Page 166 of Shade
He’s unconscious but breathing.
I take a breath then and kneel in the dirt next to him. “Shade, baby, please, wake up!”
Medics push us aside, gently rolling him over. He stirs and my heart soars. There’s movement in his legs, his head and then hands. It’s not much, but it’s movement and it kick starts my heart again.
Tiller reaches for me, pulls me into his arms, away from the scene so the medics can care for him.
I cry into his shoulder. “It’s my fault! I shouldn’t have let him go out there.”
I don’t think Tiller knows how to comfort anyone because he says, “Bullshit. He did that. Not you.”
I push away from him, glaring. Our eyes meet and I know he’s scared. He is. But it doesn’t stop me from saying, “Goddamn it, Tiller. Just tell me he’s going to be fine. Tell me he’s not going to die!”
He can’t though. We don’t know that. Sure, he’s breathing, he’s kind of moving, but they’re getting no response from him.
Tiller’s jaw tightens and he clears his throat. “I’m not going to lie to you, Scarlet,” he whispers, reaching for me again.
This time I let him hold me, my focus on Shade as they pump up the sides of his helmet to remove it and place him on the backboard. It takes them twenty minutes to get him into the ambulance, the entire arena eerily silent as they wait for the news that Shade’s okay.
They announce nothing over the speakers.
