Forever You're Mine (MINE #4)(58)
POW!
POW!
The sickening sound echoed throughout the room, and following it was a pained moan from Cannon. I finally found enough courage to look, and what I saw gutted me.
“Fuck,” he gritted, holding his chest.
“Oh God, NO!”
Blood.
So much blood.
Love has no age, no limit; and no death.
~John Galsworthy
“911, what is your emergency.”
“Oh my God, please hurry. He’s dying, please!”
“Ma’am, I need you to calm down for me. Can you tell me your name?”
“Please don’t die, Cannon!”
I broke down. Sobs wracking my body with such incredible force, I began to dry heave, my stomach rolling with nausea and regret.
Why didn’t I lock the door?
Why didn’t I set the f*cking alarm?
I can’t lose him.
My strong man with his brave heart and beautiful soul, seeing him like this was pure agony. Blood soaked his shirt and the floor around us, his face pale and ashen. My heart ached in my chest, the need to take his place strong and constant.
In a heartbeat.
“Ma’am talk to me, please. I need to know what’s happening so I can help you. What is your name?”
I swallowed, searching for the words I needed. “My boyfriend…he’s been shot. She broke into my house and shot him!” I said, breaking down once more.
“Who shot him?”
“Oh God, please!”
“Is the intruder still in the home ma’am?” the dispatcher asked.
I hiccupped. “Yes, but she’s…she’s dead.”
“Where was your boyfriend shot?”
“I don’t know, there’s blood everywhere!”
“Ma’am, I need you to take a deep breath for me. You have to keep calm if you want to help him. Is he still breathing?”
I sucked back a deep breath, trying to rein in my emotions, but they were too overpowering. Lowering my head, his faint breath tickled my ear.
I sighed with fleeting relief. “Yes.”
“Ok, good. Tell me your name, sweetheart.”
“Cora. My name is Cora.”
“Cora, listen to me carefully ok?” Her voice was so calm, so steady. Almost like a mother’s voice.
I wondered if she had kids.
I wondered if they listened to her every word when she spoke to them this way.
My heart began to calm as I gathered my bearings and tried my best to pay close attention to her instructions. “Is there something nearby you can use to help slow the bleeding until the paramedics arrive?”
The blanket on the floor lay just out of reach. I tried not to pay attention to Alexis’s foot on the other end as I dragged the corner of it to his stomach. “Yes, I have something,” I said, an arrow of hope piercing my aching heart.
“Ok, very good. Now, I need you to locate the wound and apply pressure. We have the police and paramedics in route Cora, but it’s gonna take them at least thirty minutes to get there with the roads as bad as they are.”
It was as if she’d ripped the arrow straight from my chest. I released a panic sob. “It’s ok, Cora. Help is on the way. I have a friend who lives nearby. He’s a volunteer firefighter. He’ll be there in less than ten minutes.”
“Oh, thank God,” I breathed.
With a newfound sense of strength, I put the phone on speaker and set it on the floor so I could lift Cannon’s shirt. Blood trickled from the wound like a slow flowing tap. Closing my eyes, I covered the wound and gently applied pressure. “You still with me, Cora?”
“I’m so scared. I can’t lose him.”
“Everything will be ok. Lucky will be there any minute.”
Lucky?
The moment the comforting name left her mouth, salvation entered my front door. He didn’t look any older than eighteen. He had a baby face, but his manly body and confident stride left my mouth gaping. He knelt down on the other side of Cannon, dropping a backpack to the floor that he swiftly unzipped.
The dispatcher’s voice penetrated the pregnant silence. “Lucky, is that you?”
“I’m here, Edi.”
After a few more exchanges, words I did not pay attention to, he retrieved the phone from the floor next to me and ended the call. “You can go clean up. Medics will be here soon,” he said, retrieving a pair of scissors and cutting up the center of Cannon’s shirt. I looked down at my blood covered shirt, the only thing I was able to put on before I called 911.
The thought of leaving his side crippled me. “I can’t leave him,” I said, shaking my head. I didn’t care what anyone saw. I wasn’t leaving him.
His soft brown eyes locked with mine. “Do you want to ride to the hospital with him?”
Looking down at Cannon, I nodded.
In a heartbeat.
“He’ll be right here when you get back.”
Cannon coughed, his big body coming to life with a strong shudder. He blinked, his eyes heavy and weak as he lifted them to me. Lucky pulled a tiny flashlight from his shirt pocket, lifting each one of Cannon’s eyelids to shine the light inside.
His face was already covered in a sheen of sweat, and he was frighteningly pale. “I love you,” Cannon whispered before his body went limp, eyes closing once more.