Rescuing Jenna - Anna Blakely Page 0,45

Adrian had an IV in his veins, and he was being strapped to a gurney and rolled toward the back of an ambulance.

Jenna was by his side, spewing off a bunch of medical jargon about his condition to the medics as they moved. He tried focusing on what she was saying, but his head had become even foggier than before.

One thing he could make out were the tears in her eyes and the worried expression on her face. She was breaking his heart.

Didn’t she know? He’d waited too damn long to find her to simply up and leave her behind, now.

Leave her…

His heartrate spiked, and he sucked in a breath. In a sudden moment of clarity, Adrian realized if they hauled him off for surgery to remove the bullet, Jenna would be left alone and unprotected.

“Stop!” He wrapped his hands around the gurney’s metal railing and attempted to push himself up.

“What are you doing?” Jenna pushed against his shoulders. “Adrian, you need to lie down and let the pain meds do their job.”

Pain meds?

That would explain the cool, floaty sensation spreading through his body.

“Can’t leave…you,” his words came out slurred.

“You’re not, remember? You already told me you weren’t dying, and I’m holding you to that, mister. So just lie back down and—”

“No.” Adrian squeezed his eyes and then opened them again in an attempt to focus on her face and his words. His fingers fumbled to grab her hand because, he had to get this out. “Can’t leave you…unpro…tected.”

“She won’t be,” Ben assured him from the other side of the gurney. “She’ll be with me.”

The two men shared a look, and through the fog, Adrian dipped his chin in agreement.

He fucking hated the idea of anyone else watching over her, but his current situation didn’t give him much choice.

“Anything happens to…her…”

Ben’s expression was unreadable. “It won’t.”

Something tugged at Adrian’s gut, but he didn’t know what it was. He wasn’t sure if it was the situation or the drugs, and unfortunately, he didn’t have time to question it.

Ben stepped back as one of the medics hopped into the back of the ambulance. Jenna started to pull away from him, too, but at the last second, Adrian grabbed her hand and kept her where she stood.

The man behind his head put a hand on his shoulder and said, “Sir, we have to go.”

And I have something I need to say.

Ignoring the anxious medic, Adrian used all the strength he had left to keep his grip on Jenna’s hand. He locked his hazy gaze with hers. “Stay with…Ben,” he ordered. “Don’t…leave…side.”

“I won’t,” she squeezed his hand back.

“Promise…me.”

“I promise.” With a soft smile, she leaned in and gave him a gentle kiss. “Be a good patient, okay? Do what they tell you, and I’ll…” Her voice cracked. “I’ll be there when you get out of surgery.”

With the sweetest of kisses, she pressed her lips to his forehead and let go of his hand. She stepped back to make room as he was rolled inside the ambulance.

No!

A tugging in his gut told him he shouldn’t wait. He needed to say the words now, before it was too late.

“Love…you.” Adrian uttered the words out loud.

It was the first time he’d said them to a woman who wasn’t his sister.

He looked to where Jenna had been standing. His heart dropped into his stomach when he realized she hadn’t heard his precious words at all because the doors to the ambulance had already slammed shut.

Chapter 9

Jenna’s hands were covered in Adrian’s blood. Her pulse raced and her body trembled as adrenaline still spread through her system.

The situation was so surreal, she was still trying to process everything that had happened.

One minute, she and Adrian were talking and laughing. The next, Jenna was crouching down to avoid flying bullets and screaming for the man she loved.

“He’s a fighter.”

She tore her gaze away to look at the man behind the wheel. “I know,” she told Ben quietly.

Adrian was more than a fighter. He was one of the strongest men she’d ever known.

Even the mighty fall sometimes.

Ignoring the negative thought, Jenna glanced back down at the stain on her hands. Her stomach clenched with terror. The mere thought of him not making it out of this alive had her heart stuttering and her lungs breathless.

Adrian was shot. I have his blood on my hands. He was shot, and then they took him away.

“I’ve known him a long time,” Ben spoke up again. His knuckles became white as his grip tightened around