Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
The shooting had changed all that for good. There was no way to come back from all the damage that had been done. I wasn’t a guy worth waiting up for at night, and I doubted JJ would ever feel comfortable around me no matter the circumstances.
Upon reaching the kitchen door, I took a couple more deep breaths as if I needed to store them away for future use. The light was still on and, thankfully, the door wasn’t locked or barred. I could see through the window on the upper part of the door that the files were still on the table.
No JJ, though.
I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed. I supposed I’d wanted to at least see JJ digging into the files with enthusiasm. It would mean he was taking the situation seriously and not just coming to the same conclusion others had been feeding him for years.
It didn’t really matter, anyway. I knew I hadn’t killed anyone, but I’d already spent hours poring through the files and hadn’t found anything that would point to who’d actually committed the crime. I still didn’t know if I’d been framed or if JJ had been targeted for some unknown reason. My only hope was that JJ’s past as a cop and his natural ability to see problems where others couldn’t would pay off.
The second I stepped inside the kitchen, I knew something was off. I could feel it.
I opened my mouth to call out for JJ but froze when I heard my own name being spoken in the quietest of whispers.
“JJ!” I called when I saw him lying on the floor in front of the refrigerator. It took just seconds to reach him, but it felt like hours.
“JJ,” I repeated as I carefully ran my fingers along his temple. He was curled into a ball and little whimpers kept spilling from his throat.
“Talk to me, JJ,” I said, keeping my voice soft.
“Lights,” he choked out. I could hear the tears in that one simple word.
Tears of pain.
Deep, physical pain.
I jumped to my feet and slammed my hand down on the light switch, plummeting the kitchen into darkness. I had the sense to snatch a pack of frozen vegetables from the freezer before dropping down next to him. “Is it your head?” I asked, more to keep him talking than anything else.
I could feel the slightest nod against the hand I’d placed back on his forehead. He was hot to the touch.
Fuck, why hadn’t I considered the possibility that he could end up experiencing something like this? I’d told the truth when I’d said that the nearest road was miles away and it wasn’t an easy walk to get there. An ambulance probably wouldn’t make it up the steep, curving dirt road that led to the cabin.
“Damn it,” I snapped. “JJ, sweetheart, can you hold on until Sully gets here?”
I didn’t wait for him to respond. I needed to get to the safe and retrieve the special satellite phone that would have the reception to make the call.
“Don’t,” JJ croaked as weak fingers wrapped around my wrist. “Stay,” the young man sprawled before me on the cold kitchen floor breathed.
“Okay,” I said shakily. I lowered myself to a kneeling position. “I’ve got you,” I assured him as I wrapped my fingers around his. Although I knew I shouldn’t, I couldn’t resist the need to ease him into my lap so that his upper body was resting against mine. JJ whimpered several times but once I had him in my arms, he pressed his head against my shoulder. I wrapped both arms around him and held him as perfectly still as I could. I still had the frozen vegetables in my hand, so I pressed that against his forehead.
Then I started talking.
And talking.
And kept talking.
I lost track of what I was saying but it was mostly just nonsense. Silly stuff I remembered from some of the brighter times in my early childhood with my grandmother as well as stories about when I’d been restoring my car with JJ’s family and how he had helped every step of the way. The more I talked to JJ, the more panicked I became when he didn’t respond to me in any kind of way. Physically, I could see that he was sleeping, but in my mind’s eye all I could see was him lying in my arms in the middle of a cold, wet street, his life’s blood literally draining out of him.
I could still feel the heat of his blood as it dripped down my arm. I could hear his ragged breathing; I could smell the tar from the street’s recently repaired cracks and divots. My throat hurt from calling out for help that wasn’t coming fast enough, and my eyes stung from the tears I hadn’t known I’d even been shedding until long after the police had dragged me away from JJ’s body in cuffs and put me in a squad car where the last thing I’d seen before the car had sped off was the sight of JJ lying sprawled on the ground, his shirt open and paramedics jolting him with paddles in order to keep his heart beating.