My hands slip around his neck and my heart starts to beat violently. I don’t know what’s happening between us but it’s the first time in a long time that I feel something other than despair or disgust.
I lift myself a little higher by standing on my toes, but before I can do something stupid, his head snaps up. He rips his body away from mine and he turns his back on me.
“Stay behind me. Don’t get in my way.” The words rip through me.
His hand moves in behind his back and for a stupid moment I think he’s reaching for me, but then the metal reflects in the moonlight and my world stops spinning.
“Unless one of you get visitors at two am that I’m not aware of, we might have a bit of a problem,” he says, sounding way too calm.
“No visitors,” I whisper hoarsely.
“Get down.” He glances back at me. “Fuck! You’re wearing white. You’re like a damn glowing sign out here,” he snaps.
I hunch down. I can’t take the gown off. There’s not a chance of that happening. I huddle behind his legs and close my eyes like the coward I am.
A horrible scream echoes through the night. “Annie!” I yell. I dart up and run. The nightgown pools around my knees in my full out sprint to get to her. I’m a coward if it comes to my own life, but not hers.
I slam the front door open and grab the broom she sweeps the porch with. I storm through the house searching for her.
A man has her by her throat, shouting demands in her face. I swing my arm back and then I slam the broom as hard as I can against his back. He lets her go and she sags to the floor, gasping for air.
The man swings around, shock registering on his face. His face is set in a dark scowl as he lifts his arm, and then I see the gun. I hear a gunshot right outside the house and I lift the broom to smack the man again.
I hear two loud shots.
I hear Annie scream.
I hear the broom fall to the floor with a clatter and then I see the man fall to the floor.
My eyes find Annie, and I manage a smile. She reaches for me with a trembling hand, her face a picture of horror.
A rattling cough overwhelms me. I cough up something horrible and I try to catch it so I don’t make a mess on the floor.
“I’m sorry, Annie,” I choke the words out and then all my strength fades. Arms grab me from behind as my legs give way.
“I have you. You’re safe.” His voice comes to me and then the pain follows.
It feels like something is shredding my insides to pieces. It’s a cold sharp pain that robs me of my breath.
“It hurts, Damian.” I start to shiver and his hand presses down hard on my stomach.
“I know. I know,” he says and his voice breaks.
I want to cry but I don’t. My mind grows foggy, as if I’m about to fall asleep.
I can hear Annie’s weeping.
But I can’t feel Damian’s hands as he presses down on me.
“I … I” I try to tell them that I love them so they’ll know how grateful I am for them both, but a horrible garbled sound overwhelms me, and then everything fades to black.
Damian~
“Cara!” Her face is a ghostly white. I feel her body go limp under my hands. “Fuck! Did you reach them?” I yell at the crying woman.
“They’re coming,” she sobs. She sits down next to Cara and she starts to brush hair away from her face. “It’s going to be okay, Honey,” she keeps saying through sobs.
I don’t dare lift my hands from the wound. She’s losing too much blood! Fuck.
Fear is not a feeling I’m used to. I hate fear, it makes me feel weak. I drop my chin to my chest and close my eyes as the woman who has finally stirred something in me bleeds to death.
Minutes drag by agonizingly slow as her blood seeps through my fingers. When I hear the sirens outside, I want to cry with relief.
Williams comes in first, followed by paramedics. I only move away when the one paramedic starts nudging my hands away from the wound.
“Don’t let her die,” I hiss at the man.
I watch as they work on Cara. When they wheel her out to the ambulance, Williams walks over to me.
“Who are you?” he asks, and I can see the anger burning in his eyes.
I look down at my bloody hands. I’ve had blood on my hands a lot, but never the blood of someone I care for.
“I’m …” I clear my throat and look back at the man in front of me. “Damian Weston,” I let the name slip over my dry lips.
“Weston? You’re related to Karen?” He takes out a notebook and starts to write.
“Yeah.” I clear my throat again and then say something I never thought I’d hear coming from my lips. “She’s my wife.”
Cara~
When I open my eyes I see white. White walls, white sheets, there’s just too much white.
“Where am I?” I croak, but there’s no one to answer me.
The fogginess starts to clear and I start to remember the shooting. Annie! Damian! Are they okay?
I grab hold of the IV stand next to my bed and pull myself up. Using it as a crutch I stumble out of the room.
“Mrs. Weston! You shouldn’t be up. You’re almost see-through, you’re so pale,” I hear panicked voices, and I see a blur of two figures moving before everything goes dark again.