“Is he really dead?” one of the men asked me as he injected something else into the IV.
“Yeah, he is.”
“Well, that changes things,” he muttered. It would make me doubt his intentions, but he said it wistfully, and he was right. His death changed everything.
James found me a while later, and I breathed a heavy sigh of relief at the sight of him alive. “Your brother?”
“He's fine. Most of us are fine. He went straight to check on Mila.”
I wished I could be with Claire, but she didn't need to see the extent of all this. Vick ran straight to their ambulance, filling me with violent envy.
“And Claire?”
“I checked on her before I came over here. She’s in rough shape, but she’ll be okay.”
“Thank you,” I told him sincerely, but the frustration over Victor being with Mila when I couldn't be with Claire burned. “What is with him and that girl?” I spit out rhetorically, still not believing Claire's theory.
“I'll let my brother cross that bridge when he's ready.” James patted me on the shoulder, “I'm glad your okay, Mason. I'll spread the word.” With that, he left.
Once the stitching ceased, I thanked the men and pushed myself off the gurney. Claire’s ambulance was only about twenty feet from mine, and I hopped into it with an agility I didn’t have.But, oof, that fucking hurts.It had been about an hour since we first came outside. There were a lot of cuts for them to stitch.
She was hooked up to an IV, blood pressure, and heart monitors. She had a large bandage on her head, likely covering the sutures in her scalp, and a few fresh stitches on her face. A small selection of food sat in front of her: an apple, some graham crackers, and ginger ale.
“I was hungry, but I'm not anymore,” she gestured toward the barely nibbled spread.
“Baby,” I moved toward her, wrapping her as tightly in my arms as I dared with how afraid to hurt her I was.
“Mason,” she leaned against me and sobbed into my chest, “Are you okay? They wouldn't let me see you,” she sniffled miserably.
“I'm sorry, baby. They were finishing stitching me up, and you didn't need to see that.” There was a lot less blood coating her than before. She changed her clothes into a set of much too-large scrubs, and although she'd been wiped down, there was still a bit of pink to her skin that needed to be scrubbed away. She was wrapped tightly in blankets, but she still shivered a little.
“You should have let me see you. AndIshould still be mad at you, but I’m too glad to see you to hold a grudge. Hold me, please.” She did her best to slide over on the stretcher, and I laid out next to her.
“For a few minutes.” I agreed, knowing there wouldn't be much time before something was demanded of me. Smoke and steam filled the air. Once the fire was controlled and nearly out, I noticed the house was incredibly damaged but not raised to ash as I had half wished. I kissed Claire gently, stroking her hair and touching every little part of her. “I missed you so much. There aren’t words for how I missed you.”
“I'm sorry, Mason. I should never have gone alone, and I shouldn't have chased her when she ran.” The tears streamed freely down her cheeks.
“Don’t be sorry, baby. Everything is okay. You are safe, and nothing else matters to me.”
She was impossibly quiet for a few minutes, “Other things have to matter to you, Mase. These type of situations can’t be allowed to keep happening.”
I didn’t have a chance to respond to her before Barns opened the side door and climbed inside. “Sorry to interrupt,” he coughed as he took in our position. I wasn’t about to let this woman go for anything after what we had been through.
“What is it?” I asked, with no hint of annoyance. I couldn’t truly be upset about anything with Claire beside me.
He coughed. His cheeks were already red from the cold, but the color deepened, “I spoke to the police chief and explained some of what happened today, though I'm sure there's a lot I'm missing,” he clapped his hands, forcing a little more energy into his tone. “He knows David is dead, and he's willing to meet with you.”
“What do we do now?” Claire asked.
He looked at me first and then at her, asking permission to speak in front of Claire, “Anything you have to say to me can be said in front of my wife.”
He nodded, “The chief understands how this city works and wants to meet with Mr. Sharp. He seemed amenable to a new agreement. I advise you take the meeting and go from there.”
She nodded.
“Thank you, Chris.”
“It's not a problem, Mr. Sharp. I may not love the way you do things, but you are a much better man than your father ever was.” And with that, he left.