Rush of Redemption (Rush Series #2) (25 page)

With gunshots being traded
back and forth between the men from the truck and Alex and his crew, Rush
stepped forward to intercept Trinity from 
Tiko
.
He was within five feet of 
Tiko
 and
the wheelchair, when suddenly 
Tiko’s
 head
seemed to explode. Blood and brain matter went flying in every direction just
as the shattered glass had flown a minute previously. Rush leaped the final
feet, landing on his knees in front of Trinity’s limp body. Wrapping his arms
around her middle, he flipped her forward until she was slung over his massive
shoulder. While remaining on his knees, he scurried behind a marble pillar in
the middle of the lobby.

When he sat down and pulled
Trinity against his body, the sound of sirens could be heard. Rush brushed his
trembling hands against her pale, still face, which was scorching hot. As he
pulled her into his fierce embrace, the sound of shouts and then the squealing
of the truck’s tires echoed throughout the hotel. Then there was extreme
silence until the sirens pulled into the hotel’s entrance.

In his earpiece, Alex said
calmly, but firmly, “Rush, move to the rear of the hotel and load Trinity into
the ambulance. Do it now.”

Gathering her up, Rush
stood and moved quickly and was out the back before the first policemen entered
the hotel’s lobby. Rush banged on the ambulance’s back door and the EMT
cautiously opened the door.

“Man, what the heck was
that?” the EMT asked as he stepped out to assist with Trinity.

“It doesn’t matter right now.
Help her. Help her now!” Rush demanded.

The EMT strapped Trinity
onto the backboard and ordered the ambulance to head toward the hospital. He
began checking her vitals and opened her eyelids, flashing a beam of light into
her pupils. He shook his head as he immediately began issuing orders to his
partner. His partner tried to insert an IV,
but her severe dehydration made the task nearly impossible.

Rush sat at her feet with
one hand wrapped around her ankle. He looked at her unresponsive face and fear settled
over him. He’d thought that getting her back was going to be the hard part. But
he’d been wrong. This was the hard part, waiting to see if she would survive.

Once the second EMT got the
IV in her arm, he moved to the front seat to call the hospital.

Rush slid up next to her
head and began whispering into her ear. “Oh, baby, just hang on. Please hang
on. Me and Blake need you so much… we love you so much. Please, baby.”

Her hand lay limply within
his. He kissed her face over and over as he continued to speak soothingly to
her, willing her to live… for all their sakes.

Chapter Sixteen

Rush sat alone in the waiting room of the emergency room. He was
leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, and his face buried in his hands.
The waiting was agonizing. They’d immediately taken her back, pumping
antibiotics into her as quickly as they could. He’d supplied all the
information he could to the medical staff and filled out as much of the
necessary forms as he could. Now, all he could picture was how her limp hand
had fallen from his grasp. 

“How is she?” Alex asked as
he walked into the waiting area.

“I don’t know. Not good,”
Rush said tiredly. “How’d things work out at the hotel?”

Alex exhaled deeply. “We
were able to contain it. Nothing will be pointed at you. The police were told
by hotel staff it was a random gang-related killing. There were three dead, one
being 
Tiko
. There was extensive damage to the
hotel.”

“And his
daughter?”

“Devon is taking her back
now. She is shaken, but that’s to be expected,” Alex said without inflection.

“Thanks, Alex.”

Alex gave a brief nod of
acknowledgement. “I need to take care of some… personal business before I head
back to Savannah. I’ll probably be gone a couple weeks. I’ll leave Jorge and
Nathan with you. If you have any problems, just call.”

Rush nodded. “Okay.”

Alex sat back and closed
his eyes as they waited to hear news about Trinity.

Rush fidgeted as the
pressure of not knowing became almost too much. Needing to think of other
things he said, “I want to set up a trust for Angelina Mars.”

Without opening his eyes,
Alex replied, “I’ll set it up before I leave Mexico.”

Rush stood abruptly when a
doctor entered the waiting room.

“Are you the family of
Trinity Grace?” the doctor asked.

Rush nodded before asking
anxiously, “How is she?”

The doctor’s lips pursed.
“She’ll make it, but she is one sick woman. She has so much infection in her
body and we are doing everything we can to combat it. She has abscesses in both
breasts from being engorged, due to lack of breastfeeding or expressing. This
was the initial cause of the infection. She has double pneumonia and is
severely dehydrated and undernourished. We’re taking her up to surgery now to
relieve the abscesses. She’ll recover, but it’ll probably take a month or two
for her to recuperate fully. I’ll be back down once the surgery is done and she
is moved to recovery.”

“Thanks, Doctor,” Rush said
as he blew a breath passed his lips. Sitting down heavily, Rush rubbed a hand
over his face. 
“God, what a mess.”

“She is one stubborn
woman,” Alex said mirthfully.

“That she is,” Rush agreed.

~*~

Swirls of sensations flitted their way past Trinity’s
consciousness as she became aware of several different things all at once.
She’d finally gotten rid of the bone-deep coldness she’d had for what seemed
like days. She could hear sounds around her, but couldn’t quite place what they
were. There were smells around her, that while familiar, she couldn’t quite
place either. There was a weight over her middle, which, while she was aware of
it, was comforting. Her body was so languid, she was practically boneless. She
wanted to open her eyes but her eyelids were so heavy, she just couldn’t.
Slowly, unable to hold onto consciousness, she drifted back to sleep.

Slowly, memories began to
make their way through her drug-fogged mind. Flashes of being naked and chained
like a dog; flashes of lying on the hard, cold cement floor; and flashes
of 
Tiko
 Mars’s white head caused her to
flinch, whimper, and try to curl up, but the weight over her middle stopped
her. Through the curtain of her consciousness, she felt a soft brush against
her face and the soothing tones of a deep voice. She turned her head towards
the comforting touch and inhaled deeply. Slowly, the words of the deep voice
began to penetrate the thick veil between her and reality.

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re
safe. I’m here,” the voice said.

Once again she felt the
soft brush against her face. With extreme effort, she forced her eyes open, and
once she could focus, stared into Rush Drayton’s stunning face. Tears sprang
into her eyes and slid down her cheeks.

“Hey, baby,” he whispered
raggedly.

With as much effort as she
could muster, she whispered, “Blake?”

Rush smiled down at her,
his throat working hard as he swallowed, “He’s fine. He’s at the hotel with
Anna. When you’re better, I’ll bring him, okay?”

Her lips wobbled and the
tears began again. “I’m sorry.”

Rush brushed the hair from
her face and pressed his lips against her forehead. “
It’s
 okay,
it’s okay. 
Shhh
,” he whispered against her hair
as she cried.

Once she’d calmed down, she
licked her lips. “Thirsty,” she croaked.

Rush turned to the table
over her bed and poured water into a cup with a straw. He placed the straw
between her lips and she sucked weakly. When she pulled away, Rush set the cup
back on the table.

“How are you feeling?” he
asked, as he pulled one of her hands to his lips.

“Tired,” she mumbled.

“Sleep, baby,” he said
softly.

When he moved to drop her
hand, she clutched at him weakly. “Don’t leave,” she rasped.

“I’m not going anywhere, I
promise,” he said.

She gave a slight nod and
drifted back off to sleep.

It was dark the next time Trinity opened her eyes, the only
illumination being the light which filtered through the curtain from an outside
light. Across from her, in a chair, with a blanket thrown over his torso was
Rush. His eyes were closed and his breathing was deep and even. She stared at
the dark circles under his eyes and the new lines of strain etched into his
gorgeous face. She’d done that to him. She tried to stifle a sob, which only
aggravated her chest causing her to cough raggedly, then moaned at
the pain it caused.

She turned away from Rush
to keep from waking him as she tried to control her cough. But she felt his
hand on her shoulder and his lips against her head anyway.

“You okay?” he asked
softly.

When she was able, she
nodded. With her back to him, she felt him slip in behind her and wrap his arm
around her middle, surrounding her with his strength and warmth.

“What happened?” she rasped
into the darkness, not sure if she really wanted to know.

“We’ll talk about it later.
Try to get some rest, okay?” he whispered against her ear.

Wanting to know, but wanting
him to sleep, she nodded. In just a matter of minutes, she felt his chest
moving steadily behind her. She stared into the darkness as she thought of all
she could remember. She didn’t even know why he was here. He surely must hate
her now for the danger she’d put Blake in… and for no reason. He’d tried to
tell her they would be targets – had supplied Alex to keep them safe, and she’d
thrown aside his concern, determined to have her way… to disastrous ends.
Silent tears slid down her face. If they would have gotten Blake, she didn’t
know what she would have done. Her poor baby boy… and poor Rush. The horror
he’d had to endure because of her. She’d hurt him over and over. How much
longer would he be willing to chase after her when she kept throwing his trust
back in his face? He’d tried so hard to make her feel loved and secure and she
refused to believe in it… 
believe
 in him.

And poor
Blake.
 What kind of mother was she to put him in
so much danger? If she’d only trusted Rush more she’d have asked him about the
package. She
should have
 asked him. But she knew if she had and he
denied it, she wouldn’t have believed him. She knew once things died down and
he had a chance to really think things through, he wouldn’t want her and
definitely wouldn’t want her around his son. Pain stabbed at her heart. It
wasn’t less than she deserved, but the thought that he might take their son
from her filled her with horror. He probably would never trust her with Blake
again. She told herself that if Rush would give her the chance, she’d gladly
take an army of security about her to keep Blake safe.

~*~

Trinity woke up alone in the hospital bed. She attempted to
stretch but every muscle she had ached. Her chest was sore and her lungs were
on fire. She rolled carefully onto her back to find Alex Masters sitting in the
chair Rush had been in last night. He was drinking a cup of coffee and reading
a newspaper. He glanced at her idly when he felt her stare.

“Good morning,” he said.

Trinity glanced away
ashamed. “Alex… I…” she began.

“You are one troublesome
woman. You know that?” he said with a grin.

“You’re not mad?” she
asked.

“Frustrated,
yes.
 Mad, no,” he replied.

“I didn’t think you would
have let me go without calling Rush,” she said.

“You would be right about
that. Imagine the logic,” Alex said sarcastically.

“I know. I’m sorry, Alex.”

“Just don’t do it again,”
he said softly.

“I won’t. I promise.” Alex
gave her a nod of his head and turned back to his paper. “Where’s Rush?” she
asked.

“Went to
take a shower and change.
 As you
can imagine, it’s been a long few days.”

Trinity nodded and shame
made her stomach muscles hurt. “What happened? How did you get me back
from 
Tiko
?” she asked.

“Rush will be back. Let’s
let him tell you. It’s his story to tell,” Alex said, turning the page of his
paper.

“Do you know where 
Tiko
 is?” she asked fearfully.

“
Tiko
 can’t
get to you. Don’t worry,” Alex promised.

“I don’t worry about
myself. I’m worried about Blake.”

“He can’t get to Blake
either,” Alex promised.

Trinity laid back and
closed her eyes.

The next time she opened
her eyes, Alex was gone. A tingle of fear floated up her spine. A sound at the
door had her turning her head sharply. Rush stood just inside the door jiggling
Blake in his arms. Trinity laid still and watched Rush as he held their son in
his hands. Blake looked so much like his father… heaven help them.