I have ever since he kidnapped me.
Maybe I should keep trusting him now.
I take a deep breath and make a snap decision. It might not be the right thing to do, but I keep following Dominic’s directions.
I can make a better choice at the safe house. I’ll have more time to think then.
“Shit, I guess I’m going to have to be the one to care for him then.”
Much as I’d rather him be treated in a hospital, that can’t happen. Thank God I know what I’m doing. I know how to treat gunshot wounds… I’ve been doing that at the clinic forever. But Iamgoing to need supplies.
I don’t want to stop. I don’t want to give those guys a chance to catch up to me, but I need to.
If I don’t, Dominic might die anyway and all of this will have been for nothing.
“40. 650002N latitude and -73. 949997W,” I mutter to myself. “897111098.”
I can’t forget either of those things. Even if I’m using the GPS to get to where I need to be, I still want to have the coordinates in my head. Just in case.
I don’t even care if I look like a crazy person, I keep reciting those numbers to myself even as I pull up at a gas station to fill up the car.
The words keep rolling around in my mouth. I’m not going to stop saying them. Luckily there aren’t many people around at this time to see me muttering to myself.
Honestly, it’s harder than it should be to keep everything in my mind while I’m also searching for the right medical equipment to help out Dominic. The heavy weight of the ankle monitor is a distant worry. I barely feel it in my rush to get what I need. Dominic cannot die. I won’t let that happen.
I don’t think I’m going to be able to geteverythingthat I need in here, but I can’t exactly go to a hospital, can I? I don’t even know where any pharmacies are around here.
This will have to do.
My heart is freaking thundering against my rib cage.
I might be losing my damn mind here.
Wait.
In the midst of everything, I spot something that halts me in my tracks.
Something I haven’t even thought of until now.
A pregnancy test.
Shit.
I haven’t had a period the whole time I’ve been with Dominic now. It’s been nearly three months now and I’m fairly regular.
I haven’t needed a single tampon the whole time I have been there.
There’s no way I can be…
Can I?
I mean, we’ve been sleeping together, obviously. And I don’t think we’ve used protection the whole time. I don’t really think about that kind of thing when I’m in the heat of the moment.
But now…
Well, now I can’t think of anything else.
My pulse is pounding.
What if Iampregnant?
WithDominic’s baby?
Shit, that can’t be happening.
In the midst of my panic, I grab one of the tests.
In fact, I grab a few.
I just need to put the possibility out of my mind, that’s all.
It’s notreallygoing to be positive, I just need to be sure.
“Hey, you find everything you wanted?” the gas station attendant asks me with a dead look in his eyes.
He definitely isn’t making a point.
“Err, yeah, thank you. I just want to…”
I tap my foot anxiously while he takes his time ringing everything up. I could scream, but I really just think he’s not the fastest mover.
He doesn’t know that I have a man bleeding out in my car.
He doesn’t know that I might be freaking pregnant.
Although he’s just rung up a bunch of tests, so I guess he has an idea.
He finally gets to the end of my shopping. Thank God! I pay him with cash I had from when Dominic took me and head back out at the speed of light.
Dominic’s still passed out. He doesn’t look good. Very freaking pale.
I need to get him to his destination, wherever it might be, as soon as possible.
A gated community?
Really?
This is where the location brings us?
I mean, the gate code works, 897111098, and I’m at a front door now, but this seems crazy.
Completely different to the cabin in the freaking woods, in the middle of nowhere.
I don’t know if this feels right, but where else am I going to go?
It’s dark and late, and I really need to get Dominic inside so I can take a look at him. He’s started to make some really strange noises now and it’s stressing me out.
“Key,” I mutter to myself. “Where the hell is the key?”
Dominic wouldn’t be dumb enough to put it under a rock or something. He’s smart and switched on. Often three steps ahead of everyone else…
Well, aside from the Irish who attacked us.
A shudder of pain tears down my spine.
I don’t ever want to think about that again.
I take a walk around the building, impressed with how massive it is. This is like a millionaire mansion, the sort of place where I can imagine the rich and famous live.
How does Dominic afford all of this?
This crazy, dangerous lifestyle he lives must pay well.
Eventually, I see a little rose carved into one of the fence panels. It’s similar to one of the pictures I remember Justine drawing in the corner of one of her letters.
Was she artsy?
I run my finger over the rose, my heart aching once more for the love that never was allowed to be. It’s really a shame that things exploded the way they did.
I move lower and I find a drain type grate.
I don’t know if this is right, but I push on it anyway.
“Oh thank God.”
The key, there it is! I can get to work.
It’s even more of a relief when the door swings open. I barely have a chance to take a look around. I need to get Dominic inside. Now.
“Dominic.” I bang on the car window by him. “Come on, I need you to wake up now.”
He gives me a bit of a look, but he’s not with it. Dizzy, too, by the looks of it.
I think I might be on my own here.
I pull the door open and try to take his weight. He’s easily twice the size of me, and weighs a ton, but what else can I do?
There’s a little bit of consciousness there, but it isn’t enough.
“Come on, Dominic, let me just put you here on the couch. I need to look at your injuries.”
He slumps.
I hate seeing him like this.
It’s too much.
I swallow all my emotions down and do what I can to get into professional mode. I have been a nurse and I’ve even worked on Dominic before, but this feels different.
Can I handle it?
I have to handle it, or he might not make it.
I gather the supplies I got from the gas station and do what I can to clean up his wounds and to make sure they won’t get infected or worse. I take the needle and thread and make a fewstitches that I hope will hold for the time being. The shot was a through and through.
Dominic groans.
“I know, I know… just a few more. Stay with me.”
I just need him to get through this. That’s the most important thing to me…
I finish the stitches, wipe away the blood and put on a bandage. I step back, finally taking in a deep breath. Have I done enough? Dominic needs a hospital.
Wait, is that…?
My eyes find a phone… one that has just slid out of Dominic’s pocket.
The first cell phone I have seen in a very long time.
I could use that phone. I could call my father, find out if he’s still in Ireland or if he’s come here looking for me yet.
I’m sure he’s in America, but I would love to be certain, just to know that I’m not alone.
“No.”
Was that Dominic?
He seems to be flickering in and out of consciousness, and at some point, he spotted my eager fingers kinda edging towards the phone.
Even I didn’t realize that I was doing that.
“Not yet. Don’t call him yet.”
I swallow hard. “I just want to make sure my father is in the country.”
“He is,” he murmurs, but Dominic’s eyes have started lolling to the back of his head. I’m losing him once more. “But you can’t get him. Not yet. You’re in danger.”
I roll my eyes. “I know that, but I think that’s why we need him…”
Oh!
I guess I’m not getting an answer right now because Dominic has gone again.
I suppose for the second time today, I’m going to have to put my blind faith into him and to just hope that it doesn’t blow up in my face.
But if my father in the country, then I think it’s time we reach out to him for help.
We need him more than ever.
I Need him now more than ever.
Otherwise neither of us are going to survive this.