Then several things happen at once. Reeve bursts through the back door, I fire at Orchid’s father, and Orchid fires at her father, too.
He falls, his body hitting the floor hard as Orchid runs to me, and Reeve grabs her mother and hurries her outside.
“You shot him.” Her eyes are wide.
“You shot him.” I cup her face, then frown when I see I’ve gotten blood on her cheek.
“I missed.” She looks down and gasps. “You’re bleeding!”
“I’ll be fine.” I kiss her crown.
“No! That’s too much blood. Sully!”
I lean against the wall. “It’s okay. Did they hurt you?”
“No, it’s not okay.” She yells for Reeve.
When she does, I sense movement in the living room. I raise my gun and fire again, dropping her father before he can get off another shot at Orchid.
She screams.
“It’s all right. You’re safe.” I’m sinking. “I’ll always keep you safe.”
“Reeve!” she yells as my vision dims.
“I’ll keep you safe. Always. Always,” I reassure her until I fall away into a dream of nothing but my sweet, soft Petal.
24
ORCHID
“Fuck me,” Reeve mutters.
“What? You don’t think he’s going to…” I can’t even say the words. I don’t even want to think them. I grab the closest thing I can to try to apply some pressure to the wound. But with the way his shirt is soaked through, I know he’s already lost a lot of blood. Panic begins to rise up in me, but I push it down. Sully needs me. I can do this. He risked his life to make me safe; this is the least I can do.
“He’ll make it, but he’ll be pissed.” Reeve pulls out his phone, his fingers playing along the screen.
“What does that mean?” Tears leak down my face at the thought of something happening to Sully. Mom comes to my side.
“Keep the pressure on there” is all Reeve’s responds before he’s jogging out the open front door, leaving us.
“Sully. Please don’t leave me,” I plead.
“Let me in there., Reeve says as he comes back to us. I shift over to make room for him as he rips some package with his mouth, pulling out something I think is gauze. “Push his shirt up.” I do as I’m told, exposing the wound on his side. I think the bullet must have passed through cleanly, but there is so much blood.
“Tell me something,” I plead with Reeve as he starts to tend to Sully’s wound.
“It’s not normal gauze. It’s a hemostatic dressing. Will help stop the bleeding much quicker.”
“How close is the nearest hospital?” We’re out in the middle of freaking nowhere. I don’t even know my way around here. Thank God Reeve is here or we’d really be in trouble.
“Closer than you think,” Reeve mutters as a whooshing noise sounds from above. I look up like I can see through the roof or something. “Chopper.” Reeve answers my unspoken question.
A few moments later, two men are rushing into the house, and before I know what’s going on, they are putting Sully on a stretcher. “Only room for one more,” one of the men says.
“Go, he’ll definitely want to see your face, not mine.” Reeve insists before I can even try to plead with him. “We’ll be there soon.” He nods, letting me know he’ll bring my mom.
“Thank you,” I say before I follow the two men who are carrying my Sully on a stretcher. We head toward the chopper that reminds me of one the military would use. Not one of the normal ones you’d see coming and going from a hospital. I follow them with whispered prayers on my lips.
“You did not call him” is the second sentence out of Sully’s lips. It comes right after him telling me that he loves me. His eyes are barely open, but he’s ready for another battle. This time with his brother.
“I didn’t call him, per se.” Reeve shrugs, his eyes coming to me. “Told you he was gonna be mad.”
Sully’s hand that is holding mine tightens. “What does it matter who he called? You’re alive.” I squeeze Sully’s hand right back.
We didn’t end up at a regular hospital. We’re on some base that goes underground. Reeve told me not to ask questions except about Sully, and that’s what I’ve done. I didn’t give a crap where we are or how we got here. The only thing I cared about was Sully being alive and staying that way.
“Don’t cry,” Sully orders. I didn’t realize my eyes had filled with tears. At this point, I could be a sprinkler for his garden with the water works I’ve been experiencing.
“You ordering me not to cry doesn’t make me not cry.” A small laugh bubbles out of me.
“Or does it?” He gives me that smirk I adore. It’s so nice to see. At some point I wasn’t sure I’d ever see it again.