Page 53 of Their Starlight
Be alive. Be alive. Be alive.My heart stops as I listen to her chest and then nearly bursts through my ribcage when her breasts rise on a shallow breath, and I hear the thump-thump of her heart.
“Call the doctor,” I order a still shaking Albert. As an employee of Syd’s, he knows not to call the hospital and to call the personal doctor used for our illicit mishaps.
“Yes, Sir.”
I hook one arm behind Elle’s knees and the other behind her back and lift her, cradling her close to my chest. I want her to feel my warmth and be safe,feelsafe, in my arms. I would give anything for her to always be safe in my arms. I carry her through reception and into the lift to take her to the top floor. As we ascend, she lets out a pained moan, her face contorting in her agony but her eyes remain closed.
“It’s okay, princess. I’ve got you, you’re safe. I’ll keep you safe, baby,” I whisper, pulling her even closer to me. Her head rolls into the crook of my neck and her hot breath against my skin feels like home. “You’re going to be okay, I promise.”
I can’t retrieve the key card from my back pocket so once I reach the door to our apartment, I kick it hard enough for it to rattle in the frame. Hayden opens it with a smile.
“Did you forget your—” his face drops seeing Elle limp in my arms. “What the fuck?” He steps aside to let me in and rushes to swipe clear the island for me to place her down.
Lance stands from the sofa watching as Hayden and I swarm the woman who bound us all. He’s lost all colour and just stares at her, keeping a distance as though he can’t believe what he’s seeing. Hayden puts two fingers against Elle’s neck.
“She’s alive,” I clarify. “But I think she’s been drugged or something.”
“What the fuck happened?” Hayden asks in barely a whisper.
“I don’t know…I just don’t know.”
Elle begins to stir, twitchy movements and whimpering cries.
Hayden’s jaw tenses and his nostrils flare in obvious annoyance. He cups Elle’s face in both hands, stopping her from whipping her head back and forth and lowers his face to hers, speaking softly as though rage isn’t burning through his veins like I know it is. “Baby, it’s us, you’re with us, you’re safe. It’s okay Elle, you’re going to be okay. We’ve got you, baby.”
Her eyes flutter open and the pain in those stormy irises make me clench my fists on the marble at her side. Tears spill out of the corner of her eyes and drip into her hair at the temple. Her lip trembles, bringing my attention to the fact that it is split. I want to hit something. Her eyes flick to mine, her watery gaze ripping at my heart.
“Brent…” her croak is a plea, for what, I’m not sure. I can’t go to her, I can’t get close to her without everything spilling out of me, without showing her and Hayden and Lance everything that I feel. So, I do the only thing I can. I step away to gather myself, I retreat to the living room; out of her line of vision and where I can’t see those grey eyes.
Lance finally makes his way to her and links his fingers with hers.Because she is his. She is Lance’s. Elle will forever be off limits. I sit on the sofa trying to block out Elle’s crying and Lance and Hayden’s murmurs of reassurance as my blood boils. Someone hurt her. Someone laid their fingers on her, bruised her skin, bloodied her face and broke her body.I’ll kill them. I’ll tear them limb from limb when I find them. Once I know Elle is okay, once she is in bed and safe, I will be on the hunt.
The doctor arrives in record time. Dr Felix is an employee of Syd’s, after completing medical school and doing a two-year stint in a hospital, he quit to work for The Daos to repay the debt his dead-beat dad had built up. So, he doesn’t look like your typical white coat. He has tattoos up his arms that creep up to his neck, and his polo shirt stretches over thick forearms and broad chest. He’s used to working on beat-up gangsters with gun-shot-wounds or stabbings, so it is understandable when his brows shoot up at the site of a half-naked woman on our kitchen island.
“What happened?” As usual, there is no room for niceties from Dr Felix.
I explain as much as I can as the doc opens his bag and puts on some blue latex gloves. He starts running his hands over her body, tapping in places and watching Elle’s reactions as he does. With every movement of his fingers against her skin I get more and more agitated, curling my fingers into my palms.Ridiculous, right?How can you be jealous of a doctor assessing injuries? I am just about to snap when another voice cuts through my anger.
“Is that really necessary?” Lance spits.
The doc doesn’t even look up, continuing his examination. “You want me to help?” Dr Felix is the only person not afraid of any of us. He is indispensable and knows it so his contempt for anyone working as a Dao is not hidden. “What’s her name?”
“Elle,” I answer in barely over a whisper.
“Elle, honey, can you hear me?” Dr Felix speaks softly to her and she nods slightly, through her tears. “I’m going to x-ray you and then take some of your blood for testing, okay? I need you to stay still for me, honey.”
He gets to work, pulling out a portable x-ray machine from the suitcase he’d brought with him. Dr Felix is provided with the most state-of-the-art equipment and has an almost unlimited budget. Afterall, he is the best. The x-ray is done within moments, the images sent to a tablet that he checks with a nod as though he’d expected exactly what he saw. He draws blood with a needle and puts it in his bag.
“I need to reset her shoulder, it’s dislocated,” he says to us. “Can one of you hold her down? It’s going to be painful.”
Lance steps forward but I get there first, not caring about the confused glare he gives me. I lean in, bracing my forearms over her torso and meeting her gaze once more. She is still crying, and it tears me in two.
“This is gonna hurt, princess. Just keep your eyes on me, okay?” I murmur to her. She nods, sniffing hard. “You’re doing good, Elle. You’re doing so good.” The temptation to lean just a couple inches further and kiss her gently, to offer her comfort in any way I can, is overwhelming. “We’re gonna look after you, baby,” I tell her, quieter so Lance and Hayden can’t hear.
The doc re-sets Elle’s shoulder with a snap and she screams. All thought and consideration goes out the window, I push forward and press my lips to the corner of her mouth, reaching to cup her head and stroking her forehead with my thumb. “Shh, princess, it’s over, the worst is over.”
She turns into my neck and I hold her for a moment or two until her breathing evens out again and her body relaxes. Standing straight, I catch the doc’s eye and he looks uncomfortable, which puts me on edge.
“Uh, Elle, do you, um…I can, if you want…um…” I have never seen the doctor anything less than angrily confident on what he does, his stuttering makes me angrier than I already was.