pull me away from Laura. I'm laid across a hood of a car and my shirt is ripped up. I try to fight the hands away from me even though I'm too weak to really put up much of a struggle.
"Stop fighting me, Lexi." The voice makes me still and Jack's face comes into focus for me. He's running his hands down the front of my chest making me wince. "Shit."
"Jack, put my shirt down. Everyone will see and I have to go help."
"No. Someone else is helping Laura. You're coming with me." He bends and scoops me up. I'm being carried and then laid in the back seat but things are starting to get fuzzy around the edges and I lose some of what is going on when I take long blinks.
I hear my sister crying and Jim talking. "Doc is on his way. He's having to drive since Ace won't leave Evie. He should be here in the next twenty minutes, maybe less with the way he drives."
"Jack, is she alright?" I hear the panic in my sister's voice but I don't catch the answer to her question. Am I okay? Will I ever be alright again? I can tell I'm being moved again but I'm too tired to open my eyes.
13
____________
Jack
I was wondering where Lexi had hidden herself when Remy ran up to me. I gave her last night to get used to the idea of the two of us together. I could tell it was freaking her out that I was perusing her now. I'd give her a little time to settle into the idea but she was going to wear my fucking collar while she was doing it so others would know to stay the fuck away.
"There's something you're gonna want to hear." I follow him because Remy is never serious and this time he is.
As soon as I'm downstairs Duncan takes a headset off and passes it to me. "Okay, ma'am can you tell me what's happened?"
I hear Lexi's voice respond to what sounds like a despatcher's question. "We ran off the road and into a tree, I think something happened to the brakes. Can you please send help?"
I yank the set off and look to Duncan for answers. "I have everyone's cell phone set up so it flags me if there's a call to 911, mainly the women so we would know if they need help even when they're away from us. I just put it on Lexi's yesterday."
"Shit," I'm running out the door and to the garage under the apartment I stay in. Duncan is telling me where to go before I'm too far out the door. They didn't go very far before the accident happened. She said something about the brakes. What the fuck could've happened?
I'm flying down the driveway on my bike to get to her as fast as I can. I come around a curve and almost run over them. Damn, this is the worst possible place they could have been. I run over to Ana and tell her to go back a few feet before the bend of the road and light a flare so people will know to slow down. Ace and Steve come up in a jeep at the same time I reach for Lexi.
"Get to the bend and make sure the ambulance knows to slow down. The last thing we want is for them to run them over."
She fights me to stay with Laura. I take her to the Jeep and lay her over the hood where she still fights me. "Stop fighting me, Lexi." She instantly stills for me. I lift her shirt so I can make sure the blood she's wearing on it isn't hers. Her bra is transparent and I can see her pretty pink nipples through the lace. I got just a peek at them when she was in the bath and when she got in the pool in nothing but her underwear. Both times I looked my fill of her but I never had such a clear view until now.
The beauty of her breasts is marred by the giant bruise forming from her seatbelt. It crosses her chest where it caught and kept her in place. Another bruise is forming on her hip where her low-slung pants let me see. I pull it a little further down.
She's bruised up from the top of her head which has a little cut on it to her bottom. She's in shock and her pupils are large and unfocused. I've got to bring her inside somewhere safe and get the Doc to her so he can make sure she's alright. I can make sure she isn't hurt and patch her up if I need to but he's got more toys to make sure she's not hurt inside. I run my hands over her body and ribs making sure I can't feel anything broken.
"Damn."
"Jack, put my shirt down. Everyone will see." She tries to push her shirt down but I don't let her. I can't take my eyes off the angry mark. I see her sister and Jim pull up in another Jeep. "I have to help."
"No, someone else is helping. You're coming with me." I drop her shirt back down and lift her in my arms. I don't let Jim or Libby have a chance to step out before I'm slipping in the back with Lexi in my arms. "Drive."
Jim backs up and takes off for the compound. "Doc is coming. He had to drive because Ace isn't going to leave Evie."