“He isn’t getting near you again Ashy. I promise you that. Tomorrow we are going to the police station and putting a stop to this.” She nodded against my chest before lifting her head and finding my eyes. “Let me take you home. We can have a bath and I can take care of you.”
“I’d like that.” She whispered, and gave me a weak smile.
“Ky, can you stay with Ash? I’m just going to grab us a cab across the street. They never stop out front of here for some reason.”
Ky nodded, and I reluctantly untangled my arms from around Ashlyn. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her to his side. Her eyes found mine and, in that split second, it felt like a million words were said between us, but I couldn’t understand one of them. It was the craziest of feelings, like the universe was trying to tell us something that neither of us could hear.
I needed to take my girl home and as far away from this scene as possible.
Unease was sitting in my chest, and I fucking hated it.
I warned you, Ashlyn. Here’s a constant reminder.
My stomach shot to my throat, and my grip tightened on my phone as I looked down at Lachlan’s words.
“Ash, what’s wrong?” Ky asked beside me as I froze against his body.
I frantically dialed Josh’s number. “We need to go. I have to get to Josh.”
“What’s happened? Talk to me. What’s wrong with Josh?” His eyes pleaded with me.
I pushed his arm away and started frantically looking for any sign of Josh. I didn’t have time to talk, I needed to find him, and then we needed to get as far away from here as possible.
The breath I didn’t know I was holding escaped when I found him about to cross the road. He was in sight. The tension in my body relaxed, and he spun around, as if he knew I was there, and his eyes connected with mine. The overwhelming need to yell out to him, to tell him exactly how I felt about him, shot through me. All I wanted was for him to know that I was in love with him, that I was his as much as he was mine. I didn’t want to wait a second longer, because a second may never be enough time.
A piercing screech of tires hit my ears and my head swung around. A blue sedan with tinted windows was approaching way too fast. My eyes locked with Josh’s, and everything seemed to move in slow motion. My movements, my heart rate, my breathing. Josh’s gaze darted from away briefly, before jumping back to mine for a split second. A second later his eyes were gone. The sound of his body colliding with the car was sickening, and the sound of the car speeding off was devastating.
“Josh,” I screamed and bolted toward him, not caring about anything but getting to him. My heart thundered in my chest as I focused entirely on his lifeless body crumpled in the middle of the road. He wasn’t moving. I heard people yelling and the scuffle of movement all around me, but all I cared about was getting to him. Everything seemed like it was going in slow motion. I had to be having a nightmare, because this couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not when I was about to tell him I was in love with him.
I dropped to my knees and wrapped him in my arms, lifting him as much as I could. Wetness immediately seeped into my dress, and I could smell blood tainting the air. His blood. His body was limp, all strength gone, and I was cradling him like he was a newborn baby.
“Josh, look at me. Please, look at me,” I cried, shaking him lightly, desperate to bring him back. “I need to see your eyes. Why won’t you show me your eyes?”
I dropped my forehead to his chest and let the sob crash from me. “Someone call an ambulance,” I attempted to scream, but it came out as barely a whisper. I sat on the road with his head resting in my lap, and ran my fingers through his hair. I knew he loved that. My dress was covered in his blood. It was coming from a head wound and seeping through his shirt, the silver of the fabric changing to a disturbing shade of red, and his lifeless body refused to show me any sign of hope.
In the distance, the sound of sirens held my attention, and I was thankful someone had the capacity to call.
“Joshy, they are coming. Can you hear that? Squeeze my hand to tell me you can hear that?”
Nothing.
“I was going to tell you tonight that I am in love with you, and that I’ve always been your girl. I was going to tell you that my heart has always been yours.” I sobbed louder and shook him a little harder. “Please show me that you can hear me. Please squeeze my hand. Josh, this cannot happen. Not now.”
Time stood still as I waited, but there was nothing.
“Please don’t leave me,” I whispered softly as my vision was stolen by a cascade of tears. “I need you to fight.”
“Ash, let them in,” Ky said in a hollow voice behind me.
I hadn’t even thought of Ky. I hadn’t thought of anyone. I broke my gaze from concentrating on Josh and turned to find Ky. His face was blank, but his eyes screamed everything as he looked at his brother.
“Miss, you need to let us help him.” When a paramedic grabbed my arm and attempted to pull me away, I lost it. I shouted, thrashed around, and screamed at him to leave me alone. The thought of being away from Josh was unimaginable. He needed me. He had taken care of me for so long and made sure I was okay, and now it was my turn to take care of him. I had to make him okay.
“I have to stay with him. He needs me,” I screamed, and pushed on the paramedic’s chest as all sense of reason was lost. At that moment, they weren’t paramedics, they were simply people trying to take him away from me.
“Come here, Ash.” I was pried from the ground, and Ky pulled me to his chest, my back to him, and his arms wrapped around me, pinning mine down to my side.
I lost control. My loud sobs filled the night air, and I soon lost control of my breathing. Panic hit me as I watched the paramedics work frantically on Josh. He still hadn’t opened his eyes. Why wasn’t he opening his eyes? I had no idea what the paramedics were saying, but I couldn’t ignore the looks they were giving each other.
“We are taking him to Memorial. I would suggest making your way as soon as you can,” the paramedic that I hit said.
“Is he going to be okay?” I whispered, afraid of the question, but desperate for the answer. “He needs to be okay.”
“We are trying our best, miss.”
“Let’s go and get you cleaned up,” Ky said softly beside me after we watched the ambulance scream off down the road. Tate, Savannah, Tanzi, and Jack had all huddled together, waiting for our next move. Eden was standing next to Ky quietly crying.
“Take me to the hospital,” I whispered, my voice hoarse and void of emotion.
“Ash, let me take you home so you can get out of your dress and get into some clean clothes that don’t have . . .” Ky couldn’t say the word blood.
“I don’t want to go home. I want to go to Josh. He needs me, Ky. Take me. Please,” I begged, my words getting louder and more desperate.
“We can go and get some clothes, then bring them to the hospital,” Savannah said softly and squeezed my hand. “Take her to the hospital, Ky.”
“I need to be with him.”
Ky grabbed my hand and hailed a cab, and soon we were heading to the hospital. I couldn’t recall the trip even if I tried. The image of Josh’s lifeless body had ingrained itself in my memory, and that was all I saw and all I could think about.
“Ash, we are here,” Ky said softly beside me, pain evident in his words.
I looked out with the window to find Memorial Hospital illuminated in front of me. There was no time to talk. I opened the door and ran for the entrance. The thought of the unknown was dangerous. I had no clue what I would find. Was he okay? What had happened since they took him? What would I find?