Hell's Angel (BK 1)

How to Save a Life

Alison's POV
(bellamysgirl)

Mary answered on the second ring. Her tone was as frantic as I'd felt not thirty minutes ago. "Hello?" she asked. She must not have recognized the caller ID. I inhaled. "Hi, it's Alison. Fletcher. You met my colleague earlier—Foggy-"

"Nelson? I remember. Has Dani tried to contact you?"

"I was actually just going to ask you the same thing," I said, my shoulders dropping. "Did she say anything to you? Has she mentioned any safe houses she might have around the city?" She was quiet a second on the other end, probably thinking. Then she sighed and I braced myself for an empty answer. "No, I don't think so. Where are you? I can help with the search efforts," she offered, followed by a shuffle.

I was quick to try to stop her. "No, no- that's okay. We've got things handled here."

"Alison," I twisted around at the sound of Matt's voice. He was sitting up now, looking in my general direction over the back of the couch. He'd obviously been listening to the whole phone call. "Let her help." My eyebrows knitted together in confusion and I turned to face him fully, pushing the intake speaker on the phone away from my mouth. "She'll know who you are," I pointed out.

"I know. But she's the only family around that Dani has."

I pulled the phone back. "Actually, why don't you come by? Maybe you can help after all," I said, interrupting whatever in the world she was saying. I'd missed the world's longest run-on sentence. I rattled off Matt's address. She immediately switched gears and I could hear a baby wailing in the background. "Okay, great. I'll be there soon," with that, she hung up.

I exhaled and dropped my phone on the table. "This is a bad idea, you know that, right?"

"We don't really have much of a choice, Alison." Right. Honestly, we did. Keep it under our hats until we find some proof that Dani is okay somewhere, then go to her relatives and break the news. It was a horrible idea to include family. But I pushed it aside in my mind as best I could and went to the couch.

I dropped onto the cushion beside Matt and turned myself toward him. "I need to check this," I informed, as my fingers gripped the corner of the large bandage on his side. He stayed silent with nothing but a worn look on his face as I slowly pulled back the bandaging. "She's stronger than you think," I said, suddenly. It just kind of came out. I quickly added, "Dani, I mean."

"You weren't there, you didn't-" he stopped himself, inhaling deeply. As he exhaled, he finished, "You didn't see the blood. She was barely alive when I...I left her." I sat back after pushing the bandage back against his skin. Looking at his face was a mistake. It was grief stricken like I've never seen. Not on anyone but myself. My heart sank. I swallowed. "Matt, you can't do that," I shook my head.

"Why not? That's exactly what I did. She told me to leave and, like an idiot, I listened to her. I just took off without doubling back to make sure she was okay," he vented, getting subtly angrier by the syllable.

"How on earth do you think you could've gone back for her? In the state you were in last night? It was a miracle you got out in the first place," It's funny, I was arguing to him about him. But the more I talked about it, the more I wanted to crawl in a hole and pretend it wasn't happening. "Dani is alive out there somewhere, okay? You can't give up that easily—she wouldn't want you to."

"I heard a gunshot, Alison! Right after I got out of the water, I heard a gunshot," he snapped a bit. I took in a breath, desperately trying to force my heart together. There was a line being carved straight through the middle and the two halves it was creating were threatening to split apart. I knew if I let that happen, I wouldn't be able to put myself back together. Matt looked like he was about to cry a second before the tears started down his cheeks.