He was a ballsy one and instead of backing off like he should have, he came back at me. I smiled inside as I let him get in a hit. Patience screamed beside me and I felt her hand grab my arm, but Finn was there pulling her away. Knowing he would keep her out of harm’s way, I didn’t stop. I hit him over and over again until he was down on the floor.

Once or twice, someone tried to pull me off him, but after letting myself loose, it was hard as hell to reel it back in. When he stopped fighting and I could no longer see his face, I backed off and got back to my feet. All the alcohol I’d drunk swirled around my brain and kept me off balance.

There were people everywhere moving in. A group of guys lifted the asshole from the floor and pulled him away. I looked around the room until my eyes met Snowflake’s. Finn had her by the arm and she was covering her mouth and looking at me with wide eyes like I was a monster.

I had royally fucked up. I could see that now that the adrenaline was slowing in my veins. The crowd parted as I made my way over to Patience and Finn, but she shook him off and turned to leave before I could get to her.

I changed directions to exit the bar behind her, but by the time I got to the exit, she was already crossing the street. She didn’t know the area and she left her cell phone at home. She was buzzed with blood spattered on her dress, and there was no way in hell I was going to let her run loose around the crazy streets of California alone.

Without looking, I blasted out into the middle of the road to catch her on the other side before she could get too far.

“Snowflake, wait!” I called out.

She turned to look back at me and then her eyes widened.

The loud blast of a SUV’s horn caught my attention, and I looked away in just enough time to see a pair of headlights. The sounds of grinding metal and breaking glass rushed all around me. I paused and turned to check on Patience and a look of absolute horror covered her face. Her mouth popped open and she screamed. That’s when I felt the jolt.

The smell of burnt rubber and smoke filled my nostrils as I felt like I was flying into the midnight sky. It was peaceful to fly, quiet, but the landing was hard against my back.

The air was knocked from my body and the back of my head throbbed. Something heavy fell on top of me and crushed my body to the asphalt beneath me. Pain shot through my arms and legs as something rolled across my right hand. I felt the tiny bones inside my fingers as they were crushed along with who knew what else.

Then the pain was quickly replaced by numbness. It was a relief when the agony in my arms and legs dissolved away to nothing, but I knew in the back of my head that it wasn’t right not to feel anything. The urge to go sleep was taking over and my eyes started to close on their own. I struggled to stay awake.

In the distance, I heard Patience screaming my name over and over again. Blood rushed down my throat when I tried to answer. The metallic taste coated my tongue and made my stomach roll, but I couldn’t move to get sick. I couldn’t do anything since everything was blissfully numb.

The sounds around me became muffled and Patience’s voice was going away. I didn’t want to leave her voice. I wanted to stay with her always, but then the world spun really fast and everything went black.

Nine

Patience

The smell of burnt rubber cut into my nose.

I wasn’t sure when I received the ability to move with the speed of light, but one minute I was standing on the sidewalk watching a huge SUV head straight for Zeke, and the next minute I was falling to my knees beside him and screaming his name. My screams were sharp, so sharp they hurt my own ears.

His face was covered in blood and he wasn’t moving. His arm wasn’t lying right and his hand was already purple and had obviously been crushed.

Arms came around me and I reached behind me, blindly punching at whoever it was trying to take me away from him. Chet’s voice cut into my screams.

“You have to move, Patience. They need to help him,” he said over and over again.

Or maybe he only said it once, but his words rang through my brain a thousand times a minute. Still, I didn’t comprehend what he was saying and continued to fight.

I leaned over Zeke’s motionless body and cried. I begged him not to leave me over and over again, but still he refused to move. Then there were more hands on me and even though I continued to fight, I was being lifted up and away from the only man I’d ever loved.

“Patience, look at me!” Finn yelled in my face. “Stop fighting me. The paramedics need to help him. They can’t do that if you’re in the way.” His eyes were watered up and I could see the worry etched into them.