JACES POV
I pull Grace in close to me while she sleeps. I hold her like this for what feels like hours. It certainly was hours. Eventually Jenny comes and unhooks me from her blood supply. I look at my arm. I look like some fucking drug addict. I can see the sun beginning to go down and decide to go get some food while she sleeps. I have no doubt she won't wake till tomorrow now, at the earliest. I kiss her forehead and wrap a blanket around her.
I step out the room and trudge down the hallway, I'm in no mood for people but I do need to eat. I step onto the deck and see everyone gathered around the table talking. They're all being so serious, I don't need told how bad things are.
"Jace! You're up!" My mother beams and pulls me into a hug.
"Hi Mum, what have a missed?" The table all stop and look at me.
"Jace, things are bad." I turn, it's my father. Fuck if he's saying it's bad it must be.
"How so?"
"Jace you shot two people, mighty publicly I may add." I shake my head "I don't care about that." My dad glares at me.
"Well you should. It's causing quite the headache, they want you in Jail Jace you realise that don't you? They don't know the background, the Santiago's are making it worse, saying it was an unprovoked attack."
"Who the fuck are the Santiago's?"
"Charles's family Jace, who happen to also be the police and crime commissioner in Mexico. They're a Mexican family, I'm also certain they must be in a cartel." My dad knows what he said and the colour drains from my face. If he's right and I've shot two of them, I have a really large target on my back from both the police and some Mexican cartel. My mind flies to Grace, I've put her in so much danger. Fuck.
"What do we do?" I ask clearly panicked. That's when Lou stands up.
"There's only two things right now, your dads trying to broker a deal with the cops, if he can get you free it keeps things easier. We've got good lawyers building the case against Charles, and Chris saw what that vile man did to Grace when he was shot. Chris is impartial which helps a lot. The boat also has the footage of you both being shot first. So it isn't bad news. We think we can spin it towards your favour. As for the cartel. We know it would be unusual for them to leave Mexico for business. We don't really know the structure either, who was Charles to the Cartel?" I run my hands through my hair, atleast it sounds like I won't be going to jail for killing two men. That's a bonus. Fuck. I killed two people. I hadn't ever imagined I'd ever kill someone, not now anyway.
"Grace? What about Grace?" The table look around and Jenny stands.
"She's going to be fine Jace, her latest bloods were positive. You've literally saved her. She just needs some more antibiotics from the flight tomorrow. She might need more blood but not for now." I nod although the table knows what I meant. Chris is the only one brave enough.
"We don't know for certain Jace, but it could be an eye for an eye situation which might take the heat from Grace. I don't think she's safe though. They're going to try use her to get to you if we can't broker a deal."
"Broker a deal?" I ask rage bubbling in me. My father walks over to me and puts his hands on my shoulder.
"If we can broker a deal it might minimise the impact on us all Jace." I look around the table, why are they all looking down.
"What kind of deal?"
"Money mostly..." I nod the mostly doesn't need explained to me. They're talking about Grace.
"You're not bargaining her off, she's the reason those people are dead."
"We aren't going to do that Jace. She's the closest thing to you though, we aren't naive enough to know they'd expect anything less. We have to be smart about this." I nod. I know what they're saying. It's going to break Graces heart if I don't tell her. I lean down between them and grab a lamb kebab and some salad and return to Grace. I sit on the chair next to her contemplating telling her. Will it be enough? Will they believe me if I throw her to the side. What if they don't and they take her. Shit this is so risky. I look at my girl. Her hair is sprawled across her beautiful face, the highlights from just last week glisten in the light. She's pale but not to bad. I've seen her worse. I can see Jenny has unhooked some of her IVs leaving just a bag of saline and nutrition. She must genuinely be improving. How could she not be I swear she's got half my blood in her system.
I stand up and pace around the room. I walk to the leather bag on the side and dig through it. I find what I'm looking for and turn to head out the room when I hear a giggle. It's a glorious noise and it fills my heart with joy. I turn to see her eyes on me. I give her s big smile.
"Want some fresh air?" I ask her. She gives me a weak nod. I walk over to her.
"I'm going to have to take these out though?" I motion to her drips. She nods. She must be feeling good. I gently disconnect them from her wrist and find a saline rinse Jenny had left out for the end of the IV. We'd all been doing our bit recently.
"It's going to sting." I say and hook the syringe into her cannula and push the saline through gently, she winces and a pang of guilt runs through me. She finds my eyes and smiles. She doesn't care. I disconnect the syringe and put it back on the tray. I put my arms around Grace and pick her up. Fuck she's so light. My eyes fill with remorse, look at what I've done to her. I came back into her life and I've absolutely fucked her up. She sees my pain and puts her hand on my cheek.
"It's okay." She chokes out. I kiss her forehead and walk down the corridor and up the stairs to the top deck. No one will be out here now. I lay her on a sun bed and sit at the end. My minds swimming. Do I tell her?