Chapter 4 - The Service Elevator|
Before Naomi could protest further, a sudden crash echoed from the main reception lobby down the hall—followed by screams and the sharp, terrifying phft-phft-phft of suppressed gunfire.
The heart monitor beside Raymond's bed went wild as the resident panicked, dropping his clipboard and scrambling under the metal sink.
"They're inside," Marcus growled, stepping to the door and firing two precise shots into the hallway. A heavy body hit the floor outside with a wet thud.
Raymond swung his broad legs over the edge of the gurney, gasping in agony as his fresh stitches pulled against his ribs.
"Raymond, don't!" Naomi yelled, catching his massive shoulders before he could collapse onto the linoleum. "You're going to tear the artery again!"
"Then hold me up, Naomi," Raymond gritted out through clenched teeth, his heavy arm wrapping firmly around her neck, his body heat radiating through her thin cotton scrubs. "Because I'm not dying in a county hospital."
Naomi grabbed an emergency medical bag off the counter, shoved two units of plasma and a suture kit into her pocket, and supported his heavy frame as Marcus kicked open the service doors leading to the freight elevator.
The elevator doors slid shut just as three armed men in dark tactical gear burst into the trauma bay.
Bang! Bang!
Rounds slammed against the heavy iron doors of the elevator, leaving silver dents in the metal, but the lift dropped smoothly into the dark basement level.
Naomi pressed her shoulder flat against Raymond’s chest, feeling the heavy, ragged thud of his heart. Sweat poured down his face, his jaw tight, his eyes fixed on her.
"Why didn't you leave Chicago?" Raymond asked, his voice low over the hum of the elevator gears.
"What?" she panted, holding pressure on his side.
"After high school," Raymond rasped. "I looked for you two years later. They told me you married a guy named Hail and moved to River North."
Naomi looked down at her hands, which were covered in his blood. "David died two years ago, Raymond. I stayed because I had nowhere else to go."
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Raymond’s hand reached out, his long fingers gently touching her jawline, leaving a streak of red on her pale skin.
"You have somewhere to go now," he whispered.
