Seize (St. Martin Family Saga: Emergency Responders) Book 2: Erotic Romance (13 page)

Chapter 12

“Oh my God!
Augie!” Mia pointed across the street to where Augie ran out of the building, and Gloria quickly put the car in motion.

Mia screamed, the sound deafening in the closed body of the car. Men ran up to Augie and beat on him. Her hands cupped her mouth. Horror gripped and held her close.

Gloria rolled over the curb, jostling the car and them. Mia was jolted from her shock when Gloria yelled, “Open that door!” Mia jumped out, opened the back door, and squatted next to Augie.

“Help me get him into the car,” Gloria said. She lifted his shoulders and supported his head while Mia lifted his legs. He didn’t respond.

“Oh my God! A knife. Oh my God! Augie!”

“Quiet, Mia. Focus.” They slid him into the back seat. “Drive!” Gloria yelled.

Mia obeyed, speeding off. Tears blurred her vision and she wiped at her eyes. “Is he alive?”

“He’s breathing. Pulse is shallow. I need a drugstore.”

Mia watched in the mirror as Gloria ripped material away from the knife in his stomach. She pulled the car to a stop in a parking lot.

“You stay with him,” Gloria said, already out of the car. “Don’t let him pull that out. I’ll be back soon.”

The door slammed and she was gone, leaving Mia alone with Augie. His face had been badly beaten, but she knew that wasn’t the worst of it. She prayed the knife wound wasn’t fatal.

Her fingers traced his face, but she carefully avoided his wounds. Her lips touched his in a desperate attempt to wake him. She kissed him tenderly and tasted the tang of blood in her mouth.

“Augie, please wake up.” Feathering her hand through his hair, she kissed his cheek. “Please, Augie.” Tears poured from her eyes and landed on his face. Forehead to forehead, she rubbed him. “Please, I need you. And you promised. You promised me. Oh God, no. Please, Augie, I love you.” Her head rested on his shoulder as she cried.

“Let’s go,” Gloria directed as she jumped into the car. “The hotel. Now.”

“Hotel? He needs a hospital.”

“No hospital. No records. Just drive to the hotel.”

*

Mia watched Gloria efficiently tend Augie’s wounds. Mia had gently scrubbed the dried blood away from his face and neck.

When Gloria removed the knife, Mia almost passed out and Gloria yelled at her. Her shrill voice sobered Mia up. He was patched up, but he still hadn’t come around.

“He needs blood,” Gloria said. “He’s A, I’m B. Do you know what you are?

“I’m an O.”

“Perfect. Come sit over here.”

Gloria moved a chair next to Augie’s arm. Mia hated needles, hated giving blood. Just the thought of a needle could incapacitate her. But for Augie, she’d give her life.

She sat in the chair.

Next to her, Gloria set up plastic lines that Mia guessed would carry the blood.

“This isn’t the best setup, but it’s all they had available. He needs blood now and that requires direct blood transfusion, which can be tricky, but I’m trained and have done this dozens of times in the field.”

“I trust you.”

Gloria frowned. “Thing is, it’s uncomfortable; I’ll have to expose an artery.”

Mia looked away, her hand over her mouth. “Don’t tell me any more—just do it.”

She took Mia’s wrist.

“Wait!” Mia said. She switched on the television, some reality shopping show. “Okay.” She focused on the TV. Some girl was preparing for a wedding, but she was alienating her entire bridal party by being a caustic bitch.
Shit!
Her wrist burned.
Don’t turn.
Her body wanted to turn, but her mind didn’t want to know what Gloria was doing. She stared with renewed focus at the wedding cake. It was the cake as the bride had ordered it, but she pushed it off the table and onto the floor in a fit of rage. Honestly, who acted—

“Damn! That hurts!” Mia sucked in air.

“I know, I’m sorry, but we’re almost there.”

Gloria left Mia’s arm resting on the bed and started in on Augie.

“Is he going to be okay?”

“Pulse is weak; I’ll know more after the transfusion.”

“And then he’ll be fine?”

“Sometimes the blood clots or the body rejects the blood. It’s rare.”

Mia prayed to a deity she’d abandoned long ago.

“Given the flow rate, I’d say about twenty minutes should suffice.”

Mia nodded. The show was ending, but Mia was so tired, her eyelids wouldn’t stay up and she closed them.

A hand squeezed hers hard, sending pain shooting up her arm, and she cried out, jolting awake. Gloria was immediately there.

“He’s contracted—give me a second. May have a cramp.”

Augie’s eyes opened and his dark gaze settled into hers. If his jaw were any tighter, he’d shatter teeth.

“Augie.” Her voice was a whisper.

“Pulse is strong now. Hang on, let me unhook you.”

His brow was covered in sweat, so Mia wiped his face with some gauze. She kissed the now-dry brow. Leaning down next to his ear so that only he could hear, she whispered, “Augie, I love you.” She stroked his face, kissing his temple.

His brow furrowed. “You gotta stop sayin’ that.” His words were slurred.

“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t. And you can’t make me.”

Gloria ran through a list of his injuries. “You were stabbed in the gut, no arteries affected. You lost a significant amount of blood, but Mia gave you a direct transfusion. If you don’t develop an infection from the nasty fucking knife, you’ll be good as new in about a week. Oh, you’ve also got one cracked rib. We wrapped it.”

Mia crawled up in bed with him and placed his head in her lap. His gaze was still focused on her in earnest. “Hey.” She stroked the sides of his face. “That’s a good report, huh?” She kissed the corner of his mouth. “Good as new, we like that. New is always good, unless it’s your first day at a new school. Then nobody wants to be the new girl.”

He smiled.

Gloria was busy cleaning the skin around the wound. She removed the rest of his pants and his boxer briefs without flinching, and Mia knew it was because she’d seen it all before.

“I bought you a pair of sweatpants, but I want the wound to get oxygen, so you get this clean sheet for now.” She shook out one of the motel sheets and covered his nakedness. “You need sleep. I thought we’d take another room.”

Mia squeezed his head to her breast. “I’m not leaving him.”

Gloria gathered up the gauze soaked with his blood. “He needs rest.”

“Then we’ll sleep.” She slid down next to him on his undamaged side and slung her leg around his thigh.

Gloria sighed. “Whatever.” She walked to the phone on the bedside table. “What rooms do you have available closest to thirty-six?” She stared at Mia with tolerance. “I’ll take it. I have cash, and I’m walking your way.” She placed the receiver back in the cradle.

A knock at the door had all of their heads turning.

“That’d be dinner,” Gloria said. She grabbed a takeout sack through the door and handed it to Mia. Then they both stared down at Augie in the bed.

“What happened?” Gloria said.

Augie swallowed thickly, “Mafia ring was hunting him. There was a hit on his head.”

Gloria’s worried face turned toward Mia. “No one can ever know we were here. Every move from here on out must be thought out. Whatever you do,” she turned to face Augie, “use cash and don’t use the telephone or computer.” He nodded.

She checked Augie again, grabbed a syringe, and then pumped the contents into Augie’s gut. “Penicillin. Call room-to-room if you need me. I’m in thirty-eight.”

Mia sat Augie up as high as possible without hurting him and plumped the pillows behind his back. She opened Styrofoam containers of soup, salad, and sandwiches. She dressed the salad and cut it into bite-sized pieces easy for him to eat.

“I hope that salad is for you.”

“It’s for you.” She placed the container in his lap and he just as quickly moved it to the empty side of the bed.

Hands on her hips, she glowered at him.

“I don’t eat salad.”

She leaned across his body and retrieved the container. “You’ll eat it today.”

“You have plans to make me?”

“Oh yes. You need to get your hemoglobin going. Leafy greens seem like a good way to do that.”

She forked a bite and lifted it to his mouth. “Please eat it.” He rolled his eyes, but took the fork in his hand and started on the salad.

About to cut his sandwich in half, she stopped when he said, “I’m not an invalid. I don’t need you cutting up my sandwich like I’m a fucking child.”

She set the plasticware down and placed the sandwich tray in his lap.

“And you can go stay with Gloria. I don’t need you here.”

Her eyes narrowed. She left him to it and went to sit at the table to eat the meal Gloria had included for her. Frosty orange juice came with her meal. She’d put his just out of his reach on the nightstand. Ignorant man was too macho to accept help, so she’d teach him a lesson.

She arranged her three-course meal in an inviting fashion on the table. She turned on the radio and started on her food. “Mmm, chicken noodle, my favorite.”

Leaning back in the chair, she watched Augie struggle with his meal. When he lifted the sandwich to his mouth, a big fat blob of mayonnaise-covered tomato plopped onto his chest.

“Goddammit.” He held his arms out, looking down at the tomato as if he expected it to jump up and waltz off.

Sighing, Mia set her soup down and walked back to him. She moved the containers from his lap along with the tomato. She wiped his chest with a wet rag, and then she cut his sandwich in two.

She held the sandwich out to him. “Will you take the lettuce off?”

She shook her head. “You need the vegetables.”

He reluctantly took the sandwich.

“Would you like some juice?”

He grunted. She took that as a yes and poured some into a plastic cup.

“Here.”

His eyes narrowed at her as he took the cup.

“Accepting help doesn’t make you weak.
Not
accepting it, however, makes you foolish.”

He grunted and growled some more, and Mia bit her lip to hide a smile.

“This is all I have to give you in exchange for what you’ve done for me and my sister. If you take this away from me I have nothing, so please accept my help without being an asshole.”

She moved her food over to the bed, and they ate together in silence.

When they were done, she cleared the trash and adjusted his position for the night. She slid her jeans off and eased into the bed. He cleared his throat and she snuggled up next to him.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Sleeping.”

“Why don’t you sleep next door?”

“Shut up, Augie. And didn’t I ask you to stop hurting my feelings? It won’t do any good anyway, because I’m not going anywhere.”

“Fine, but you should know I take up most of the bed.”

His leg slid across the bed with purpose and his heel hit her shin just right, causing excruciating pain to radiate through her. She shuddered and winced and when she caught her breath, she sat up and grabbed at her leg. She lightly rubbed out the pain. The heat at the bite was stronger, and the skin around her shin felt tight. Exhaling noisily, she grabbed a pillow and walked over to the recliner. She set up for the night and found a position that should be comfortable for a few hours.

“You don’t have to sleep in the chair. Come back to bed.”

“I’ll be fine here.”

“I don’t know why you left the bed. I was just playing.”

“I said it’s fine.” But it wasn’t. Her leg really throbbed. But Augie was the patient, not her.

“You’re so stubborn. Just come back to bed.”

She was stubborn
? That was rich.

“I was playing around. If I’d known you couldn’t take it, I wouldn’t have.”

“I can take it, Augie. It’s just that your heel hit my sore leg.”

“Oh, sorry. I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”

“I know.”

“Will you please come back?”

“I wouldn’t want to disturb you.”

“You won’t.”

He wasn’t able to move much, so she snuggled alongside him, her back against his side. His arm cradled her head.

“Augie, I love you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She smiled.

*

“No. Don’t hurt her.”

Augie’s body tensed as he inhaled quickly through his teeth, then he cried out. Mia didn’t know if it was from pain or his nightmare.

“Please, don’t do this. You don’t need to do this.”

“Augie.” She reached behind her and turned on the lamp at the bedside table. His face distorted with ghosted memories and his brow beaded with sweat. “Augie, it’s okay.”

He yelled something unintelligible, but she thought it was Mideastern. She grabbed the damp washcloth from the bedside table and wiped his face. His eyes popped open and went wide.

“Augie.” She gently wiped down each side of his face as she cradled it with her free hand, careful to avoid his wounds. “You were having a nightmare.” She dabbed at each brow. “I think you were speaking a foreign language.”

“Farsi.”

“I didn’t know you were multilingual.” She wanted to calm him so he didn’t tense up and stretch his stitches. “Do you speak any other languages?”