Against the Tide Read Online Free PDF Page A

fucking hole in the floor,” Marc bites back at him, and just for a second, I don’t feel so alone knowing that these boys are feeling a fraction of my anxiety.
    “Look, I’ll go get us some coffees, yes?” Harley tries to be diplomatic and throws something normal in to what has been a crazy fucked up night. Just as he stands to leave, the door to the ER swings open and a doctor steps out. His face is blank, expressionless, and I want this to mean that she’s sitting up in her hospital bed so I can go and give her a bollocking for scaring the crap out of me. But there’s something in his eyes that anchors in my gut, then yanks hard.
    “Mr. James?” he asks formally.
    I nervously stand to meet him in the doorway. “Yes,” I answer, begging him with my tone to tell me what I want to hear. He shakes his head so subtly that I almost missed it. “Your sister …” He pauses as if to choose his words carefully. “I’m sorry, Mr James, we did everything we could. She, Lizzie−”
    “What do you mean, you’re sorry? She’s not … I mean, you did everything you could? So …” I’m garbling my words out, clutching at hope and wishing with every breath that the hope that I’m holding on to so damn hard is enough to change what he’s trying to tell me.
    “The substance was too much for her body, it shut down her internal organs and−”
    “No. You’re wrong. She might be small, but she’s a fighter. She wouldn’t leave me. She means too much to me to go.” I get up close to his chest, my breaths coming fast and the room around me starts to spin in a blur. I stab a finger in his direction and Harley steps to my side, placing his hand gently on my shoulder. “You get back in there and you do your job, you save people, it’s your job to save people’s lives. That’s what you’re supposed to do!” I scream desperately.
    The doctor steps back from the close proximity to me. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, lowering his head and breaking my heart.
     

 

    “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” I snap as we exit the taxi back at home. Damien looks at me nervously before paying the taxi driver and walking off without even glancing in my direction. I’m a bundle of guilt and nerves after what happened in the alley, but not only that, Damien grabbed me as soon as I got back to the table and practically dragged me out of there and into the first cab we could find. He hasn’t said a word all the way home and I’m still waiting for an explanation. Or maybe he’s waiting on an explanation from me. Does he know? Damien waits at the top of the steps for me to open the door, and I glare at him before shoving my key in the lock, entering our town house and throwing my purse on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. I stand in front of Damien with my hands on my hips. “Look, something is going on, I don’t know if it has something to do with your little trip away or if something happened while I was … gone. Either way, I want an explanation.” I can’t make out his mood, at all. He’s never been like this and it’s unnerving to say the least.
    Damien huffs, looks at me through narrowed eyes and pushes past me, bumping my shoulder.
    “Damien!” I yell after him. Fuck, this man is so frustrating. I follow him to the kitchen where he grabs a short tumbler from the cupboard and proceeds to pour a large measure of vodka before knocking it back and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He still hasn’t said one word to me and the fact that something has him this rattled frightens me. If he knows, I don’t know what I’ll do, I don’t know what he’ll do.
    “Damien,” I say, quieter this time. I slowly walk to him, he watches my every step until I stop in front of him. I take one of his hands gently hoping that my touch will coax him to talk to me, but I’m also trying to hide the nerves shooting through me. “Talk to me,” I plead. His phone blips, indicating a message. He rakes a