Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 82010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
“I’m not leaving him!” Tears clouded my vision and my hands were covered in Jake’s blood. I took hold of his hand, clutching it to my heaving chest. “I love you, Jake. Oh, God, I love you so much. Please don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me.”
I heard the cops barking orders, the sound of tyres screeching, sirens of incoming ambulances… but nothing would keep me away from Jake. I’d been such a fucking idiot, refusing to admit how much he meant to me. Now I was losing him and I would never forgive myself.
“SOMEBODY FUCKING HELP HIM!” Why was nobody coming? Jake was unconscious, bleeding out onto the concrete.
“All clear!” I heard someone shout.
“Oh thank, God,” I breathed as four paramedics came rushing over to us. “They’re gonna help you, Jake. You’re gonna be okay. You have to be okay.”
“Please, sir, you need to move.”
“I’m not leaving him!”
“Come on, mate.” Kip’s hand tugged on my arm, pulling me to a standing position. “Let them help him.”
“Why are you here?” I asked, my voice weak, noticing the other cars were gone. Only Neil remained, along with the swarms police and ambulance crew.
“You’re my best fucking friend. I’m not leaving you.”
My gaze fell back to Jake’s lifeless body. If I stared intently enough I could see his chest rising and falling… barely.
“I can’t lose him, Kip. I can’t fucking lose him.”
“You won’t. They’ll take care of him. He’s too much of a stubborn sod to give up on you that easily.”
Yes. Yes he was. Jake is a fighter. He’s always in control, so he’ll control this. He’ll fight for me. He has to.
“Sir?” A paramedic emerged in front of me, startling me and forcing my eyes from Jake. “Sir, are you hurt?”
I shook my head, unable to speak past the tears lodged in my throat. I stepped to the side, looking past the paramedic and over to Jake. They were lifting him onto a board. Instinctively I raised my leg to run to him, but Kip pulled me back.
“Where are they taking him?” I asked, flustered and terrified.
“Westmead Hospital. You can travel with him if you like.”
“Yes,” I said immediately, not needing a second to process his question. I started running towards the back of the ambulance where they were taking Jake, who was now strapped to a gurney.
“We’ll follow in the car!” Neil hollered.
“I need to accompany him,” one of the guys who I recognised as part of our new security team said. I didn’t remember, nor really care for, his name. One of the crew nodded in silent understanding. Obviously he knew who I was and what being me entailed.
I let the crew get Jake into the back of the ambulance, mainly because Kip was holding me back. When they gave the all clear I hopped in after them, noticing Kip run over to Neil as I sat down in the drop-down chair. One of the male paramedics closed the door while the other started attaching all kinds of wires and tubes to Jake’s body.
“He’s gonna be okay, right?”
“He’s lost a lot of blood,” he explained with a sympathetic expression that told me to prepare for the worst. Well I wouldn’t. Jake wasn’t going to die on me. We’d spent too many years getting to where we are now. “And there doesn’t appear to be an exit wound, which means the bullet is still inside him somewhere.”
“Well where is it? Can’t you get it out?”
“That’s the plan. Your friend will be going straight through to surgery when we arrive.”
“He’s not my friend,” I spat. “I love him.”
See how easy that was? Why the fuck I didn’t have the courage to say that out loud before to anyone was beyond me. There was no one more important to me than the man lay fighting for his life in front of me, and from now on I would make sure the whole damn world knew it.
“How is he?” Kip asked when he reached me. The police wanted to speak to him and all the other guys so he had to go back to the hotel while I came here.
“He’s in surgery,” I shrugged, not knowing what else to do. I’d been pacing up and down the corridor with the new guard watching me from a row of waiting chairs for the past hour, and as yet, not one person had walked out of the double doors that I knew led to Jake.
“Come here, man,” Kip said, holding his arms out and cocking his head. I willingly fell into his arms, crying onto his shoulder as he patted my back. “They’ve got the guy that did this. It’s over, Saw.”
“Who the fuck is it?” I growled, yanking myself away from Kip.
“The police are coming to talk to you soon.”
“You’re keeping something from me,” I said, eyeing him up suspiciously.
“Jesus, Sawyer…I don’t know how the fuck to tell you this.”
“Tell me what? Spit it out, Kip!”
“It’s Jerry.”
“Jerry? My old stepdad Jerry?” What the fuck? “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Hey, man, I can’t give you specifics. All I know is the cops caught him running from the scene… and that Laurelin has been the one giving him the inside info. They’ve been working together.”
“Laurelin?”
“I’m sorry, mate.”
I didn’t even hear Kip’s last few words because I saw a doctor emerge from the heavy double doors, removing his elasticated mask from his face. I jogged towards him immediately, stopping right in front of him.
“How is he?” My voice was rushed and desperate.
“We’ve sourced and removed the bullet and stopped the bleeding. Luckily it barely skimmed his heart.”
“That’s good right?” I interrupted, clasping my hands together in the praying position.
“Most definitely. We’re taking him through to recovery now, and I’m pleased to tell you we have every reason to believe he’ll be just fine.”
“Thank you. Oh, Christ, thank you so much.” In that moment it felt like I released a breath I’d been holding in for the last two hours. “Can I see him?”
“Soon. We need to get him settled upstairs first and wait for him to come around from the anaesthesia. Someone will come and let you know as soon as you can see him.”