Nothing Left to Lose (92 page)

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.

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 outside. 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.