Rectify (Return to Us Trilogy #2) (24 page)
Read Rectify (Return to Us Trilogy #2) Online
Authors: M.K. Gilher
"I don't want to go back. Find me again, Jacade."
"I've got you now. Don't leave me. Stay with me. Listen to my voice."
Fog conquers my attempts to focus on Jacade's stately face.
Inhale. Cough. Exhale. Cough.
The familiar stench of the passageway fills my nostrils. Each blink brings the ghoulish walls closer.
No! Save me, Dr. J.
"Fight, Ivy. You hear me? You better fucking fight!"
I will.
"Tell me. Tell me you'll fight for me. Please, Ivy."
I'll fight.
I'll fight for you, my beloved.
Just find me.
Find me quickly.
So we can return to us.
###
M.K. Gilher is a best-selling author of heart-pounding romance with a medical twist. Her stories feature alpha-male doctors who are rough around the edges but sweet on the inside, and she delights in making them suffer before they earn their happily ever afters. She’s a die-hard fan of her hometown heroes—the Chicago Cubs, Bears, Bulls, and Hawks.
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Jacade
Slam
!
Delia plows straight through Viktor's rusted wrought iron entry gate. It bends over the hood, screeching and sparking against the road. In my side mirror, the image of a guard running after me with his gun drawn diminishes out of range.
I swerve to the left and jerk the car to the right. The gate unhinges and lands in the ditch. A hostile flash of vertical light cracks on the horizon followed by a gut-roiling savage thunder.
The rain mixes with the bloody print on the screen of Viktor’s phone.
Her blood. On my hands. Again.
No, not now. Focus.
The map shows I’m thirty miles from Lakeshore. There's another hospital closer, but I want Jett.
"Talk."
"Jett. Lakeshore. It's..." My tone falters. "Ivy. It's Ivy. 911. I'm fifteen minutes out."
"Got it." Female voices titter in the background.
"You?" A dinging alerts me he's climbing behind the wheel.
"I'm good."
"Morgue entrance. No ER."
The phone falls from my hand and thumps on the floor by my feet. The downpour pelts my hair and face, and I squint into the deluge to find the ramp to the interstate.
Delia fishtails into the emergency entrance ten minutes later. Ivy's body leaves a red sun of rain on the seat. A warm burst of air hits my soaked face as I carry her through the automatic double doors. A staff of jarred second-shift nurses stare with bulging eyes at the gruesome sight of Ivy's limp, bloody figure in my arms. I charge past their shaken stares and carry her into the clinical area of the emergency room.
"You can't go in there, sir."
The hell I can't.
Two nurses follow me down the hallway and into the first open exam room.
"Sir!" I lay Ivy's body down on the gurney.
"Prep her for surgery!" I raise my arm and point at Ivy. "Move it! Do your damn job!" We only have minutes, people.
Rivers of dirt and blood course down the drain as I wash my hands in the sink. Christ. Scrubbing in is going to take forever.
"Everyone out!" Jett's voice roars through the room. "Leta, get in here!"
I scour my skin, but the red won't come off.
I don’t look up as I speak to Jett. "Thirty-eight caliber GSW to anterior left lower quadrant. No exit wound. Moderate blood loss."
"Jude, did you need..." a female voice asks.
"GSW protocol. Page Dr. Kelch." Jett speaks to her. "And make sure no one calls this in."
"Dr. Kelch left hours ago. Dr. Thomas is the surgeon on-call tonight." She bustles around the room. I need to keep scrubbing.
"Get Kelch here now, Leta!" Jett puts his hand on my shoulder. "This isn't the morgue entrance, Trip."
I don't give a shit, Jett. "Don't touch me." I shrug him off. "I wasn't taking her there."
"You need to leave." He tugs on my elbow.
"Fuck off!" I pull my arm from his grasp.
"You're too close to her. You know that. Go sit down. Once I have her stable, I'll check on you."
"I'm staying."
He pushes my chest. I grimace and yell, "Get off me, fuckbag!" as I knock his hands away.
My right fist leaves a filthy wet mark on his shirt. His face hardens and I rush him. We grapple and push, but it hurts like hell. His back knocks into the gurney, and the nurse speaks up.
"Hey! This isn't the time!"
He works me into a clinch and says in my ear, "Give up, man. I taught you how to fight, jackass." I collapse onto him and suppress a sob. "No time to waste. I've got her, Trip." His voice is steadfast. "I'm the best at what I do. I've got her."
He releases me. I brace my arms on the sides of the sink, my head hanging low.
Please, Jett.
Save her.
###
REVIVAL (Book One)
RECTIFY (Book Two)
REMEDY (Book Three)
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