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Sirens sounded off in the distance. They got closer and closer but all I could focus on was how Ainsley had her eyes closed. How her breathing became shallow and uneven. How her skin became ashen and clammy.

“Please, God. Take me instead.” I kissed her lips, my tears falling onto her beautiful face.

Movement sounded behind me, deep voices followed but I couldn’t make out who was who and what was what. All I could see was Ainsley, dying in front of me.

“Please save her,” I begged to no one.

“Son.” An older man dressed in a police uniform placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. The touch was a contradiction. He looked to be around in his mid to late forties, with wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and pain in the deep black depths. He had seen shit. I knew because I had seen it in the eyes of the men who had raised my brother and me.

“I’m Officer Jaxon but you can call me Andy.”

“Where are they taking her?” I demanded, when I realized that the EMTs were putting Ainsley onto a stretcher. I went to rush after them when Officer Jaxon stepped in front of me, blocking my path.

“I don’t suggest doing that right now.” He nodded toward the ambulance. “They’ll take good care of her.”

“Yeah, and I’m going to go with them.” I sidestepped around him when he followed. Narrowing my eyes at him, it took everything in me not to charge past him. “Problem?”

“Yes. You see, I get a call that a woman has been stabbed and I find a man crouching over her covered in blood. There are no other witnesses around, so it’s just your word against hers. And I know we won’t be getting any information from her anytime soon.”

“I was the one who fucking called in the first place. If I wanted my girlfriend dead, the police would be the last people I’d contact.” I took a step toward him, going to toe with him. “I also don’t give a shit that you’re a cop. You’re probably paid off by Price Davies anyway.”

The cop chuckled. “Listen, kid. You’re funny. But no one pays me off. If I want to do shady shit, I will. If I don’t want to do it, I won’t. I’ve been around long enough and have been a cop for over fifteen years—”

“I’m done. I need to go—” The ambulance drove off with Ainsley inside of it, leaving me with Officer Jaxon. “You think I had something do with this, don’t you?” I asked, my voice flat.

“Don’t know. That’s what I need to find out.”

“We were leaving her apartment.” I nodded to the bag on the ground. “She’s moving in with me and we were going to come collect the rest of her stuff over the next few days.” I continued explaining about the guy who bumped into her and how seconds later, she wasn’t feeling well. “If she dies, I won’t stop, and I will burn this fucking world down trying to figure out who the hell stabbed her.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Officer Jaxon met my gaze then. “So let’s get this shit on the road then.”

As much as I didn’t want to, I complied and answered his questions.

How was our relationship?

Did I have any reason to stab her myself?

Did I see anyone else?

Where did the fucker go who hurt my girl? I only stared at the cop when he asked this question using those exact words. He shrugged, pulling a pack of smokes from his pocket.

I took one from him, lit it up, and inhaled the substance I had depended on to make me feel better ever since I was a teenager.

“I’ll make some calls. We’ll find out who did this.”

My eyes landed on the dark spot on the pavement a few feet away. I could still see the dark pool of blood. Ainsley’s blood. My girl. The only woman who had ever dug herself beneath my skin and made me feel better just by being there.

“You can go but I don’t suggest leaving town. I’ll be in touch.” Officer Jaxon went to his car. “We will find him, Cyrus. Leave it to me and I’ll make sure he gets his.”

I ignored him, grabbed Ainsley’s bag and went to my SUV. Once I was sitting behind the steering wheel, my fist landed against it. I bellowed out a “fuck,” the walls I had built up over the years to protect myself, crumbling down all around me.

Taking a deep breath, I headed to the hospital, sending up prayers along the way that Ainsley would make it out of this. Her mental health had already been through enough. Sure, she had been hurt physically and she had scars to prove it but the fact that she had stopped talking because of the trauma she endured, I was terrified that this would set her back. She had come so far, opening up to me, giving me pieces of herself she had never shared with anyone before. I took it for granted but now, I made a promise to myself, and I would promise her just the same, that it wouldn’t happen again.

Once the large building of the hospital came into view, a breath left me. I pulled the SUV into the parking lot, created a random parking spot that would probably earn me a ticket, and ran into the building.

When I reached the reception desk, I was frantic with worry as I saw no one around. “Fucking hell.” I rubbed the back of my neck, not sure what to do.

“Sir?”