To Forgive & Hold Safe (The Broken Men Chronicles - #4)(SAMPLE ONLY)

Chapter 1

© Carey Decevito, 2016

Chapter 1

It was my worst nightmare come to life.  Two people hung upside down by their seat-belts in the front of the vehicle.  The male passenger wasn't faring well at first glance.  It was evident that if the medics weren't on scene in the next ten minutes, his chances of surviving would be slim.

I heard a groan coming from the driver's side.  The female occupant was coming to.  Due to her positioning, it was hard to make out the extent of her injuries what with the abundance of blood and the lack of lighting.  The dash had been pushed in, seemingly pinning her legs but without a flashlight, I couldn't tell for sure.

"Ma'am," I said when I got to her side of the car.  I could smell gas and not knowing if there had been a spark that ignited something somewhere, I was weary of staying so close to the vehicle.

"H-help me," she pleaded and those bright green eyes bore into my soul the minute they made contact with mine.

It was a sucker punch to the gut.

In that moment, I knew I couldn't leave her—them.

She tried to turn her head to the side.

"Don't move," I said.  "You're hurt and we don't know how bad yet."

"What was your first guess," she said and tried to laugh but it came out as a wince and a spatter of blood from her mouth followed closely behind it, spraying toward the side of my face.  "God, it hurts!"

"Can you tell me what hurts?" I asked as I wiped the spatter from my cheek.  "What's your name?"

"H-hannah," she said.  "Just call me Hannah.  Everything..."

Her eyes closed and silence consumed the darkness of the night.

"Hannah," I said.  "I need you to try and stay awake.  Can you do that for me?"

"Mmm," she mumbled and then I saw her body visibly stiffen and her eyes shoot open.  "Lee!  Where's..."

She abruptly tried to lift and turn her head to the side and must have been met with excruciating pain what with the tortured cry she emitted.

"Help is coming," I said and reached to squeeze her hand in an additional attempt to calm her.  "I'm just going to go to the other side and check on Lee, okay?"

"Okay."

I went back to the other side of the car to check on Lee, as Hannah had called him, and it was as I'd feared.  There was no pulse.

Looking over at Hannah, I was thankful that she couldn't turn to see him.

That's when I noticed the wedding bands.

Cursing internally, I did my best to stifle the surge of potent memories as well as emotions that were threatening to take the remainder of my sanity.  I sat in silence, grieving for the loss she had yet to know of, flashes of my own past coming to the forefront of my mind.

"How is he?" she asked, knocking me back to the present.

"H-he's okay," I lied.  "He's in rough shape though."

"It's my fault," she said.  "It's all my fault.  I should have listened to him.  Lee, I'm so sorry."  Her hand searched for his but with the way they were both positioned, they were too far apart for her to make contact.  I was thankful for that.

"Calm down, Hannah," I said.  "You need to stay calm."

She began to pray and I went back to her side of the vehicle.  I listened as she begged, bargained and pleaded with her God that they walk away from this night.