The attention turned to my hand. I bal ed it into a fist; I wouldn’t give up my father’s ring. Grahm seemed to notice my decision and they al took a step forward, preparing to take it from me. Four sets of malevolent eyes shifted in unison as a familiar voice growled from behind me.
“I think it’s time you gentlemen moved on.”
Jared strol ed past me, and the air escaped from my lungs with overwhelming relief.
“Jared,” I said.
He shot me a reassuring smile. “It’s okay, sweetheart. You don’t have to give them your ring.”
“The hel she’s not. You want some of what this boy got?” Stu warned.
Grahm eyed Jared suspiciously. “You’re Ryel’s boy, aren’t you?”
My blood ran cold as I looked down at Ryan’s limp body. He was stil breathing, but in smal , shal ow gasps. I looked at Jared, terrified of what would happen to him.
“Gentlemen, you can either leave now, with the money the lady has offered, or you can stay, without further use of your arms and legs. It’s your choice. Either way, the ring won’t be leaving her finger tonight.” Jared’s voice began polite, but as his offer ended it became low and frightening.
Grahm chuckled as he lowered his head. Once his laughter ended, his eyes darted up, peering at Jared from under his brow. “Then I guess we’l just have to cut her hand off.”
I froze.
Jared turned to me, his eyes steely-blue, and then he looked back at the men as he took a step towards them.
“See?” Jared sighed. “Now you’re just pissing me off.”
“I’m sick of this,” Benson said.
“Benson, wait!” Grahm ordered.
Two of the men rushed Jared and just as a scream grew in my throat, I saw Jared pul one of them off his back and throw him across the lot—an incredible distance, at least thirty yards—against the stone wal of the al ey. The man’s body flew into some trashcans with a loud crash. Benson flew back after Jared punched him in the face, and I recoiled when blood exploded from his nose. Stu ran at Jared with his knife, but Jared lithely dodged out of the way and caught the man’s arm as he jabbed the knife at him. Jared pul ed Stu’s arm to the side and quickly rammed his fist into his elbow from behind, hyper extending it until it snapped. Jared punched him again, this time in the face, and the man fel to the ground.
Grahm attempted to turn and run, but with amazing speed Jared reached out and grabbed his overcoat, stopping him in his tracks. The man whirled around and pushed Jared back against my car.
My hands flew up to my mouth.
Jared quickly spun to elbow Grahm in the side of his face. The bearded man plummeted to the ground; the blow causing him to thrash about in stifled groans.
When I gawked down at him, I noticed that his jaw appeared askew. He held it against his face with his hands, and moaned in agony.
Jared pul ed my car keys from the ground beside him and noticed a worn, black wal et next to them. He picked it up and it unfolded automatical y to reveal a large metal ic object.
“Agh…this is not good,” Jared said, rubbing his forehead.
“What? What is that? Is that his?” I tried to get a better look as Jared stuffed it into his jacket pocket.
Breathing heavily, Jared took a few steps closer to me. “Are you okay?”
“Am I…? Are you okay?”
Jared nodded but I could see blood oozing from a smal cut on his cheek bone, just below his eye.
“You’re bleeding,” I whispered.
Jared wiped the cut and glanced down at the blood smeared across the back of his hand. “It’s not bad. I have to get you out of here before the police show up.”
“Ryan’s going to need a doctor,” I said, rushing down to Ryan’s side. He was stil breathing, but he’d been beaten badly.
“Ryan? Can you hear me?” I asked, but he didn’t respond.
Jared nodded, and then effortlessly lifted Ryan into his arms to put him in the back seat of my car. Kim ran around to jump into the back and covered him with her coat.
“He doesn’t look good, Nigh,” Kim said, cradling him in her arms.
Jared opened the passenger side door. “Get in, Nina, I’l drive.”
We flew through the darkness; making every red light a blurry afterthought. I wrapped my arms around my chest, finding it hard to breathe.
Jared rested his hand on my forearm. “Are you hanging in there?”
“I’m just worried about Ryan,” I whispered, peeking back momentarily at my friend. Jared’s hand gripped tighter.
“Everything’s going to be okay, Nina. Ryan’s going to pul through.”
“You shouldn’t have…you could have been kil ed, Jared.”
Jared raised an eyebrow, looking at me as if I were overreacting.
“It was necessary.” His hand left my arm and gripped the steering wheel. “They’re lucky I spared them their lives after he—,” he paused, seeing my expression. “You don’t need to worry…I won’t let anyone hurt you. Least of al me.”
When the scowl didn’t leave my face, he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Is something wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong with me, Jared. You’re bleeding, Ryan is…,” I turned around, “Ryan? Can you hear me?” I touched his battered face gently with my finger tips.
I could see Jared in my peripheral vision, his entire body tensed as if I was touching a live grenade.
“We need to get to the hospital!” Kim begged, holding her fingers to his wrist.
“Hang on, Ryan. We’re almost there,” I said, wincing when he did.
I had to turn back around to wipe my tears; I didn’t want him to see me cry. Jared tucked my hair behind my ear, and with his warm thumb wiped the moisture away. I didn’t notice that I was turning my ring mindlessly around my finger until Jared gently squeezed my hand.
“You don’t have to do that. It’s going to be okay, I promise.”
Ryan was whisked away to surgery and Kim, Jared and I were directed to the ICU waiting room. Jared sat beside me, brushing my bangs back from my eyes.
Kim sat on the adjacent couch, her knees shaking up and down. She bit her nails, staring straight ahead. “I cal ed Beth half an hour ago! When are they going to get here?”
I couldn’t look at her; Ryan’s blood was smeared on her shirt and jacket.
Beth, Josh and Chad filed into the waiting room, wide-eyed and breathless. Beth crashed into me, hugging me until I thought my ribs would break.
“Oh my God, Nina!! Are you okay? Is Kim okay?”
“We’re okay,” I whispered.
Beth put her hands to her mouth when she noticed the blood on Kim’s clothing and shook her head. “Ryan?”
“He’s stil in surgery,” Kim said. “He has some broken ribs, and they think the knife may have punctured his spleen. They’l remove it if they can’t get the bleeding stopped.”
My eyes wel ed up with tears.
“Whoa,” Josh sighed, rubbing his forehead in disbelief.
Beth hugged me as we both cried. She walked over to Kim and sat down. When Kim only offered a weak smile, Beth pul ed her into her arms.
Jared put his arm around me and led me back to the couch. Kim rehashed the account to the others until Josh interrupted.
“Why didn’t you just give him the damn ring, Nina?” he asked in an accusatory tone.
“This isn’t Nina’s fault,” Jared grimaced, squeezing me closer to his side.
“Her father gave her that ring, Josh,” Beth added.
“It’s just a ring,” he murmured.
Jared looked into my eyes with an understanding expression; he didn’t want me to feel worse than I already did. I didn’t expect anyone to understand my attachment to the ring anymore than I expected them to understand my relationship with my father.
“How did you get away?” Beth asked.
I felt Jared shift uncomfortably beside me when Kim spoke, “Jared took al four of them on. He was amazing. Apparently he’s taught his little sister everything she knows.”
Al eyes darted to Jared, who leaned forward and clasped his hands together. “I’m in the security business.”
“Where? In Iraq?” Josh sneered.
“Nah,” Jared said, downplaying Kim’s explanation.
I knew better. I had just glimpsed into a fraction of Jared’s secret.
I jerked against Jared’s shoulder when he whispered that Ryan was being wheeled into Intensive Care from recovery. “It’s okay, you’re safe,” he whispered, pressing his lips to the top of my hair.
“Oh,” I said, wiping my eyes. “I must have dozed off for a second.”
“More like an hour,” Kim said with heavy eyes.
Jared squeezed me to him. “You didn’t miss anything; you needed to rest.”
“What time is it?” I yawned.
“Seven thirty,” Beth said, looking as exhausted as I felt.
The nurses pushed the stretcher down the hal with a barely-coherent Ryan attached to monitors and tubes. I ran into the hal way and grabbed his hand, walking with them.
“I’m so sorry.” My voice broke before I could attempt a braver tone.
Ryan mumbled something inaudible and I felt my face compress. “It’s okay, you don’t have to talk.” I choked at how familiar those words sounded.
“We’l be right down the hal , okay?” I kissed his hand and he smiled, reaching his shaky fingers to brush my cheek with the back of his fingertips. I held his hand to my face for a moment, kissed it, then let go as they passed through the double doors.
The doors shut in my face, and I brought my hand to my mouth to stifle the cries. Beth came up behind me and Kim joined us, fol owed by Josh and Chad. We al huddled in the middle of the hal as we hugged and cried.
I had been nestled in Jared’s warm arms for twenty minutes when a nurse came out.
“He’s resting now. If you would like to freshen up and come back later, he may be ready for visitors then.”
“But…how is he?” I asked.
“It’s stil early, but he’s young and healthy. I’d say he’s going to recover quite nicely,” she smiled.
We shared a col ective sigh as she wheeled around and disappeared behind the double doors.
“I’m going to head home. Cal me when he wakes up,” Chad said.
“Can I catch a ride with you?” Kim asked. With that, Beth, Kim, Chad and Josh al stood up.
“You’re staying?” Beth asked.
I nodded and stood up to hug her.
“I’l stay with her,” Jared said.
Beth smiled through her fatigue before Chad led her out by the hand.
“You’re exhausted,” Jared said. “I should take you home.”
I shook my head. “I can’t leave him here alone. I almost got him kil ed.”
Jared’s faced twisted when he spoke. “He almost got himself kil ed.”
“He tried to keep them from attacking me!” I said, offended.
“Fat lot of good it did him,” Jared said dismissively, rol ing his eyes.
“I know, Jared. If you hadn’t shown up, Ryan would have bled out and I would have been left handed for the rest of my life, however brief.”
Anger played out across his face and he stood up, stopping just inches from me. “It’s not funny, Nina. You were in serious danger. Ryan should have diffused the situation instead of escalating it. He watches too much television. It’s the ones that try to impress the girl who end up.…”
“He didn’t do that to impress me!”
“His feelings for you clouded his judgment. He tried to be a hero….and here you are, feeling guilty.”
“You’re jealous?” I said, incredulous.
Jared’s rigid posture in the car replayed in my head. I was too worried to think about it at the time, but it made sense. He had mistaken my actions for intimacy. He thought Ryan and I were more than friends.
Jared rol ed his eyes. “If I were jealous, it wouldn’t be for that. I’m used to seeing you with someone else. It’s just a matter of enduring it, now.”
My eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What do you mean you’re used to it?”
Jared didn’t answer right away. He heaved an exasperated sigh and his jaws tensed.
“I just meant from before. I’ve had to see you with him before.”
“With Ryan?”
“Yes. At the pub, remember?” Jared eyes wandered everywhere but into mine.
“I remember,” I said, stil unconvinced.
He took my hand and worry shadowed his face. “I’m glad you’re okay. For a moment I thought I wouldn’t get there in time.”
“Was your judgment clouded?” I said acerbical y, stil incensed that he had snubbed Ryan’s bravery.
“Something like that,” he glowered, looking away from me.
“You’re not going to tel me the truth, are you?” I pul ed my hand from his and crossed my arms.
Jared’s head snapped back, and his eyes glared into mine. “And what truth would that be?”
“You know what I’m talking about. You took down four men—on your own—like they were little girls. The incomparable sense of timing you seem to have, the knowing where I am al the time….”
“I don’t know where you are al the time…and my sense of timing tonight was almost nonexistent.”
“Are you going to be honest with me or not?” I stood there for a moment, and when Jared seemed to deliberate, I walked back to the couch.
Jared sighed in resignation and then sat beside me. “I wanted to kiss you the other night. I knew that you were upset. I wanted to comfort you and I ended up just hurting you more.” He winced. “That wasn’t my intention, Nina. I would’ve given anything to lean into that kiss. It’s just…complicated.”