Page 47 of Any Kind of Life
“Excuse me, love. We’ll take it from here.” A paramedic placed a hand on Paige’s shoulder, dropping his heavy green reflective bag to the floor. “We’re going to need some room to work on her and stabilise her before we get her onto the ambulance.”
Paige frowned as they manoeuvred Juliet out of her lap. She couldn’t leave her. She…needed to be with her. Juliet had only woken up because Paige was holding her. What if she thought Paige had left her on her own? “I need to be with her.”
“And you will be. Just as soon as we’ve done what we need to do here.” Another paramedic took Paige’s hand and crouched in front of her. “Why don’t you get yourself a glass of water and clean yourself up. She’s in safe hands with us.”
Paige looked up at the paramedic, who had kind green eyes. “Please don’t let her die. S-she…she can’t. Please.”
The paramedic nodded and smiled, turning her back to give her full attention to Juliet. Paige crawled away, her entire lower half covered in blood, and propped herself up against the bottom of the bar. Henry sat in the opposite corner with his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking.
“Henry!”
Henry looked up, his eyes bloodshot. “Yeah?”
“Come and keep me company over here.” Paige stared at Juliet’s seemingly lifeless body laid out on the floor, her bottom lip trembling. How the hell had it come to this? Henry sat beside her and took her hand. “She said yes.”
“Yes to what?”
“I asked her to marry me…and she said yes.”
Henry squeezed her hand. “Of course she said yes. You’re the love of her life, Paige.”
“Who did this, H? Who could be so heartless and hurt someone like this?”
Henry exhaled a slow breath. “I don’t know. But they’re going to wish they were dead when I get my hands on them.”
“I need to make some calls. To the girls and that. And I need to delay the reopening of this place. Juliet is my only priority for the foreseeable. She may not even want to be here anymore once she’s recovered. I couldn’t blame her.”
“You just focus on Juliet and leave the rest to me. I’ll start checking the CCTV footage when you leave for the hospital. I’ll lock up and make sure the place is secure.”
In this moment, Paige would be happy if he burnt this bar to the ground. Would she always see Juliet lying there when she came down the stairs? Would that image ever leave her? Right now, it didn’t seem like a possibility. “Do you think Cara is okay? We should check the office and stuff. She could be hurt somewhere.”
“I’ll go and check. You stay here with your fiancée.”
Paige’s pulse quickened at that. Juliet was her fiancée. “Hey, H?”
He looked down at her as he got to his feet, his jeans bloodstained. “Yeah?”
“Thanks for being here. It means a lot.”
“Anything for you two.”
Paige rested her head back against the bar, bringing her hands up in front of her. Juliet’s blood covered them, and now that stench of metallic was lingering in the air. Or maybe that smell was coming from Paige herself. She had enough blood covering her to warrant that. And then the sheer volume of said blood had Paige fearing the worst. It surely wasn’t possible to lose so much of it…and survive. “You got here in time,” she murmured. “Just focus on that.”
“Paige?”
She swallowed when the paramedic approached her. “I-is she dead?”
“No, love. Would you like to travel in the ambulance with her?”
“Yes. Please.” Paige got to her feet, and the paramedic handed her a green fleece. She hadn’t even realised she was sitting in her bra and jeans. “Oh, thank you.”
“We don’t want people tripping over themselves at the hospital if you walk in like that.” She smiled and then took Paige by the elbow. “Come on. Let’s get her the care she needs.”
Chapter 17
Paige paced the corridor, her head in her hands. The longer she waited, the worse she felt. The little she did know wasn’t helping her either. They hadn’t said very much at all; they’d just rushed Juliet off to trauma and briefly mentioned surgery to Paige.
Right now, she felt helpless. And hopeless. How did she even begin to process what had happened this afternoon? It was going to take a while before she could sit down and understand why anyone would want to hurt Juliet. Even though they knew the potential was there, it didn’t make this any easier to swallow.