Page 7 of Forever Found

“Eli, they were trying to run us off the road too. God knows what they’d have done if they’d gotten their hands on us. You had no choice. You saved our lives,” I explained, trying to inject some calm into my panicked, terrified body, in an attempt to soothe him.

Movement from the other car had me turning and I saw a huge guy, dressed all in black, crawling out through one of the back windows, a gun in his bloodied hand.

“Eli! We have to go right now!” I yelled at him. Thankfully, he saw what I did and he actually listened this time. He started thecar and we sped away, but I knew Eli wasn’t going to last long. He was breathing way too hard and his hands were shaking now. I could see the tremor even as he held the steering wheel.

“We need to get to a phone. We have to call Ash,” he told me shakily.

“I know. Just keep driving. There has to be a gas station or something on this road,” I replied, praying said station would appear sooner rather than later. My head was throbbing and I was barely containing the nausea I felt. Neither of us were doing well at holding it together either. All I wanted was my big brother and my guys to surround us, so I could crumble, knowing we were both safe. An image of Adam smiling down at me as he opened his arms to hold me filled my mind and I had to fight to push it aside. I couldn’t think about Adam. If I did I’d break and I couldn’t afford to do that yet.

I’m not sure how long we drove, but I do know neither of us stopped looking behind us for more cars following the entire time. The car was silent except for the sound of us both breathing way too hard and fast. It was the car stopping that jolted me from the chaos in my head and had me looking to Eli with worry.

“What is it?” I asked as I glanced all around us, but there was nothing to see for miles.

“I...I just need a second. I don’t feel so hot,” Eli told me. His voice wobbled and when I looked at him properly, I saw how pale he looked.

“What’s wrong? Does anything hurt?” I worried as I unfastened my seatbelt and rose onto my knees so I could lean over to him.

“I’ll be okay. I’m just a little lightheaded. Just…I just need a minute.” Eli opened the door and stepped out of the car. That was when I saw the blood on his seat. It had pooled beneath him on the pale gray leather and there was way too much.

“Eli!” I cried as I opened my door and threw myself from the car, barely landing on my feet before I was running around the back to get to my brother. “Eli, you’re bleeding!”

I ran to where he was leaning heavily against the car and looked him over as fast as I could. I couldn’t see anything on his body, but when I grabbed his arm to turn him, he hissed in pain. I instinctively moved my hand, never wanting to hurt him and was horrified by the blood that covered my hand.

“You’re bleeding,” Eli said weakly as he looked to my hand.

“No, I’m not. You are.” I turned him to the side and saw the entirety of his sleeve was covered with blood, and it was now running all down his arm and to the ground beneath him. “You’ve been shot!” I cried as I grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and pushed it up, revealing a bullet hole in the top of his bicep, and it was pouring with blood.

“I’ve been shot? I…I don’t feel anything,” he told me as he turned his arm to take a look himself.

“Jesus Eli! How could you not have felt this?” I growled as I set to work pulling off the leggings I wore under my dress. It was the only thing I could think to use to try and slow the bleeding.

“What are you doing?” Eli asked as he looked to me with confusion.

“Trying to keep some of your blood in your freaking body!” I snapped as I pulled off my leggings and folded them so I could tie them tightly around the top of Eli’s arm. “We have to atleast try and slow down this bleeding. That’s why you feel dizzy. You’ve lost too much blood.”

“I’m okay, shortcake. We need to keep driving,” he said, but I didn’t like how weak his voice sounded. How long had he been bleeding out without me even noticing?

I ignored him as I wrapped the black leggings around his arm twice, then tied the ends in the tightest knot I could pull.

“Fuck, Addy!” Eli roared in pain as I pulled as hard as I could to get it tight.

“Sorry. It needs to be tight though,” I explained.

“I’m good. Stop freaking out,” he told me as he caught my hand in his and squeezed it.

“Stop freaking out! Are you crazy? We’re on the run from men who kidnapped us, in the middle of fucking nowhere with no money, no cell phones, and now I find out you’ve been shot! How the hell am I supposed to not freak out?!”

“Okay, fair point.” He nodded with a slight smile that made me pause and take a breath.

“You’re right though. Me losing it is not going to get us anywhere,” I told him. “Let’s check the trunk. Maybe there’s a cell phone in there. You need water too.”

Eli nodded and followed me to the trunk of the car. He seemed unsteady as he moved, but he remained upright. I opened the trunk, but it was completely empty, as were the back seats.

“We need to get moving. We’re sitting ducks here. Max could have sent more men after us.” Eli wrapped his arm around my shoulders as he spoke and I couldn’t help but turn into him and press my head to his chest, just needing a moment of comfort.

“You’re right,” I agreed when I felt able to lift my head and keep going. “We need to get off of this road, so we’ll be harder to find if more men are on our tail.”

“Except this seems to be the road that never ends,” Eli sighed, and he wasn’t wrong. I had no idea how long exactly we’d been driving that highway, but it had been too damned long, that was for sure.