I barely had the strength to breathe, there was no way I was going to be able to even attempt to climb back up. My eyes closed. I just needed a moment to collect myself and figure out my next move.
When I opened them again I was startled by the face of an old woman standing over me. It wasn’t like me to be taken off-guard like that. I hadn’t even heard her approach. Then again, the ringing in my ears was a little deafening at the moment.
Stunned, I watched as she leaned over me and peered down to the street below.
“That could have been you,” she said but there wasn’t much humor in her tone.
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied and my voice sounded like I’d been gargling with fucking gravel and glass.
Somewhere in the ringing in my ears, I heard sirens. I rolled my head to the side and searched for something that matched up with the sound.
“I called them. Heard all that ruckus above me and figured it was needed. Guess I was right, huh?”
I cut my eyes away from the approaching squad cars to look back at the old woman. Yeah, I couldn’t read her at all.
Was she going to turn me over to them? Fuck me. There was no way I’d be getting out of it then. I’d be hauled off and I knew there was enough evidence up there that I wouldn’t be able to get out of it. I didn’t have a good lawyer. Matter of fact, I didn’t have one at all. I’d never had the need for one before.
The pounding in my head kicked up a few notches.
“Better get you inside before they come sniffing around. I don’t imagine we have much time.”
Then she attempted to help me up. I did most of the work myself because I didn’t want to break her.
Inside her condo, she led me to a bedroom in the back. She closed me in and told me she’d come and get me when she was able. As she shuffled off, she mumbled something about cleaning up the blood I’d left behind really quickly.
I had no idea if I was safe or not. However, it didn’t really seem to matter because I could no longer hold it together. My eyes closed as my head seemed to submerge itself underwater.
Her face was the last thing that flashed in my mind.
Jessica.
I had no doubt that it was her.
And there was something in her that recognized me too. At least I wasprettysure about that. I mean, the shock on her face could have been because I’d just shot the man right in front of her. I wondered if I’d ever find out.
I woke up with a groan. Someone was touching me. That couldn’t have been good. From the softness still under me, I knew I wasn’t in an ambulance or hospital bed. My best guess was that I hadn’t been moved from the old woman’s house or even the bedroom she’d shut me up in.
“Grams,” a voice that my brain didn’t reorganize said with a hint of irritation. “I’m a vet. I can’t do this.”
“Just sew him up. Get him to stop bleeding everywhere.” That voice Ididremember.
The grandson, so I assumed, let out a heavy breath. He poked me some more, then he was feeling me up.
“Not injured there,” I said as my eyes shot open.
His face instantly flushed red.
“There’s blood everywhere, I was just trying to make sure there isn’t something I’m missing,” he said with a shake of his head. “I’ve never done this sort of thing on a person before.”
“You have supplies?” I asked and he nodded to a bag sitting beside me on the bed. “Clean it out like you would with a dog or whatever. Then sew it up the same. That’s all I need.”
“Okay, but I could get in big trouble for doing this.”
“Pretty sure he’s not going to say anything,” the old woman chimed in.
I gave him a look letting him know that she was spot on with that statement.
With an unhappy look, he got to work. I tried to keep my cringe face to a minimum but that shit fucking hurt. And since he was nervous, his hands weren’t the steadiest.
