A Winter's Date Read Online Free PDF Page B

breathing seems to die as my heart slams against my ribs. My stomach lurches as I let the scene in front of me sink into my line of vision as a faint metallic scent fills the air. My beautiful girl is lying unconscious on the cold concrete floor. I find my feet again and rush to her side, where I drop down to my knees next to her broken frame as the musicians try desperately to pick up their instruments. My voice reverberates in my own ears as I yell out for someone to help . . . to do anything. I take in her features, trying to assess her limp body. Her face is soft, yet her complexion is off by the amount of makeup covering her face, making it impossible for me to truly see her. My eyes move over her again, noticing her arms, which are strewn aside carelessly, seemingly irreparable.
    The grip of silent panic consumes me and my vision blurs as I looking around helplessly for someone—anyone—to help her. I can hear my heart pounding wildly in my ears as the tangible knot in the pit of my stomach grows.
    Her color is unlike her own as she lies in a rapidly expanding pool of blood. I cannot tell where the blood is originating from, nor can I apply pressure to a wound that I cannot find. She has a few gashes along her arms, but not enough to make up for the vast amount spilling onto the concrete. I glance down her body and to her mangled legs where the deep red gore advances further.
    “Baby?” My voice is hoarse, and I don’t recognize it. “Heather, can you hear me?”
    She doesn’t respond in the slightest as I move closer to her. Her eyes that were dancing with joy moments ago are now closed, and her body lies in front of me as if it’s vacant of a soul.
    A few men in dark designer suits rush over, one of them already on the phone with whom I can only assume are the medics. “Sir, I need you to step back from her please. We can’t move her before we fully understand how the fall has affected her.”
    “Fuck off, man. I’m not leaving her.”
    I hear Dillen yell out from the stage, “Mr. Norwich, he’s the only family she has here.”
    He looks down at me and nods before looking back at Heather.
    “Heather? You’re going to be okay,” I say, moving my hand to her throat, feeling a faint, but steady pulse under my fingers.
    Please be okay.
    There’s an obscene amount of blood; it’s pooling around her head and underneath her pallid body. I’m terrified to move her, but I’m about to scoop her into my arms and carry her to the hospital because the damn medics are taking too long. Rage, adrenaline, and panic join forces to flow through me as I shout at nobody in particular, “Where in the fuck are they?”
    “They will be here shortly. I’m going to need you to stay calm for her sake,” Mr. Norwich says, before turning and speaking to someone behind us, “Clear the stage, and call for a cleanup crew for this mess. The show must go on once we’ve gotten her out of here safely. We dance when we’re broken, so somebody please inform the understudy to be waiting in the wings.”
    Are you fucking kidding me?
    I look upward toward the stage where Dillen stands, her hands cupping her mouth and black tears raining down from her wide eyes.
    A few feet over, a distorted view of Alexis comes into my vision, and she doesn’t look remorseful in the slightest. She has a smug, triumphant grin on her face, and right then, I know that this stunt was intentional. She hurt my girl because of me, because I refused to give her what she wanted.
    I want nothing more than to pull my body up onto the stage and confront her. I don’t even want Dillen that close to this selfish bitch.
    “Dillen, go find Coen.”
    She hesitates and stares down at her best friend, my girl. “Go!” I command her and this time she listens just as the medics run in with their equipment and stretcher.
    I watch, horrified, as the medics assess her and gently move her from the solid concrete onto the board; thankfully they’re quick, because