“Then we need to find this Maria and get her to tell us where Laura is and why she is trying to kill Tessa. And me.” Ava’s voice was firm.

Mavis hit another pothole and Ava’s tiny little hands felt more like hot irons as they pushed against me.

“Oy, pay attention, woman!” I growled.

“Sorry,” Ava winced.

“I didn’t mean you.” I looked at her and tried to smile. It probably wasn’t as comforting as I had intended because her face blanched.

“It’s not my damn fault there are potholes on this road.” Mavis growled from the front seat. “Take it up with Parliament.”

“I’ll send a letter with my taxes.” I closed my eyes and breathed deep through my nose.

Mavis barked a loud laugh. “Right.”

“We should take you to a hospital.” Ava pressed her hand against my shoulder. “You’re losing a lot of blood.”

“No hospitals.” I opened my eyes and looked at Ava. “Besides, it’s not that bad. Mavis can fix me up.”

“Aren’t you lucky?” Mavis asked.

“But you need medicine, and to be checked out.” Ava shook her head.

“I’m fine.” I touched her cheek. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had been worried about me. It was…nice and a bit frustrating, but in a good way. “This is an easy fix.”

She narrowed her eyes and sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. I hated seeing her so upset, but I’d known this was a possible outcome going in there. It could have gone much worse, to be honest. However, we weren’t going to get any answers without some risks. And I wasn’t willing to let Ava pay the dues.

“No one has followed us. I’m taking us to a house.” Mavis turned down a small road. “Can you walk?”

I curled my lip. “I was shot in the shoulder, not my foot. Of course I can walk.”

“Good, because you’re too big to carry.” Mavis slammed the car into park in a tiny spot behind a building. The other buildings were so close I wondered how I was going to open the door wide enough to get out.

My fingers slipped on the door handle and Ava reached over me to push it open before hurrying out of her side.

“Are you okay?” Mavis asked quietly. She turned in her seat and let her eyes roam over my bloody shirt. I knew she was asking while Ava couldn’t hear on purpose.

“Bloody hurts, but I’ll live.” I kept my voice calm. No jokes. She needed to know where I was, because we were in trouble. Marcus would send men out looking for us and by now he would know that Mavis had helped us.

“Good.”

My door opened and Ava stood there with her hands out like she was going to help me stand. Part of me wanted to laugh, the other part of me felt weird and gooey. That had to be the blood loss. Her cool hands wrapped around my uninjured arm and she looped it over her shoulders. My eyebrows rose and I felt the twitch of my lips.

Mavis was watching us with an amused expression that she quickly schooled into one of boredom when Ava looked her way.

“Where are we going?” Ava asked.

“This way.” Mavis turned around and climbed a short set of stairs.

“Lean on me if you need to.” Ava placed a hand on my stomach as she urged me forward.

“You know, I’ve been shot before.” I smiled down at her as she tried to push me up the stairs. I wanted her to understand that I was really going to be okay.

“Yeah, but this time it was for me.” Her eyes welled up and I reached to catch a tear with my thumb. Her cheek was puffy under my fingers and I wished I could go back and beat all of those guys again.

I didn’t know what to say, so it was best if I kept my mouth shut. Seeing the gun pointed in her direction had sent fire like panic through my veins. I had acted on instinct, not worried about anything but getting her out of harm’s way. When we hit the ground I had been more worried about checking on her than concerned with my shoulder.

“Are you two going to stand there all night?” Mavis stuck her head out the door. “If you pass out, I’m not hauling your sorry carcass in here.”

Ava sighed and pulled me the rest of the way up the stairs. It was an older building, riddled with hallways and tiny rooms. Mavis was at a small kitchen table going through a bag of medical supplies. I took a seat next to her and pulled off my jumper and shirt. The wound wasn’t pretty, but would be easy to clean up and stitch. I could do it myself, but it would be easier if someone else did the sewing. Thankfully, Mavis was a pro.

“What can I do to help?” Ava looked pale.

“Do you have any medical training?” Mavis looked up at her.

“No.” She shook her head. “But I can get stuff. Or boil water. I don’t know. What the fuck do you do for a gunshot wound?”

I was relieved to hear her cursing. It meant she wasn’t going into shock. At least I thought it meant she wasn’t going into shock. I didn’t exactly have a lot of medical training myself. I just stepped over bodies on my way out.

“Sure, boil some water.” Mavis twisted my arm, making me grimace. “I could use a cup of tea.”

“Tea?” Ava stood there looking at Mavis with a strange expression. “Bloody Brits and their tea.” She muttered as she turned around and rummaged through the cabinets.

Mavis went to work on my arm, squirting cool liquid over the wound, before giving me a numbing shot. I let my mind wander, trying to not focus on what the woman was doing to my arm. Ava provided a good distraction as she moved around the kitchen muttering to herself. She was favoring her left leg, but not enough that most people would notice.