Page 47 of Knuckles

“I-I can’t lose you,” I choke, and he grips my cheek harder, lifting my head so we lock eyes.

“And I can’t fucking lose you,” he rasps, and my tears fall.

“We need to get you help,” I croak, the pain in my stomach worsening.

“Knuckles!” I hear shouted as things blur, and he calls, “In here!” and I squeeze his arm tighter, struggling to catch my breath,

“I-I can’t breathe,” I choke, and Liam looks at me sharply, his eyes looking over all the blood, and I cough again, and his eyes widen.

“Fuck,” he curses, then shouts,“Trick!” with panic, his hand gripping me tighter.

“We-we need to get your wound fixed, t-the bull-bullet m-may still be inside y-you,” I stutter, and he snaps, “Fuck my wound!”

I shake my head as we lock eyes, his extremely blurry and I choke, “I-I love you, L-Liam,” his grip tightens as I admit, “If you die, I die,” before excruciating pain hits my lower stomach and I cough as my knees give out, the pain too much to handle, worse than I’ve experienced since being taken and I fall onto my side.

“Fireball!” is the last thing I hear, along with shouting and banging, before everything goes black.

Chapter 19

Knuckles

Panic hits me as my girl drops to the floor with blood covering her, unconscious, and I scream, “Trick! Trick!” as I yank against the chain holding my left hand above my head.

My stomach hurts, I’m struggling to catch my breath, I can feel my heart pounding, I can feel my face clammy, but all I can focus on is my girl. My stupid, brave girl who just did everything to stop that fucker from shooting me again.

Her wrists are bleeding badly, she’s coughed up blood, indicating he probably cracked her rib that may have nicked her lung, and fuck, blood pours from between her legs that ratchets up my fear.

“Knuckles?!” I hear my dad shout as footsteps echo, and my brothers, including the non-officer brothers, all rush in but freeze at the scene before them.

I yank harder when I notice my girl's chestnotmoving, and I roar out in terror, causing the brothers to snap out of their shocked states.

Trick comes my way first, but I shake my head and snap, “Get to Kodi now!”

“You’ve been shot!” he unhelpfully reminds me, and I roar, “She’s not fucking breathing!” causing him to look her way sharply just as Marshalls and Benny run into the room, their eyes wide.

“Shit!” Trick curses and rushes to my girl before gently moving her onto her back.

My dad runs over to me while the brothers stare at Kodi with pure shock. Trick quickly starts CPR, just as my dad yanks on the chains hard, and my breathing quickens when my brother, my best friend, gives mouth-to-mouth to my girl.

No, no, no, no…

“Fuck, come on, Kodi, don’t you dare give up!” Trick chokes just as I hear Benny rasp, “We need an ambulance, Officer Kodi Marshalls down, I repeat, Officer Kodi Marshalls down!”

My dad gets me free, and despite the pain in my stomach, the blood, despite probably having a bullet still inside me, no fuck that, I know I have one inside me, I quickly crawl over to Kodi as Trick does compressions.

“Come on, don’t leave me,” I choke as I cup her pale, lifeless face, “Please, baby, you said you can’t live without me, but I can’t fucking live without…”

“Brother, mouth-to-mouth,” Trick breathes as he steps back a moment, and I tilt my girl's chin, pinch her nose, and do as he asked, and blow air into my girl, one, two, times before Trick continues his compressions, pressing down hard, counting, “One, two, three, four…”

“Please, Kodi, please,” I hear Marshalls sob, and my tears fall as Trick looks down her body, his face stoic.

“She’s taken a fucking beating,” he states, the obvious, “but brother, the blood between her legs, did he?”

I shake my head as Cage presses something against my stomach and I grunt, “He wanted me to watch, but she got free before he could shoot me again, she-she tackled him, and he kicked her in the stomach.”

“Fuck,” Trick chokes before he tears my world down and confesses, “if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she’s just had a miscarriage…”

Everything tilts, the world blurs as he checks her pulse before he curses and continues compressions.