The pain in my stomach was blinding me. I was exhausted. I couldn’t stand anymore; my legs wouldn’t support my weight. I could barely breathe through the pain and the grief of seeing Ashton die. I slumped to the floor. Death was coming too slowly; I wanted it over with already. I knew just how to make Carter angry enough to end me quickly.
“That agent that everyone thinks was just undercover and an act, well, he wasn’t. I love him. I’ll always love him. You should just kill me now because I’ll never stop fighting you, I’ll never give in. I’ll never conform. I’ll never feel anything for you but hatred!” I spat.
“You ungrateful little bitch! Mark kept trying to tell me that it didn’t look like a cover, but I refused to believe it,” he growled. He stepped forward and I saw the resigned expression wash over his face as he finally realised that I would never be what he wanted me to be, we would never have what he wanted us to have.
“I hate you, you piece of shit!” I shouted, sneering at him. “Just kill me already!”
His eyes flashed with menace at my disrespect and he staggered forward, his lips pressed into a thin line as he twirled the knife in his hand. I fought a smile, knowing that death was coming for me now. For the last six and a half months that I’d known Ashton, I’d learned to live again. For those six and a half months, I didn’t want to die. But he was gone now, and so was my reason for being.
I closed my eyes and thought of Ashton. His eyes, and the way his hair felt when I ran my fingers through it. I thought of the way he held me at night, his laugh, his smile, and the amused way he would look at me when I was behaving like a bitch to him. I remembered the way he kissed me, his taste, the way his smell made me feel, and how his voice sounded when he said he loved me. I smiled at the thoughts, and was thankful that the nightmare that I called a life was finally over.
A loud bang erupted out of nowhere. A gunshot, then another, and another, and another.
I waited for the pain, but it never came. My eyes fluttered open, seeing Carter’s wide eyes. He coughed and blood gurgled out of his mouth. He slumped down onto his knees in front of me, and another shot filled the room. My breath caught in my throat as he fell, face first onto the floor, with a heavy thump.
He’s dead? But he can’t be dead; he was going to kill me! I looked up to see Ashton leaning against the wall, holding a gun out in front of him. His face was murderously angry. He was covered in blood and dirt, his T-shirt was ripped, and his body slightly hunched on one side as if he was nursing it. He looked like a hot freaking badass.
I couldn’t speak. Confusion made my brain fuzzy. He was dead. I heard the shot. I saw him fall. He definitely died.
He pushed off the wall, leaving a trail of blood smeared there and limped over to me, practically falling down to my side. He looked like hell. His face was broken and swollen, there was blood everywhere and his white T-shirt was now almost entirely red, from where it was soaked with blood. His hands were swollen and grazed and he could barely breathe, but he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life.
My heart took off in overdrive. He’s alive? He didn’t die? Or am I dead too? Maybe this is heaven…
“You okay, Baby Girl?” he asked, taking my face in his battered hands.
“I… I… You… Ashton, you died. I heard it. You got shot, I saw you,” I choked out.
“I’m okay, I promise. What about you?” he asked, touching my stomach worriedly.
I winced, gritting my teeth against the pain. He moved forward and wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly. I wrapped my tired arms around him, noticing how he flinched as I touched him.
“Are you okay, Ashton?” I asked, touching his blood-soaked shirt. I pushed him away and moved the soggy, wet material away from his bicep, making him suck in a breath through the pain. I gagged as I saw the bullet wound on his upper arm, just before it met his shoulder. Blood was trickling out of it, running down his arm and dripping slowly from his fingers. I squirmed on the spot, thinking how painful it must be to have been shot. “Ashton, shit! We need to get you some help!” I cried, trying to get up. Pain coursed through my stomach and I screamed and slumped back to the floor in agony. It was so bad that I leant over and threw up again.
“Shh, stay still, Baby Girl. I’m okay, I promise. The bullet went straight through, no permanent damage done. I’ll be fine,” he assured me, kissing my forehead. “Don’t move,” he ordered, crawling over to Carter and searching through his pockets for something. He pulled back after a few seconds with a cell phone.
“This is Agent Taylor. I have the jewel. She’s hurt, you need to send an ambulance, now! 4232 Western Ambrose. No, the threat has been neutralised. No, he’s dead. They’re all dead. Just get the medics here now!” he ordered.
They’re all dead? How can they all be dead? I glanced over and saw five bodies on the floor in the room. Carter, Mark, the guy called Richard, Jimmy and the other guy that I didn’t really know. Ashton had killed all three of them while I was fighting Carter? He got shot and still managed to kill three people? I smiled weakly because he was so skilled at his job. The pain in my lower body was starting to fade now, and I was grateful for that. The cold, hard floor made my teeth chatter, and my eyelids were getting heavier and heavier by the second. I decided just to sleep for a little while, just until the medics came, then that way I’d be able to stay with Ashton at the hospital when he had to stay there for his treatment.
“No Anna! Stay awake. I need you to talk to me,” Ashton gasped, shaking my head.
“I’m tired,” I whined, not opening my eyes.
“No! You need to stay awake, Anna. It’s extremely important. Can you do that for me, Baby Girl? Can you stay awake for me?” he asked desperately.
I nodded. Of course I could. “I’d do anything for you, Ashton,” I promised, forcing my eyes open to look at his broken face.
He smiled weakly. “I know you would, Baby Girl, I know.” His arms slid under me, pulling me into his lap as he groaned in pain from his injuries. I hissed through my teeth as the pain doubled in my stomach and back. I forced my arms up around his neck so I could hug him back, but they were so damn heavy. “Stay awake, Anna,” he rasped in my ear.
“You’re so damn sexy, Ashton.” I smiled weakly; even his painful voice was a turn-on.
He laughed at that statement. “So are you, Anna, so are you.” He kissed my lips lightly. I moaned when I felt his soft lips on mine; I’d missed his kisses and his affection so much in the last seven weeks. I kissed him back with as much force as I could manage. He felt like home, like a safe, warm home, and I loved him so much.
When I opened my eyes from the kiss, it was so bright that I had to squint. I looked around, wanting to turn the light off, but I realised we were outside. I looked back at him as he sat down on the steps outside the building, resting his head against the wall, holding me tightly on his lap. He looked like he was in excruciating pain, his face deathly pale.
“How did we get outside?” I breathed, barely more than a whisper.
He smiled weakly, rubbing his hands over my face tenderly. “I carried you, Baby Girl. We just need to wait for the medics; it won’t be long now. Just stay awake for me, okay?” he whispered, kissing my lips again. I was so tired that it was almost impossible to keep my eyes open, but I just couldn’t look away from his face. I could barely respond to his kiss, even though I felt like it would kill me not to.
I pulled my mouth away from his, making him whimper, but I needed to tell him something, I needed to say it, he needed to know. “I love you, Ashton.”
He grinned, his pained eyes shining with excitement and love. “I love you too, Anna.” He pressed his lips to mine again in one of the sweetest, most tender kisses that I had ever felt in my life. With that one kiss, he showed me exactly how much he loved me, how much he cared for me and how much he had missed me. That one kiss was so special that it actually brought tears to my eyes because it was so beautiful.
I heard sirens
in the distance, but all I could think of was the fact that everything was over and that we could be together. His kiss took away the pain in my lower abdomen.
“Agent Taylor, I need to take her,” I heard someone say.
I squeezed my arms tighter around his neck. “No, I want to stay with you, please?” I begged, burying my face into his neck.
“It’s okay, Baby Girl, I’ll come with you. I won’t ever leave you again, I promise. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” He kissed my forehead and loosened my death grip that I had on his neck; he probably didn’t even realise I was using all of my strength.
“Has she been shot?” I heard the same guy ask.
“No, stabbed. There’s just so much blood and she says she’s tired,” Ashton answered, sounding incredibly worried.
I was moved onto a bed and the guy was looking at me, shining something into my eyes. “I’m fine,” I assured him. “Help him, please, he was shot, please help him,” I begged, trying to push his arms off me so he would help Ashton. The silly boy was worried more about me when he was the one that was shot; it was ridiculous.
The medic nodded. “We’ll help him, ma’am, but right now I need to look at you.”
I was vaguely aware of moving. I had a feeling I was in an ambulance. I could hear someone talking to Ashton, so I focussed on what he was saying. Was he finally getting treatment?
“I need to assess your injuries.”
“I’m fine, honestly, I’ll get checked out at the hospital,” Ashton answered dismissively. I groaned and tried to sit up to tell him to just get looked at, but the medic pushed me back down again.
Another voice joined the conversation now too. “Agent Taylor, what happened?”
“There’re twelve dead inside. Seven on the lower floors and five in a room on the top floor, on the east side I think, I lost my bearings a little. Carter Thomas is dead,” Ashton growled, his voice sounded extremely exasperated, like he didn’t want to be having this conversation right now.
Twelve dead? He’d killed twelve guys? Wow, my man is seriously good at his job!
“You went in without backup?” the guy asked, sounding shocked.
I turned my head, looking towards the back of the ambulance, trying to see Ashton. I just wanted to keep my eyes on him; I didn’t want him too far away from me yet. I winced as an IV was inserted into my skin.
Ashton was frowning at a guy in a secret service suit, his eyes angry and annoyed. “Yes. Look, I need to go with her to the hospital with her. I’ll answer anything you want there,” Ashton snapped in reply. I heard him groan as he climbed into the ambulance behind me. I smiled weakly and closed my eyes. I could sleep now the ambulance was here, just for a couple of minutes. “No, Anna!” Ashton cried, grabbing my hand and squeezing it tightly.
I turned my head to look at him and smiled. He was just so perfect. “You know, even looking like you do now, you’re still the hottest damn guy in the world,” I mumbled.
He laughed quietly. “Thanks, Baby Girl, and you’re still the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life, but you need to stay awake for me. Talk to me, help me keep my mind off my pain,” he replied. I saw him look up at the medic; I flicked my eyes to him just in time to see him shake his head. Ashton’s face fell and he dropped to his knees by the side of my head. “Please, Baby Girl, don’t leave me. Don’t you dare fall asleep, I need you,” he croaked. Tears were falling down his face, washing some of the blood away.
“Don’t cry, Pretty Boy, you’re supposed to be a tough guy,” I teased.
“Right, a tough guy, I forgot.” He smiled, but it showed no happiness, only pain and worry. “Anna, please, I love you, I need you. Please be okay,” he begged, kissing my forehead and smoothing my hair away from my face. I could feel tingles everywhere he touched, and my heart started to speed.
“I’ll be alright, Ashton. Don’t keep worrying about me. Ask him to look at you, you’re hurt more than I am, tell him you got shot,” I mumbled. Why isn’t the silly boy getting any treatment?
He just smiled his heart-stopping smile at me. “Will you marry me, Anna?” he asked, looking into my eyes.
I looked up at him, shocked. Happiness made my heart start to race in my chest, which was pretty embarrassing with the monitor that I was attached to. I looked into his pleading eyes and smiled. I could see my whole future there, everything I wanted. Me and him – together forever. Maybe we’d have the little girl from that dream that I’d once had. Carter was dead so I was free now, I could marry Ashton. I wanted to be his wife more than anything in the world.
“I guess you’re not too pretty for me now, huh?” I joked, raising my hand and wiping his blood and tears from his face, leaving a clean patch on his cheek.
He laughed and grinned. “I guess I’m not,” he whispered, kissing my forehead lovingly.
I smiled happily. “Then I guess I can marry you,” I agreed, gripping my hand into his hair and pulling him down for a kiss. I closed my eyes and kissed him with everything that I had, but when I tried to open my eyes again, I couldn’t – they were just too heavy. I heard him shouting for me, screaming my name, panicked. I tried my hardest to answer, but I just needed to sleep now. I’d talk to him later. I felt my body relax as I finally gave into the blackness that I just couldn’t fight anymore.
Chapter Twenty-Two
~ Ashton ~
Panic. I didn’t know what to do. The long, incessant beep of the heart monitor made my blood run cold. “Anna?” A sob rose in my throat. Her face was so still, her eyes closed. Her hand fell back to the bed with a soft thump. “Anna!” I cried, shaking her desperately. I jumped up and grabbed the medic roughly. “Do something! Don’t just fucking stand there!” I screamed at him, shoving him towards her. I stepped back to give him room as my world crashed down around me. I gripped hold of my hair as he started trying to resuscitate her.
She’d lost too much blood; she was going to die. I was going to lose her, the love of my life, my perfect angel. I was losing her, and there was nothing I could do about it. The shrill, unbroken tone from the heart monitor was incredibly loud in the small space; the sound of it literally driving me insane as I just stood there barely able to breathe. She was killing me. She was literally ripping my heart out. This must be what it felt like to die.
The medic looked up at me with hopeless eyes as if trying to tell me that what he was doing was going to make no difference. I shook my head. I refused to allow him to give up. “You get her back or, so help me, I will throw you out of this fucking ambulance while it’s still moving!” I growled angrily.
The medic jumped a little at my words and turned back to her, working her chest and squeezing air into her lungs. I watched with wide eyes, not knowing what to do, what to say or what to feel. I watched her face, willing her to take a breath, willing her heart not to give up on her, willing her to come back to me. I was more scared than I had ever been in my life.
After what felt like the longest time of my life, the medic moved back, looking a little shocked. “She has a pulse,” he said breathlessly. They were the four most beautiful words in the English language. “It’s weak, but it’s there,” he said, shaking his head. He looked a little scared of me, but I didn’t care about that.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I chanted over and over as we pulled into the hospital. As doctors ran out of the doors to meet us, I hung back, trying not to get in their way as I followed wearily behind them. All of my energy was gone. Now that the adrenaline from the fight was gone, I could finally feel the pain. It was burning through my chest and shoulder and my arm felt like it was made of concrete. Bolts of pain shot through my whole body every time I moved. One of the agents had followed behind the ambulance, so he slung my arm around his shoulder, helping me walk in, which I was grateful for. My legs felt like they would give out at any minute.
I followed her through the hallways but was told I wasn’t allowed in the treatment room with her, so I slumped into a chair o
utside. I put my head in my hands, praying with my mind, body and soul for her to be alright. If we could just get through this, I could make her my wife and take care of her forever. I’d make her the happiest girl in the world, she deserved that.
“Let’s go get you looked at,” the agent suggested, nodding down the hallway and the emergency check in desk.
I shook my head. “I’m not leaving her.”
“You’ll just be down the hall,” he encouraged, looking at me like I was stupid.
“Are you not fucking listening to me? I said I’m not leaving her!” I shouted, making him shrink back from the anger in my voice. He sat back down and didn’t speak again. The pain in my upper body was excruciating, but I just didn’t care, it didn’t matter, the pain was insignificant when compared to the pain that I felt in my heart.
After about ten or fifteen minutes, I heard a commotion down the hallway. I looked up to see Anna’s mother and father almost running towards me, surrounded by six secret service agents. They both looked grim so obviously they’d heard. I stood respectfully as they got to me.
“Agent Taylor, what the hell happened?” President Spencer cried as he gripped my hand tightly.
I gulped. “I followed a lead that turned out to be right. Carter was there, he stabbed her and she got banged up pretty badly. She’s losing too much blood, I don’t know if they can stop it,” I rambled, all my words slurring into one where I spoke too quickly. My heart was breaking as I said the words out loud.
“Where is she now?”
“Treatment room. They’ve been in there for ten minutes working on her.” I eyed the heavy-looking wooden door, watching for signs of news, but there was nothing.
“I was told Carter was killed, is that correct?” President Spencer inquired.